The Rose Bowl is Not Interested in Hosting an NFL Team

It seems like the NFL is really coming back to Los Angeles this time, but it will not be visiting Pasadena. There are apparently viable competing stadium plans underway in both Carson (the Chargers and Raider) and Inglewood (the Rams and ?) and the NFL is now looking for a temporary venue to host one or two teams while their new home is built. (The league has never gotten to this stage in the 20 years since the NFL left LA, despite stadium attempt after stadium attempt. This is pretty real.) The NFL sent "a feeler" out recently to potential venues, including the Rose Bowl and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum—the two stadiums always considered the leading candidates for temporary hosting—as well as Dodger Stadium, the StubHub Center in Carson, and Angels Stadium in Anaheim. Yesterday the Rose Bowl Operating Committee voted unanimously not to respond to the request, reports the Pasadena Star-News.

For one thing, city officials seemed offended that they weren't simply picked for the job. "[A Request For Proposals] to five stadiums is not an indication that the NFL wants to come here, it's indication of a bidding war," said a board member. "My view is that if the NFL was serious, they would not be asking the city of Pasadena — a city of our stature — to send a proposal, they would be negotiating with the Rose Bowl directly," said a city councilmember.

But more relevantly, the Rose Bowl is choosing to focus instead on the proposed Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival, a two- or three-day festival they've been comparing to Coachella. The festival would be hosted by LA Live owners AEG for 10 or even 20 years and would make the city and stadium a lot more money. Pas hasn't approved the event yet.

Not incidental either, the rich residents who live around the Rose Bowl don't want the NFL. In 2011, the city voted preemptively to agree to temporarily host a team if they were asked, but several homeowners associations sued both the city and the Rose Bowl (the homeowners have so far lost). Those neighbors are hoping the music and arts festival will box the NFL out for good.
· Rose Bowl opposes NFL temporarily housing relocated team at stadium [PSN]
· NFL is Looking For a Place to Play in LA For 2016 [Curbed LA]
· The Rose Bowl Might Be Getting Its Own Version of Coachella [Curbed LA]