From a Galaxy soccer event at the Rose Bowl (File Photo – lagalaxy.com)
On October 28, the Pasadena City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into an agreement with the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28).
By News Desk
Pasadena hosted two Olympic Games in the past. The first, in 1932, when track cycling was held at the Rose Bowl, and again in 1984, when the Rose Bowl hosted Olympic soccer, including the gold medal match between France and Brazil, played in front of 101,799 spectators. With the selection of the City of Los Angeles as host city of the 2028 Olympic Games, Pasadena once again has a unique opportunity to host Olympic soccer at the Rose Bowl.
The City and Rose Bowl Operating Company have been negotiating a Games Agreement with LA28 for the Rose Bowl Stadium to host Olympic soccer. There is now a tiered framework that will take shape over the course of four agreements to be negotiated between now and October 2027.
The nature of negotiating Olympic agreements at this relatively early stage in the process means that the fiscal impact to the City of Pasadena of hosting the Games is unknown at this time but will be negotiated and developed in supplemental agreements.
The venue and surrounding infrastructure to support the Games already exist, and the City has a long history of successfully hosting major events at the Rose Bowl, including international and Olympic soccer events, Super Bowls, and the College Football Playoff. The City of Pasadena may need to enhance the level of services to support the Olympic Games and related events. These may include costs for enhancements to public safety, sanitation, streets and roadways maintenance, code enforcement, traffic control, and other services that will be defined in supplemental agreements to be negotiated in the coming years. It is anticipated that the economic impact from hosting the Games at the Rose Bowl Stadium will be substantial.
Hosting the Games will once again elevate the City’s profile on a world-stage and position the City and the Rose Bowl to host other large-scale events in the future.
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