History Alone Doesn’t Make A Great Game-Day Experience
I’ve attended games at many historic venues, including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park to the Rose Bowl and several college football stadiums. And while I appreciate the history and traditions of Pasadena’s famous venue, the actual game-day experience is a lost fumble.
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub Sports Editor
There’s Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Wembley Stadium, the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, the grass courts at Wimbledon and, of course, Pauley Pavillion. And there is the Rose Bowl.
These are places so revered they are known more for their sports history than for the games played there.
Historic stadiums are a big part of the passion of sports. The atmosphere for a daytime Cubs game at Wrigley Field is unmatched anywhere I’ve been, the passion Red Sox fans have for Fenway Park is inspiring and the Rose Bowl is a revered among the college football media and the by the people in Los Angeles. I found out that last part first hand soon after moving to L.A. I played the golf course with a PR client and as one who loves historic stadiums, before teeing off I walked into the Rose Bowl and stepped onto the field. Out of nowhwere – and I mean nowwhere – a guy came out of a tunnel yelling at me to get off the grass. I was apparently on sacred turf!
I’ve been there many times for UCLA games and was at the famous USA-Columbia World Cup game.
But the fact of the matter is The Rose Bowl is terrible place to watch a game. It has narrow seats, painfully slow concessions (I missed almost the entire second quarter of Nick Saban’s first championship waiting in a like to get my dad and myself a beer) and there is pretty much only one way in and one way out of it.
Now that being stated, I have definitely had some great moments at the Rose Bowl. I watched Alabama’s first national championship in 16 years with my dad and in fact it was an upset win in that very stadium back in 1025 that created the Alabama football championship tradition. I had many fun moments tailgating at “the backstop” before USC-UCLA games while part of a party bus from Hermosa Beach. I was in the press box and on the field – this time with permission! – for a few USC-UCLA games with PR client Lexus. And I there was that legendary World Cup game in which my friend made a comment about “drug lords” loud enough to be heard by the entourage accompanying the Columbian president, and that moment made it into a documentary on the game.
So even tho I have those great memories, I never really actually liked the place.
Is UCLA Leaving The Rose Bowl And Moving To SoFi?
UCLA must feel the same way about the Rose Bowl as me because it is trying to get out of its contract and play at SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. This really ticked off the Rose Bowl people who filed a lawsuit (hey, it’s LA!) and UCLA capitulated to a point and agreed to play its 2026 games in its traditional statium. But the writing is on the wall as far as I’m concerned, even though the Rose Bowl lease runs through 2044.
I thought UCLA fans would celebrate getting out of the Rose Bowl and into a more centrally-located area so they didn’t have to haul all the way to Pasadena, but as Lee Corso might say, “not so fast my friends!” I checked with a couple of long-time Bruin fans and they see it for what it is: a money grab that is going to cost them more to go a game. A lot more. Ticket prices will skyrocket. Right now, you can still get into UCLA games – if you know how to do it and one of my Bruin friends is an expert at it – for $20-30.
This is a major sports dilemma of the day: the conflict between tradition and modern expectations. Do you preserve history, or do you modernize for today’s fans? Ultimately, schools and teams are going to do what is best for them, which is to chase the money, and know that the fans will follow. And as much as dislike the Rose Bowl, it would be sad to see it fade into college football history like, well, UCLA being in the Pac-12 Conference.
What I Like About The Rose Bowl
- Historic atmosphere
- Legendary college football tradition
- Good tailgating
- Beautiful Pasadena setting
What I Don’t Like About The Rose Bowl
- Narrow seats
- Long concession lines
- Difficult traffic flow
- It’s too far from most places in LA
Kevin Wilkerson is the founder of PubClub.com, an award-winning journalist and nightlife expert who has covered destinations, events and sports for more than three decades. While working as a sports newspaper reporter, he received an Associated Press award for investigative journalism.
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