Thursday, October 20, 2011

LA Times: Pasadena studies letting NFL use Rose Bowl temporarily

Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1021-rose-bowl-20111021,0,5794596.story

Summary: The City of Pasadena will conduct a traffic study over a four-day period in-and-around The Rose Bowl to gauge whether or not the area can sustain hosting a NFL team on a temporary basis for several years.

Under-lying theme: The City of Pasadena sees an opportunity to cash in.  They're $16 million short on the $152 million worth of upgrades currently underway on The Rose Bowl.

Knee-Jerk Reaction: Pasadena thinks studying the traffic patterns for a UCLA vs. UC Berkeley (CAL) regular season game (October 29) is the best example of the traffic to expect for a NFL game?  In what reality?  The one where UCLA just lost 48-12 to a very mediocre Arizona team or the one where UCLA and CAL barely have enough combined wins to make them Bowl eligible?  I don't see either of those realities dragging college kids 30 miles across town (in crap traffic) from the West Side to fill the stands.

I was at the UCLA home game against Texas on September 17.  Their season wasn't yet lost and they were hosting one of the biggest teams in all of NCAAF.  It wasn't anywhere near full.
Click to expand
Pasadena wants to conduct a study?  Study the Rose Bowl game.  Or the BCS Championship Game.  Something that will sell-out and fill every hotel room in a 5-mile radius.  That's more of an accurate reflection of what (Insert Name of Relocated Team) Vs. Green Bay/Dallas/Pittsburgh will look like.

No comments:

Post a Comment