[photo credit: Distinguished Speaker Series]
Costas, who won 29 Emmy Awards across sports, news, and entertainment — the only broadcaster in history to claim all three categories — will speak at the auditorium as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series’ sold-out 29th season, according to series organizers. The appearance comes roughly 27 months before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium set to host soccer’s gold-medal matches and the nearby Rose Bowl Aquatics Center designated for Olympic diving. When competition begins, the Rose Bowl complex will become one of only two venues in the world to have served three Olympic Games.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at the 3,000-seat Mediterranean Revival auditorium at 300 E. Green St. The evening follows the series’ standard format: a one-hour presentation followed by a 30-minute moderated question-and-answer session.
Costas’s career stretches well beyond the Olympics. He hosted seven Super Bowls, seven World Series, and ten NBA Finals. His interview with Muhammad Ali remains a touchstone of long-form sports journalism, and his late-night program, Later with Bob Costas, earned critical recognition for bringing unhurried conversation to network television. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame’s broadcasters’ wing and received the Walter Cronkite Award for journalism. He remains active on MLB Network.
The Distinguished Speaker Series, founded in 1996 by sisters Kathy Winterhalder and Sue Swan through their Manhattan Beach-based Swan Productions LLC, has hosted more than 200 speakers across four Southern California venues over nearly three decades, according to series organizers. The Pasadena Civic Auditorium has served as the series’ local home since 1997 — the same year the venue ended its two-decade run as the site of the Primetime Emmy Awards.
“We want diversity in what everyone’s talking about,” Winterhalder said in a Pasadena Now interview previewing the current season. “That’s why we have somebody who’s going to talk about politics, somebody who’s going to talk about sports in the Olympics, somebody who can talk about health and medicine, and, a National Geographic explorer.”
The 2025–2026 Pasadena season has featured National Geographic explorer Ella Al-Shamahi, former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos, and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, whose February appearance drew a capacity crowd at the 3,000-seat auditorium. Dr. Anthony Fauci closes the season on May 4.
“Seeing all your friends and neighbors there — often different ages, different political persuasions — is just really something special,” Winterhalder told Pasadena Now.
Pasadena’s role in the 2028 Games is no longer aspirational. The city signed a formal agreement with LA28 organizers in October 2024 for the Rose Bowl to host Olympic soccer, including both the men’s and women’s gold-medal matches. In September 2025, the Los Angeles City Council approved a proposal to bring Olympic diving to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, a move LA28 said would generate up to $17.6 million in combined savings and revenue. It will mark the third time Pasadena has hosted Olympic competition, following track cycling in 1932 and soccer in 1984.
The event is sold as part of a season subscription; individual tickets are not available. The series is sold out in Pasadena and at all four of its Southern California locations for the 2025–2026 season, according to the series’ website. For waitlist information for the 2026–2027 season, visit www.speakersla.com or call (310) 546-6222. Parking is available in the auditorium’s subterranean garage for a flat rate of $15, with entrances on Euclid Avenue and Marengo Avenue. The structure includes eight electric-vehicle charging stations and has a height restriction of 6 feet, 6 inches.
When the Olympic flame reaches Los Angeles in July 2028, Pasadena will be waiting — with a stadium that has seen it before and an audience that just heard from the man who told the story.
DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES: BOB COSTAS Date & Time: Monday, April 6, 2026, 7:30 PM. Venue: Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, CA. Phone Number: (310) 546-6222. Website: https://www.speakersla.com/speakers/bob-costas/
