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Perhaps the most famous
stadium in college football, the Rose Bowl has been the site of many
historical sporting events including five Super Bowls. By the late 1800s, the City of Pasadena
begin their search for land to build a stadium. In 1897, a parcel of
land was bought and two decades later, the Tournament of Roses
Association decided it was time to build a stadium. Before the
construction of the Rose Bowl, the annual Rose Bowl game was played at
Tournament Park, where temporary stands were constructed each year for
the game. Construction on
the stadium began in the early 1920s and was complete in 1922. Built
just for football, the first game played at the Rose Bowl was
on October 28, 1922 when Cal beat USC. The Rose Bowl originally had a
seating capacity of 57,000 in a horseshoe configuration. On January 1,
1923, the first Rose Bowl Game was played when USC beat Penn State.
The first of several expansions to the Rose Bowl
began in 1929,
when the stadium was enclosed on the south end, increasing the capacity
to 76,000. Three years later, the capacity increased again to 86,000
and to just over 100,000 in 1949. In 1982, the UCLA Bruins made their
debut at the Rose Bowl, moving from the Los Angeles Coliseum. Since then, it has remained the Bruins home
and the site of many other events. In the past decade, the Rose Bowl has
underwent
several improvements including new lights, a new three story press
box and a video/scoreboard. In 1998, individual chairs replaced the
bleachers between the endzones. Today, the
Rose Bowl has a capacity of 91,136. The main one tier grandstand
encloses the entire playing field. In addition to hosting numerous
college football games over the years, the Rose Bowl has been home of
the Super Bowl and the World Cup. Of course it is most famous for
hosting the Rose Bowl each year on New Years Day. In October 2010, the
Pasadena City Council approved plans for a $152 million
renovation of the Rose Bowl. To be completed by the 100th Rose
Bowl and the BCS title game in 2014, the plan calls for widening
tunnels and access aisles, a new retro 1940s style scoreboard on
the south endzone, a new HD videoboard on the north endzone and
an expansion of the luxury seating to 2,500.
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