NFL in the Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl Stadium with Pavilion Construction

NFL in the Rose Bowl Lawsuit Setback >>
posted January 25, 2014

Petitioners' Opening Brief

L.A. Superior Court
Statement of Decision

Opinion: What Happened to the NFL?
Part 1* >>
Part 2 >>
by Nina Chomsky, LVAA President
*reprinted with permission from the WPRA Newsletter (Spring 2013)

Are We Ready for "Some" NFL Football in the Rose Bowl?

LVAA, joined by our community-based partners -- the San Rafael Neighborhoods Association (SRNA) and East Arroyo Neighborhood Preservation Committee (EANPC) -- is fighting to protect our neighborhoods again!

We believe our neighborhoods and our quality of life will be adversely affected by recent City decisions and actions to facilitate use and occupancy of the Rose Bowl for five continuous years by the National Football League (NFL), including amendment of the Arroyo Seco Public Lands Ordinance to more than double the number of major events in the Rose Bowl, up to twenty-five per year specifically for the NFL! Our efforts also are strongly supported by the West Pasadena Residents’ Association (WPRA).

As a result, in January 2013, the Coalition for Preservation of the Arroyo, a newly-formed public interest group, joined by LVAA and its partners SRNA and EANPC, filed a lawsuit against the City of Pasadena to challenge this issue on environmental grounds. The suit asserts that Pasadena illegally amended its Municipal Code to allow expanded use of the Rose Bowl for a possible NFL team; violated local and state laws to enable an NFL team to use the Rose Bowl for up to five years; and illegally certified the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for these actions.

Why is the possibility of an NFL team at the Rose Bowl a threat to our quality of life, our neighborhood, all West Pasadena and East Arroyo neighborhoods, and the Central Arroyo itself, which is an irreplaceable open space and parkland recreational area? Here are some of the reasons:

Football in the Central Arroyo weekend after weekend – UCLA on Saturdays and the NFL in Sundays – for at least six months each year, including the probability of UCLA and the NFL on the same weekends;
NFL Rose Bowl games over up to five continuous years starting in mid-August and continuing into January;
Two week-day evening NFL games per season, and Sunday night games;
DOUBLE neighborhood Rose Bowl major event traffic, air pollution, noise, trash, and, degradation of the physical condition of the Central Arroyo;
NFL fans parking in all our impacted neighborhoods, with significantly more neighborhood parking when it rains;
Excessive traffic driving and parking on all feeder streets into the Central Arroyo on NFL game days;
75,000 NFL fans per game, plus an unknown number of ticket-less tailgaters in the Central Arroyo and our impacted neighborhoods;
NFL tailgating outside the Rose Bowl for hours, including continuous alcohol consumption during tailgating, and, during most of the game (as opposed to UCLA), plus commercial events like the “NFL Experience”;
Large numbers of NFL fans driving under the influence of alcohol in all impacted neighborhoods and throughout Pasadena;
Almost all forms of community-based recreation in the Central Arroyo prohibited continuously for days at a time for nearly half the year; including golfing, kids’ soccer, swimming, tennis, hiking, Tournament of Roses activities, and, all Loop activities such as walking and running;
The likelihood of declining property values due to proximity to an NFL stadium for five continuous years, and thousands of people, specifically NFL fans, descending on all impacted neighborhoods, the Central Arroyo, and Pasadena itself, for too long.

While in the Fall of 2011, the LVAA Board of Directors voted unanimously to oppose any occupancy of the Rose Bowl Stadium by the NFL, significantly, our principal concern with the NFL EIR is that the EIR, as required by applicable law, fails to identify, and the City failed to adopt, performance-based, enforceable mitigations for a specific NFL Rose Bowl lease proposal, and, thus, fails adequately to protect our neighborhood, as well as all other impacted neighborhoods and the Central Arroyo.

Correspondence and background information regarding opposition by neighborhood groups against the occupancy of the Rose Bowl Stadium by the NFL pursuant to the EIR, including lawsuit documentation, can be found toward the bottom of this page.

Join us in challenging the NFL in the Rose Bowl Environmental Impact Report (EIR)! We need your help!

Please support and contribute to this important effort to preserve our neighborhood and our quality of life!

CEQA Lawsuit:
Coalition for Preservation
of the Arroyo

Press Release: Lawsuit by Coalition of Diverse Groups Challenges NFL Rose Bowl Lease (January 2013)

Filed Petition with Los Angeles Superior Court (January 2013)

Contribute to Help Fund the CEQA Lawsuit!

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@ SRNAPasadena.org
not tax deductible;
potential for refund
@ WPRA.net
tax deductible;
no refund

Linda Vista~Annandale Association

Letter to City: Comments on DEIR for Temporary Use of the Rose Bowl Stadium by the NFL (October 2012)

Comments on and Background Information about FEIR (November 2012)

Comments On and Background Information About the FEIR (November 2012)

Comments on Barrett Sports Group Analysis Regarding NFL Revenues (November 2012)

FEIR Draft Statement of Overriding Consideration with Barrett Sports Group Analysis of Economic Benefit from the NFL in the Rose Bowl (Exhibit A) (November 2012)