The NFL recently started looking at potential sites to serve as a temporary home to any teams that might move to Los Angeles before a new stadium is ready to be used.
The Rose Bowl was one of at least five venues asked to submit proposals but it doesn’t look like Pasadena will be hosting any NFL games. Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Rose Bowl Operating Co. held a vote Wednesday night about responding to the NFL’s request for a proposal about holding NFL games in the stadium and the result was 11-0 against offering such a proposal.
Instead of pursuing the possibility of being a temporary home for a team, the Rose Bowl wants to host the Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival next June. While there would be no conflict between the festival and games, an environmental impact report prepared for the festival “specifically prohibits” the Rose Bowl from hosting NFL games. The Rose Bowl expects to earn $3 million in revenue in each of the next 20 years from the festival while they project revenues of $5-10 million per season as a temporary site for pro football.
“We believe that a music and arts festival is more fitting with Pasadena’s brand and with the future of the stadium,” Rose Bowl Operating Co. president and Pasadena City Council member Victor Gordo said. “With our desire to have certainty of finances of the stadium, and to have a world-class event that’s fitting of the city. The distraction that the NFL question poses at this time could take away from our collective efforts as a city to realize a music and arts festival. What you saw from the board today is we don’t want that distraction.”
The Los Angeles Coliseum, Dodger Stadium, Angels Stadium and the StubHub Center are other possible interim sites for an NFL team with the expectation that a team would use the venue for at least two seasons.