Rose Bowl renovation approved, stadium dominoes fall

It only took 10 years to get it done, but the Pasadena City Council on Monday approved a $152 million bond package to renovate the 88-year-old Rose Bowl stadium. From the LA Times:

The renovations include widened tunnels and added aisles for smoother entering and exiting. A modern version of a 1940s-style scoreboard will replace the existing one on the south end, and a video board will be installed on the north side. Premium seating will be bumped from 600 to 2,500 following the expansion of the press box building.

 The financing plan will have repercussions far beyond "smoother entering and exiting" through the vomitoria. For one, this all but locks out any future deal to bring the NFL to Pasadena, leaving Industry and the Coliseum as the two remaining bidders for a professional football team in L.A. Everyone knows the NFL does not like the Coliseum as its currently configured - too big, too old - and so the Rose Bowl renovations would seem to give the Industry bid a boost.

But the Rose Bowl deal also extends UCLA's lease there until 2043, robbing Industry of a potential tenant and much-needed source of revenue. This could make it harder for Industry's backers to finance a new stadium, unless they can convince the USC Trojans to break ties with the Coliseum. The Industry stadium's design has already been altered for soccer play as a way to attract off-season tenants, but here again they'll have to compete with the renovated Rose Bowl, which has a storied history of World Cup play.

All of which puts added pressure on the Coliseum to pay for upgrades and possible redesign. Public financing for such a project will be hard to come by in this economy and the NFL has no appetite to get behind an expensive deal when they dictate to Industry just what kind of comfy accommodations the league would prefer. Big downtown developers have shown no interest in a public-private partnership to improve the Coliseum, choosing instead to explore building a brand new stadium near Staples.