The decadeslong relationship between UCLA and the Rose Bowl—one of the oldest and most recognizable stadiums in college football—is getting rocky.
On Wednesday, the City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl filed a lawsuit against the school alleging that the Bruins attempted to breach their contract to play football games at the stadium, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, reportedly alleged UCLA tried to move home football games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the home of the Chargers and Rams, instead of the Rose Bowl. It says that Pasadena taxpayers have paid $150 million for stadium renovations, and financed $130 million in bonds. The lawsuit claims the monetary damages to the city of Pasadena if UCLA were to abandon the Rose Bowl could exceed $1 billion.
“This lawsuit arises in an era when money too often eclipses meaning and the pursuit of profit threatens to erase the very traditions that breathe life into institutions,” the complaint reportedly said.
The parties to the lawsuit—the Rose Bowl, the City of Pasadena, and UCLA—did not immediately respond to Front Office Sports’ request for comment.
UCLA has called the Rose Bowl its home since the early 1980s. But in recent years, the relationship has faltered. The Rose Bowl is 26 miles from UCLA’s campus (SoFi, on the other hand, is 12 miles—still not quite close), and the combination of brutal traffic conditions and UCLA’s less-than-ideal on-field performance (3-5 this season) has made it challenging for fans, and especially students, to attend.
This season, the Bruins have averaged fewer than 36,000 fans per game, less than half stadium capacity.
