Construction began on January 2, and was completed this week. Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo joked that a backyard pool project at his home has already taken nearly twice as long.
The space, tucked beneath the stands and opening onto an outdoor patio near the end zone, is smartly designed with historical mementos everywhere, scores of comfortable seats and tables, marks one of the most significant additions to the stadium in recent years, and stadium officials and city leaders alike framed it as proof of a broader turnaround for the historic venue. One of the outdoor premium seating sections even features dozens of table-mounted wide-screen monitors for patrons’ own highlights and replay viewing.
Mayor Gordo, members of the Pasadena City Council, elected officials, and a host of donors and friends gathered outside the wooden doors of the club for the official ribbon snip.
Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Jens Weiden said before the ribbon cutting, that the opening reflects years of careful reinvestment across the Rose Bowl campus, not just the stadium itself but its golf course and festival grounds as well.
“We’re an events venue. That’s what we do,” Weiden said. “We’re not in the stadium business, we’re in the events business. And the event business has never been busier for us.”
Weiden said the design team studied field clubs at stadiums around the country before settling on an approach suited to the Rose Bowl. In the new club, the home team will run through the middle of the space on its way to the field, giving members a close vantage point before they head to their seats above for the game itself.
“We really want it to feel discovered, not built,” Wyden said, pointing to Batchelder tile behind him, a historic and distinctly local material, and board-form concrete on the exterior that matches the stadium’s original finish. The club also marks the spot where a flagpole once stood when the Rose Bowl was still a horseshoe design, open at the south end.
Weiden emphasized that the club is not a members-only or donor space. It will be managed and sold by UCLA for its home games and by the Tournament of Roses for the Rose Bowl Game, making it accessible to the public. The venue opens for its first event this Saturday, when UCLA hosts San Diego State.
Gordo, who served as president of the Rose Bowl Operating Company board for more than a dozen years, spoke fondly of the stadium’s long history of weathering hard times.
“The Rose Bowl has always been a survivor and gone through adversity in a very elegant and successful way,” Gordo said. “The people of Pasadena have invested in this stadium, and now we see this great contribution by this generation of Pasadenans to the world of sports, to the world of architecture, to the world of music, to the world in general.”
Gordo also described a personal connection to the stadium stretching back decades, from selling stuffed footballs in the concourse as a schoolboy to playing on the field himself as a member of Pasadena High School’s varsity football team for two years. He encouraged residents to visit the new club this weekend, and said he hoped the stadium would eventually offer public tours.
“People need to see their stadium from the same vantage point that I get to see it right now,” he said. “Everyone should have that opportunity.”
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.
