A plan had emerged that could have allowed the NFL to play in the Rose Bowl stadium. The result was a split City Council with three members appearing to be in favor of the NFL and three opposing the matter.
The split led to chaos across the City. Several councilmembers reported they received hundreds of phone calls on the matter. Madison received 700.
Opponents tried to strong-arm Madison, promising a recall effort. Advertising was purchased in the Star-News and the Pasadena Weekly.
After hours of public comment and deliberation, Madison made his decision known.
“If the NFL needs five votes, they are not going to get them,” Madison said.
After Madison voiced opposition ending the easiest route for the NFL to come into Pasadena, then-District 5 Councilmember Victor Gordo also voiced opposition, locking in a 5-3 majority.
Gordo’s vote caught some local residents by surprise. Gordo represented the working class voters in District 5, and many expected him to support the NFL.
The NFL plan also called for a dramatic expansion of the historic stadium to support modern revenue-generating amenities.
That proposal would have expanded the Rose Bowl from about 400,000 square feet to nearly 1 million square feet by excavating the field level to accommodate restrooms, a concession concourse, retail space, underground parking and other upgrades.
Approval of the $500 million project would have required approval from both the City Council and the NFL.
Seating capacity would have been reduced by about one-third, adding roughly 140 luxury suites positioned to preserve views of the San Gabriel Mountains, and underground parking would have been added.
The neon Rose Bowl sign dating to 1949 would have been retained, and the stadium would have carried a corporate-sponsored field name, which means it could have been Viagra Field at the Rose Bowl or a host of other names that would have left preservationists and City leaders cringing.
The project would have relied on private financing, including personal seat licenses, suite deposits, naming rights and ticket taxes.
“We were pursuing all tenants,” said Gordo, who was a councilmember at the time. “The Saints and the Chargers were leaving their cities and saying to [their respective City Councils] ‘build us a new stadium or we’re leaving.’ They wanted to pay us $250,000 in rent and gut the stadium. They wanted suites all around the rim of the stadium. The average life of an NFL stadium is 20-25 years. Right about now, they would be threatening to leave.”
Gordo said the City could have been left with a shell of ‘America’s Stadium’ in the Arroyo Seco, rather than the attraction it is today.
“We made the right decision,” Gordo said.
The results of that vote now reverberate into the battle to keep UCLA football games in the Rose Bowl.
The NFL proposal two decades ago was met with criticism from local residents, who raised questions about traffic and noise and impacts to the Arroyo Seco, as well as from preservationists seeking to protect the stadium’s historic character.
At the time, Baltimore developer John Moag said the venue would “become the most powerful revenue venue in the country,” serving as home to an NFL franchise, future Super Bowls, UCLA football, the annual Rose Bowl game, and a rotating Bowl Championship Series matchup.
Ironically today, the City is battling UCLA to keep UCLA’s football team from leaving for SoFi Stadium, a 3.1 million-square-foot pro stadium connected to a massive pending commercial development.
“When we rejected pro football’s overtures – I was the deciding vote against – it was based in part on the NFL’s insistence on using the space 365 days a year and pursuing aggressive commercial development,” Madison told Pasadena Now. “Rejecting the NFL was the right decision for Pasadena then and remains the right decision today. I wouldn’t change a thing. And, judging from their comments on social media, neither would UCLA’s boosters and fans.”
According to Madison, the Rose Bowl remains the most iconic stadium in the country.
Last week, Madison attended the College Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Madison said that, as the inductees were introduced, many said their career highlight was playing at the Rose Bowl.
“At SoFi in Inglewood, true, there’s a lot more cement and buildings – a casino looms just down the street. But there remains no better place for football and soccer than ‘America’s Stadium,” Madison said. “Right-thinking observers concur. College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit recently said the college football national championship game should be played at the Rose Bowl every year. Even a representative list of unforgettable contests is beyond the scope of this brief response—there are just too many—on January 1 we welcomed the ultimate national champions Ohio State; in a couple of weeks we’ll have the #1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers; in 2028 the men’s and women’s Olympic soccer semifinals and finals will take place here. History continues to be made at America’s Stadium.”
Madison said the absence of commercial development surrounding the stadium is rooted in the Rose Bowl’s history and its location in one of the West’s great open spaces – the Arroyo Seco– and in the beautiful residential neighborhoods overlooking the Arroyo on either side of the stadium.
“This environment — including the sprawling tree-lined lawns around the stadium where all can tailgate, picnic, or just hangout with friends and toss a football or frisbee – enhances, not detracts, from the special experience that is watching or playing in the Rose Bowl,” said Madison.
The Rose Bowl is steeped in tradition. Of the classic five bowl game stadiums, the Rose Bowl remains the only one standing that hosts its original bowl game.
Tulane Stadium which hosted the Sugar Bowl was torn down in 1980. The Orange Bowl was razed in 2005. Cotton Bowl and Sun Devil Stadium, which hosted the Fiesta Bowl are still standing following major renovations, but the bowl games have moved on.
“Every college team in the country yearns to play in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Any team fortunate enough to play there in the Fall should work its tail off to play one more game here: on New Year’s Day,” Madison said.
Sports venue mixed-use real estate districts are on the rise, according to the Sports Business Journal in May, the current pipeline of sports venue-driven mixed-use developments includes more than $100 billion of investment in 37-plus projects.
The stadiums are being developed not just as places to watch games but as anchors for surrounding retail, dining, entertainment and residential districts, with dozens of mixed-use projects now planned or completed around major U.S. sports venues.
SoFi owner Stan Kroenke, who also owns the Los Angeles Rams, is building Hollywood Park, a mixed-use district that will be anchored by the stadium.
The 300-acre project is being built on the site of the former Hollywood Park racetrack and is being designed as a “city within a city,” featuring thousands of planned residences, extensive retail and dining space, entertainment venues, parks and public plazas, office and creative workspaces, hotels, and a forthcoming film-production campus.
According to court papers, UCLA’s efforts to move to SoFi are connected to the development.
“I still think it was the right decision for the city to retain control of the stadium,” said former District 4 City Councilmember Steve Haderlein. “That’s why we entered into 30-year leases with the Tournament and UCLA to provide some stability.”
After the vote in 2005, the Rose Bowl Operating Company and City Manager Cynthia Kurtz began working on a six-month comprehensive study of other options to preserve the Rose Bowl and stabilize its financial condition.
“Now is the time to focus on this like we have never done before,” said Mayor Bill Bogaard.
The City Council then created a seat on the RBOC, and Gordo served as the president for 12 years with the charge of helping develop financing, construction and revenue plans.
As part of the plan, the City agreed to make renovations with 30-year bonds in 2014. As part of the agreement, UCLA agreed to extend its lease to 2044, the life of the 30-year bonds.
“We told them we would take on the renovations, but would have to take on 30 year bonds and they would have to extend the lease for the term of the bonds,” said Gordo.
That work led to a 30-year lease between UCLA and the Rose Bowl in 2014, the same lease City officials say the university is trying to break now.
However, marketing material for UCLA’s 2026 football season includes a Rose Bowl seating chart, indicating the team will be playing in Pasadena in 2026.
Based on his experience meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other top-level sports figures, Gordo has a warning for UCLA: UCLA will not be SoFi’s top tenant. Kroenke owns the Rams and the Chargers have a revenue sharing model, which leave the Bruins in third place at best, Gordo said.
That could be familiar ground for the Bruins. UCLA left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the early 1980s largely because the university lacked control over scheduling, revenue and identity in a stadium dominated by other tenants.
USC was the primary college occupant, and the presence of two NFL teams further crowded the venue, often leaving UCLA with unfavorable kickoff times and limited access to parking and concession revenue.
The move to the Rose Bowl in 1982 offered UCLA a long-term lease, greater operational certainty, improved game-day economics and a clear institutional identity in a venue where it would be the primary tenant.
“It would be more of the same,” Gordo said. “UCLA should be reminded to be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. In 20 years, the NFL could say to UCLA ‘we have to remodel the stadium and you need to contribute,’ and UCLA will have no place to go.”
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