Op Ed on NFL Coming to Pasadena

By Paul Little

Text of an opinion piece writeen by Paul Little for the Star-News

Almost from the moment of its founding, Pasadena has been a place where people dream big dreams -- and make them happen. Our city is renowned for its traditions, events and architecture. We are a city of formidable institutions filled with people who conceive and nurture grand ideas.

Right now, Pasadena is experiencing an unprecedented surge of growth and development. Our economy remains strong, despite recent challenges. Exciting changes continue to build vibrant neighborhoods and business districts.

Pasadena boasts many historic sites that have been creatively adapted to continue productive use. The Vista Del Arroyo Hotel now serves as the Southern California home for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Old Pasadena is often cited as a model for other cities' downtown redevelopment efforts. When faced with decay and blight, Pasadena rises creatively to the challenge.

Now, we face a threat to one of our most treasured institutions -- the Rose Bowl. The National Football League wants to bring professional football back to Los Angeles. We are the second largest media market in the country and even modest interest in the game translates into strong event attendance. If a new stadium is built in Los Angeles, The Rose Bowl will likely lose one of its most lucrative tenants -- UCLA football. Without UCLA home games, we will be hard-pressed to pay the Rose Bowl's debt obligations or perform even basic maintenance to the aging facility. Efforts to build a new stadium in LA have subsided, for now, but will surely reappear if a team is not relocated to an existing football stadium.

Rather than wait for others to seize the initiative, the Rose Bowl Operating Company and the City of Pasadena are actively pursuing an NFL franchise for our stadium. The Rose Bowl is already world-famous for its football tradition and offers international recognition enjoyed by few other sports venues. We are not dangling public subsidies, the promise of tax breaks or no-rent deals. Rather, we are presenting the Rose Bowl as the premier football venue in the country and one that is certainly up to the task of hosting an NFL franchise. We bring plenty of value to the negotiating table and, with our city and city council united behind the initiative Pasadena is a compelling business partner.

My colleagues and I on the city council have a duty to our constituents to ensure this great resource is able to sustain itself well into the future. Making the right choices on upgrading the Rose Bowl will mean this essential part of Pasadena remains an engine of opportunity. The task is not easy, nor is success assured, but the City Council and the RBOC have determined that the future of the Rose Bowl must be secured and the best way to do that is by bringing an NFL team to Pasadena.

Our biggest challenge may be in planning and executing the renovation of the Rose Bowl so that its historic composition is maintained while the facility is upgraded to modern standards needed to host an NFL football team and keep our present tenants. As a national historic monument - one of just a handful of historic stadiums remaining in the United States - the character of the Rose Bowl must remain intact.

Equally important, we must work with Rose Bowl neighbors to devise meaningful and workable strategies to improve the environment for those neighbors. If we cannot adequately mitigate impacts from professional football in the Rose Bowl, we do a disservice to our citizens.

While the Rose Bowl may be aging, it is neither old nor obsolete. The Rose Bowl remains a wonderful resource in our midst that benefits our city in ways we may not always appreciate, but would certainly miss if the facility were gone.

If the NFL wants to return to Los Angeles, the best venue choice would be the Rose Bowl. No other stadium offers the reputation, environment and enthusiastic leadership that ours does. As a city, we should resolve to protect our investment in the Rose Bowl and embrace this next big step in our historic future.