Rose Bowl Ranks as 4th Largest Stadium in Big Ten Conference

Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium, home of UCLA Bruins football, ranks as the 4th largest venue by capacity among the 18 stadiums of the expanding Big Ten Conference, according to a recent Sports Illustrated analysis.

With an official seating capacity of 92,542, the Rose Bowl trails only Michigan Stadium (107,601), Beaver Stadium at Penn State (106,572), and Ohio Stadium at Ohio State (102,780) in size among Big Ten venues, according to Sports Illustrated.

The historic stadium, which opened in 1922, has long been one of the most famous and recognizable sports venues in the United States. It is the 16th-largest stadium in the world and the 11th-largest in the United States.

Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Rose Bowl was originally constructed in a horseshoe shape before being fully enclosed into its distinctive bowl configuration in 1928.

The stadium and adjacent Brookside Golf Course are owned by the City of Pasadena.

In addition to serving as the home field for UCLA football since 1982, the stadium has hosted five Super Bowls, the 1984 Olympic soccer tournament, and the annual Rose Bowl Game, nicknamed “The Granddaddy of Them All,” which was first played at the stadium on January 1, 1923.

The Rose Bowl is a legendary and historic stadium that has hosted many of the biggest events in American sports over the past century, while serving as the home venue for UCLA football since the 1980s. The record attendance at the Rose Bowl Stadium was 106,689 during the 1973 Rose Bowl Game.

The stadium is recognized as both a National Historic Landmark and a California Historic Civil Engineering landmark due to its iconic architecture and central role in the history of American sports. It is operated by the nonprofit Rose Bowl Operating Company.

Sports Illustrated reported that other Big Ten stadiums rounding out the top 10 in capacity include Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium (90,000), Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium (75,822), Michigan State’s Spartan Stadium (75,005), Washington’s Husky Stadium (70,083), and Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium (69,250). The conference’s smallest venue is Northwestern’s Ryan Field, which currently seats 47,130 but will have a reduced capacity of 35,000 after upcoming renovations.

The addition of USC and UCLA in 2024 will bring the total number of Big Ten football programs to 18, spanning from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic. The expanded geographic footprint will result in lengthy road trips for some teams, such as Michigan State playing at Oregon’s 54,000-seat Autzen Stadium in Eugene.