Rose Bowl Operating Company Re-Nominates Victor Gordo to Continue as Board President, Garlock as VP

The Rose Bowl Operating Company has recommended to the executive board that Pasadena City Councilmember Victor Gordo be given a fresh mandate to continue serving as RBOC president through 2017, or until a new president is elected.

If passed, the recommendation would extend the terms of Edward Garlock as Vice President, Joel Bryant as Secretary, and Scott Boone as Treasurer.

The RBOC board is expected to deliberate and act on the recommendations during its meeting on Thursday evening.

“I’m honored to have the support of the board of directors and be nominated to serve,” Councilmember Gordo said in response to the nomination. “I’d like to see through the Music and Arts Festival this coming June, an event that I hope will serve Pasadena well for the years to come.”

Gordo said he is proud that the RBOC has been able to accomplish a lot over a very short period of time for the Rose Bowl, which he points to as an important asset in the City of Pasadena and a critical economic engine for the region.

Gordo recalls that around the year 2003, the Rose Bowl was strapped with very limited finances that could be used to improve the stadium.

“Around that time, the Rose Bowl’s operating budget was under $10 million. Today, the Rose Bowl’s operating budget is over $45 million, and a big part of that is the investment into repositioning the stadium for future success,” Gordo said. “We undertook an expensive and complicated renovation project that has now successfully prepared the stadium for the competition that we anticipated.”

The renovation also required the RBOC board to put in place long-term contracts with Rose Bowl tenants like the UCLA and the Tournament of Roses. The contracts now run through the bonds that were used to renovate the stadium.

“Once we completed the renovation projects, we then proceeded to address the revenue for the stadium, and we have put in place the Arroyo Music and Arts Festival that will be a 20-year project that will stabilize the stadium’s finances coming forward,” Gordo said. “We have a 10-year contract with the folks who handle our sponsorships for the venue, IMG (the collegiate sports marketing company). All of these efforts on the part of the RBOC and the staff have renewed the Rose Bowl’s standing not just as an historic icon but as an economic engine for Pasadena and for the region. We’ve done all of that while maintaining the integrity of the stadium, which was a very important goal for all of us who loved the Rose Bowl dearly as the heart and soul of Pasadena that it is.”

Vice President Garlock explained that many members of the RBOC board like himself and Gordo have extended their stay, with the board’s approval, because of the recent renovation project that has been undertaken to make the Rose Bowl more competitive.

“It’s a little unusual but that may have to do with the fact that we went through a substantial renovation for the stadium and all the members of the board felt that it was critical that the core members of the board be … intact during that period because there were so many things going on,” Garlock said. “It was an enormous undertaking. It was a project that was $180 million, which may not be much elsewhere, but in [Pasadena] that’s very big.”

Garlock said he himself has been vice president for the last three years. He expects that by next year, the normal cycle of board members serving for one year at least would return.

“Once we get through next year, the Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival next June, then the big chunk of the puzzle will have come into place and the officers and offices will return to … a normal cycle,” said Garlock.

According to the RBOC ordinance, members of the Board may serve no more than two consecutive terms of four years each, but a member is allowed to continue in office for the term for which he or she was appointed or until a successor is appointed.

Garlock said he is happy to be nominated again, although he said there are many qualified and talented people on the RBOC board who could perform as well.

“My response to the nomination is that I will be happy to serve another term as vice president with the expectation that we will have been through this stage, and if next year is time to move one, I’d be more than happy to move on,” Garlock said.

Gordo said he sees a major accomplishment has been achieved with the recent renovation, and said he’s proud to have been part of the story.

“We wanted to ensure that the stadium continues to be vibrant, competitive and succeed as an icon and an economic engine,” Gordo said. “After all, it is ‘America’s Stadium,’ and Pasadena has the pride and the responsibility to ensure that it continues to be ‘America’s Stadium.’”