The Future of the Rose Bowl: Legacy, Modernization, and What Comes Next

In this episode, we sit down with Dedan Brozino and Derek Doolittle of the Rose Bowl to talk about the future of one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. From preserving the Rose Bowl’s historic legacy to navigating modernization, we dive into what it takes to steward a venue that hosts far more than just football.

Our conversation explores the incredible range of activities happening across the Rose Bowl campus—from major sporting events and concerts to community traditions like the Rose Bowl Flea Market, races, festivals, and even massive interactive experiences like Pokémon GO events that transform the stadium grounds into a real-world gaming playground.

We also discuss the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where the Rose Bowl will once again take the global stage by hosting Olympic soccer matches, including semifinal and final games, continuing its long Olympic legacy.

Tune in as we talk about balancing tradition and innovation, the challenges of maintaining a nearly century-old landmark, and what’s next for one of the most storied venues in sports and entertainment.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Welcome back to From A to Built. I'm Bryson Raume here with my co-host Chris James. Today we're talking about a place that needs no introduction. It's the famous Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, one of the most iconic venues in the world, over a hundred years of history, hosting five Super Bowls, three Olympics, multiple World Cups, and concerts, creating generations of memories for fans across California, the U.S., and beyond. But what's fascinating to us is what most people don't see, and that's what it takes to operate and preserve and improve a historic stadium like the Rose Bowl while still keeping it relevant for the next hundred years. To help unpack this, we're joined by two people who are right at the center of shaping its future. First is Dean Rosino, president of the Rosebowl Legacy Foundation. Dean is leading the effort to build long-term philanthropic support to ensure the Rose Bowl continues to thrive as a world-class venue and civic asset. We're also joined by Derek Doolittle, the general manager of the Rose Bowl Stadium. Derek oversees the operations and strategy behind running one of the most historic and active venues in America, balancing modern fan expectations with the responsibility of protecting a true landmark. Today we're going to talk about the legacy of the Rose Bowl, what it really is as an institution, some little known facts about its history, and the vision for what comes next. Let's get into it. All right, guys, let's uh jump right in here. Derek and Deedon, thank you so much for joining Chris and I on From A to Built. We're excited to have you here. Uh so we're just gonna jump right into some of these fun questions. Um and when I think about the Rose Bowl, you know, I think of this amazing institution. I mainly think of football games, I think about all the fun sports that go on there. But really, back up a little bit from just football for Rose Bowl. What is the Rose Bowl as just an institution? What is it year-round for Pasadena and for the world outside of just football?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I mean, I think from the jump, it's a it's a point of civic pride, right? You know, Pasadena community of you know, what is it, 135,000 to 145, 40,000 residents? Um it's not many communities in the country or world that can say that they have an i icon like the Rose Bowl Stadium, quite frankly, in their in their backyard. Um so I think the the benefit that it provides to uh the city of Pasadena and its residents um is something that doesn't get talked about enough. Um and as you hinted there, so much more than football. Yeah, it's easy to think about the Rose Bowl game in January 1st and sunset on the San Gabriels, which is no doubt uh part of its icon, part of its signature. Uh but we were just in a meeting uh earlier today talking about some of the other events that might not jump to the front of the page, like Pokemon Go.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Pokemon Go. Nice you know, a revolution that started some time ago and uh finds people walking around at random, you know, crossing roads uh all over the place. Do they do it in the stadium? They do it everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah, everywhere. That's awesome. Everywhere, Chris. We we uh had our I think third rendition um of Pokemon Go just uh uh a couple of weekends ago in February, and it was incredible because they take over the stadium, they take over the concourse, they take over the golf course, and you get thousands, thousands of people. Um, and what's uh most uh inspiring about that event to me is that it's individuals who would not be interacting with the Rose Bowl Stadium or Brokerside golf course if it weren't for the event. And I think that to me underscores the importance of the Rose Bowl Stadium. We are not just football, we're not just major soccer matches, we're not just major concerts and music events, so we are that too. Uh but we're a rallying point for cultural and recor uh recreational activities uh for anybody anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

That's amazing. Yeah, I have a 10-year-old and a and a 13-year-old, so I'm I'm very familiar with the Pokemon Go uh situation, um, them wandering out into the street trying to find Pokemon. Seriously. So that's interesting. Um, and then you know, speaking of all these amazing events and what the Rose Bowl is, what's unique about operating? I mean, is it a hundred-year-old facility at this point?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

What is it?

SPEAKER_02 4:38

103. 103 and a half. So a hundred and three-year-old facility and doing these top-tier sporting events, concerts, cultural events, you know, what it what is unique about that? You know, how are you seeing expectations change right now around stadiums and uh what are some of the challenges of operating?

SPEAKER_05 4:57

Derek touched upon hey, we're not just football anymore. Like it is there, there is a really quantifiable cool factor that people might just know us for Pokemon or or the flea market. Um and I and I think you know, as we reflect with our teams day in and day out, and then we we're just a team of 45 or so staff members, but on a major event day, we're a small city. So when you reflect back on what that means, while we were built for football 103 years ago, protecting an icon does not necessarily mean freezing it in time. You know, 1920s infrastructure is not does not meet 2026 expectations. So that that means having Pokemon out on the golf course. It means leaning into our flea market or or expanding our music festival business. So I think when when when you talk about operating 103 years young venue, you still have to take care of those core elements, the football, the the musical events that kind of built the foundation of the house. But now you're adding a third story to the house, the fourth story to the house. And to be able to trust your staff with that dynamic, evolutionary, almost daily blank canvas creative mindset has, I think, been really fun for Derek and I to be a part of a team like that because three years ago we weren't talking about executing a Pokemon Go event and finding a digital Pikachu and all this good stuff. But you know, I have a I have an 11 and a 14-year-old as well. So similar ages to yours, they don't care that we play football on January 1st down there, but they they want to know when that Pikachu event's gonna be, right? So I think you know, just being open and honest, just like anything in life, right? When you're developing new relationships, you're developing new uh, you know, growing your network, you start a new job, you you got to be open-minded about everything. And and I feel like our staff has really embraced the fact that we can't have blinders on to continue to evolve and step into to what we continue to do because these newer venues around Los Angeles and around the country, love them, hate them, indifferent about them, whatever, it doesn't matter. They're brand new, a lot of them. Yeah, and they have new technologies and they have new guts and they have new uh they don't they don't need a private 501c3 to raise money for them. They don't answer to a city council. Um, those are all uniquenesses that I think we embrace and are proud of because it's made us uniquely ours. You know, every time there's an event at the Rose Bowl, it is somebody's first time there. And it doesn't matter if it's that January 1st game or Pokemon. So how do we make that person feel? And and I think, you know, as we look at how you continue to operate to modern expectations, it's being ready for what people expect. And that's it, it that hasn't changed since 1922. And that's being fun and available and safe and ready to go, regardless of what what the painting is for that day.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

And what it what does that look like right now when you talk about okay, we've got this beautiful historic stadium, but we know we have to modernize just that's what's happening. So, how do you respect that historic heritage and bring in a little bit of that modernization? What are some key things that you're thinking about right now where you're like, all right, we have to do this for the stadium, right? We have to modernize these pieces of it. Um, and then how do you work around the historical pieces when you're doing that?

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Yeah, I think um obviously the historical uh certainly designation of the venue is something that we take very seriously uh and is uh incredibly uh important to us day in and day out as we're ideating upon what these amenities are that we need to make sure that we continue to uh infuse into the stadium uh to bring uh to maintain its vibrancy um that that it's had for so long, you know, whether that be uh improved cell phone service, right? It's sometimes it's a basic amenities uh that prove to be the most challenging to bring to this area, especially by the way, not only is it 103 years old, it's it's nestled into this idealistic neighborhood and um down in an arroy. And so when you talk about things like cell phone connectivity and different pieces like that, uh, that are modern day expectations, it's something that we're uh can continuously strategizing upon uh with our carrier groups and whatnot. And they continue to step up to the plate and and answer the bell relative to making sure we have the latest and greatest uh uh at this moment of 5G um technology in the venue. Um but different pieces, such as, you know, uh I think we live in a market, especially uh where expectations of um patrons um are to come into a premium experience no matter where they are in a venue. Uh so we continue to ideate upon what's the next premium splash um that we put into a venue. I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about our our ongoing project right now in in the South End zone, uh but whether that be there or the future of just general patron seating, you know, how do we improve that as well? And and again, just make sure we're leveraging uh certainly what's great about our venue, and a big part about what's great about our venue are all of the performers that have come through the doors and all of the football teams that have uh played, you know, just these games that are so memorable and have touched decades upon decades um of families along the way.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

But just to take a step back, I think it would be helpful for the audience if we could just rattle through all of the types of events that are hosted at the Rose World. Whoa. It's just Pokemon Go. And then some football games.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Because there's also, I mean, there's the golf. Yeah, the the list goes on and on. Deedon clean clean me up here. Is it even possible to host it all? Let's give it a try. Because I don't think the public really knows. Yeah. Well, uh, you've probably heard about the January 1st uh football game and the Rose Bowl game. A lot of college football uh that certainly happens inside the stadium. Um world-class soccer. We host FIFA Club World Cup uh just last year. We have a friendly coming up uh between uh Mexico and Australia here in May as they uh make their final tune-ups for the uh World Cup event taking place this summer. Um music events, you know, our music product has become so wide-ranging, whether that be your traditional concert inside the stadium, uh, whether that be uh your music events or music festivals that get activated on the golf course uh with our our partner there, Golden Voice, um, flea market, uh the second Sunday of every month. You can't miss that. Walks, runs, community events, banquets. I mean, you name it. I don't know. I don't know how far I can get.

SPEAKER_05 11:25

I think in the flea market effect's real. Like they people talk about the target effect. Like you go to the flea market, spend 140 bucks, easy. Yeah, you get come home with a nice beat up license plate, all this kind of. But I think um, you know, the the stadium, we're we're allowed 25, we call them displacement events, 25 displacement events of about 20 or 000 or more people per event. That's your big football games, your soccer matches, your concerts, your music festivals. And then we do about 200 enterprise events below that number every year. And that could be anything from a podcast recording, a board meeting, a staff meeting, a pop-up target store when they're launching a rain boot, whatever it might be. Um, but I think historically we've really built the right to take on more. So we we talked about how we were born to host one football game a year, one event per year, and now we're in the hundreds of events if you want to quantify everything. We've had five Super Bowls. The last Super Bowl we had was the birth of the modern day halftime show, Michael Jackson in '93. Um, we had John Madden's Super Bowl. We still have the largest Super Bowl ever attended in 1980 with the Steelers and the Rams. We've had two World Cups, 94, 99, the 99 Women's World Cup, a lot of people consider to be as big, if not bigger, than Title IX and what it did for women's athletics in the United States and the inspiration there. And then um we're we're coming up to our third Olympic Games in 2028. And you know, Derek and I sit here very proudly on behalf of our staff and everybody that's come before us, that we are the only venue on planet Earth as as as we we spin today that has had three Olympic Games and two World Cups, soon to be three Olympic games and World Cups. And that's a pretty tall order, right? And then, but yet you go back to your earlier question where there's a whole generation that knows us for other things. And that that's a really neat place to be as as we we evolve through the world that we're in. Um I think from a community perspective, we're owned by the city of Pasadena. So uh the residents are the owners, the residents are our are direct reports, so to speak. And being able to see the venue utilized though for for things that benefit the community. Derek talked about you know the Arroyo Seco. We're on an almost 300-acre property. That's right. It's a huge property. It's one of the most active daily recreation spaces in all of LA County, which is the most populated county in America. So one could argue that it's maybe the most active daily recreation space in the country or one of the.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Uh, whenever I visit the Rose Bowl, I mean, it really does feel like a family atmosphere. It really like because that ethos is enthused in the place. But um, Derek, I remember when we first walked the field together, and just with everything you're talking about Dean, it really the word that comes to mind is uh cathedral. Yeah, yeah. Um and I was actually watching uh the Netflix documentary um about the Dallas Cowboys and that Super Bowl that they played um against I think it was the Buffalo Bills here at the Rose Bowl. And I still remember uh Michael Irvin talking about walking into the stadium and feeling like he got hit with just like a wall of noise. Like he's never experienced anything like that in his whole life. So just like the power of the venue, the space, the way it's laid out. It's just something that's like an incredible classic. So yeah, everything as you're doing is amazing.

SPEAKER_05 15:30

You see it often with uh major performers that come through, and and Derek, you and I haven't haven't aligned on this, but I'm I'm certain it's probably true. The the amount of stories that we hear from fans, from performers, from celebrities, you name it. A people are very childlike when they talk about the place. It's like Christmas morning, and and there are not two stories that align in the same word for word for word. People might be there on the same day. Yeah, like we hear a lot about the 06 Texas USC game, one of the best college football games ever. We have not heard two of the same story out of that day, even though we've met hundreds of people that have been there. And and I think as you think through, whether it's the Michael Michael uh Irvin reference you made to the Netflix documentary, Taylor Swift made a pause after her second song back in like 2018 when she was playing concert. And I remember I was I was next to a staff member, and you thought the the sound had gone out in the venue. You thought we were having audio issues, and it was just Taylor kind of taking a moment to herself in between songs two and three, and she verbalized and she said, Hey, like I get it now, I get why this place is so special. Yeah, and it was like almost like it hit her after coming out of the gate with these two songs. Chesney had the same thing. It it's uh when when it takes people of that caliber that are in those venues around the world at the ultimate, ultimate magnitude, standing on a catwalk in front of tens of thousands of people. That Derek and I haven't gotten that call yet, by the way, to go do that. But um, when you take those types of people, and it becomes very basic to them why a place like that continues to persevere and be special to many, many different demographics around the globe. It's it's it's it's hard to wrap that into something to explain, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Well, and I think you know, I get uh chills here just as you do that list, and it's it's some of the smaller stories too that give me chills every day. It's a family from Nebraska who's just kind of happening through Pasadena, and they show up at the gate and they want to come in and see the venue, and you know, they ask you to take them to section 21, row 67, seat 101, um, and and just to stand there for a moment and say, My grandfather brought me here in the 1960s or whatever, and just the memories that have that have endured the test of time. And you know, I often say one of the, you know, we we talked about the historic nature of the venue a little bit ago. And um, you know, the historic nature of the venue makes it really challenging to operate too, by the way. Um, but it's also it's just not a throwaway venue, right? In an era where a venue is built to last probably more than 25, 30 years, but you know, you don't see major venues like the Rose Bowl endure for more than 25-30 years anymore. And so there's not many venues in the country or even world that can that you can evoke that kind of emotion from, that raw emotion of this event that occurred in 1960 or this event that occurred in 1932, or whatever it may be, and and we're one of them. That's what quite frankly jazzes me up every day about the responsibility we have to make sure that, as you said, generations from now when when we've come and passed, this place is still as vibrant as ever.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Yeah, yeah. I get your comment on cathedral. Because it's because it's that uh that feeling of you know, if you walk into a cathedral in Rome and you just have that moment, yeah. But it's crazy to think you can get that from a stadium in Pasadena. That's right. That same feeling and that that scale. Um that's really what it is. And I love how you glossed over, Derek. It's kind of hard to operate a historical facility. It's insanely hard. Like we our business is renovating historical facilities, and that is extremely difficult operating within those constraints of hundred-year-old plumbing and HVAC and just the structural, everything about it is harder than people know. Yeah. Um, and so we know that there's just constant work going on. And now that we've built this up and everyone knows you guys are the stewards of making everything happen. What are your what are your top priorities over the next kind of 24 months for the stadium? Uh when you're looking out, right, two, three years, what do you guys uh what's top priority for you?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, I think as we look in the short term here, um, it's uh and I mentioned it earlier, uh but bringing on board the South End Zone Improvement Project. Um they were we're uh actually two months into construction on uh right now, uh set to complete at the end of July and and open up on September 12th for the uh UCLA Bruins first home game. Um but wow, uh the process to get us to the start line there and and make sure they were doing it in a thoughtful and intentional manner. That's one thing that I think for us we have to focus on a little bit more than most venues, is just being thoughtful and intentional in everything we do, be whether that's a traffic route down to the stadium because of that neighborhood that we're nestled into or entering the stadium gates, um, because you know uh it's just an older, it's just an older venue. So uh thoughtfulness, intentionality, but no, opening a South End Zone Club um is going to be such a shot in the arm, I think, for the venue. And you know, maintaining all of its historical properties and really thoughtfully nestling this premium uh experience down into the seating bowl. Quite frankly, the first time it's it's ever been done um is a priority um for us there. Uh, I think, you know, refining operational uh procedures as we motor towards the uh LA 28 games, you know, that's going to be here uh golly, I guess in about 24 months. So that's that's kind of on the horizon. We should start planning. LA should start planning. This is a great idea. This is a good idea. Uh just don't bring your cars, uh car-free Olympics. Um, but no, that's that's upon us, right? And so uh, you know, the team's been uh hard at work with LA 28 organizing group, uh local organizing group here to make sure we're ready. We're really excited. We're we're playing soccer matches. We know that we're going to be the home of the men's and women's gold medal games for soccer, which is super exciting for us. And soccer is kind of what we do. Uh so we're lucky in that sense. We're not a venue that has to turn itself into a track or turn itself into a pool. Uh, we get to do what we do best, but there's great responsibility when it comes to that. The standards of security and the standards of infrastructure that are required to put on a worldly event of that magnitude, preparing yourself to uh bring in dignitaries from all over the world. It has evolved since the last Olympic Games that were hosted here in 1984 as well. So making sure we're prepared for that, I think, is a significant priority for us. But really, too, just you know, as Dean talked about, all of those events that we're hosting continuously is making sure that we're uh uh uh continuing to evolve from a standpoint of what's next, right? What what's the next cultural or recreational phenomenon that's going to come about that we need to be on the cutting edge uh for to make sure that we're prepared to accept, you know, another generation of event that's going to come through the stadium's gate.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Yeah. I mean, do you want to expand upon that a little bit? Because I remember when you first talked to us about the South End Zone and some of the other stadium impartments, there was this idea of you know making sure that everyone understands how the Rose Bowl is the best in class. And it's like it's up there with SoFi and ATT Stadium and all these other great technological marvels.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Uh yeah, no, no question. And to that point, you know, making sure that everybody understands, you know, when they're coming through the gates, it's not just the premium uh features that we're trying to um bring into the the 21st century while maintaining our historical integrity, of course. By the way, uh, you know, we have a lot of other um uh projects on the docket that Dean and his team are uh going gangbusters at um raising money for, whether that be the replacement of all of the uh fixed seating uh in the bowl, those being the east and west uh side seats, um, to bring that not necessarily a uh experience with premium amenities, but giving everybody that feel of being in a seat that's that's super comfortable. And you know, this isn't um uh to to rag on us in any means, of course, but it's challenging. It can be challenging going to an event and you're seated in seat uh 30 and you're you're kind of crawling across uh saying, excuse me, thank you, uh 29 times to get to your seat. So we're really excited for that project that's going to totally revamp the east and west seats. That's also when you talk about the historical nature of our venue and the rake of our bowl uh and the ellipse uh of our bowl uh and maintaining the integrity of what makes that so special. Well, you know, infusing an improvement like that uh into it, uh that's that's going to give uh the design team fits. But we hope, you know, as we uh finish out this South End Zone project, really get into the planning phases of a project like that as we turn the calendar year into 2027. Um, as well as, of course, uh we have our eyes set in a new video board product on the north side of the venue, uh replacing the existing video board with a large format screen stretching, you know, upwards of 250 feet wide or so. Um maintaining a low profile as to make sure that we're still giving all of the patrons that uh that incredible view of the San Cabriel Mountain range when they're when they're seated in the seating bowl. Um that too has its uh historical challenges when you think about one of the historical properties, which is the rim of the stadium. Um so we actually can't do anything that impacts the rim of the stadium, which is kind of wild when you look on the west side and the Terry Donahue Pavilion that was uh built uh uh a little over a decade ago now, and it looks like it's it's built onto the stadium. But if you look closely, that thing is paperclipped onto the stadium. It's not even touching uh the rim of the stadium. So you know, you consider a project like a video board replacement on the north side where you know we're probably gonna have to cantilever a product in uh and over uh the rim of the bowl so that we maintain that historical property. Again, just being thoughtful, being intentional. Um, every moment of every day, every every improvement we're talking about, every operational procedure we're talking about, we're talking about how it you know certainly impacts the venue, maintains historical statuses, impacts our neighborhood when we start talking about operational um impacts and different pieces like that too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:59

I think the the one of the we we've mentioned historic stadiums now for for uh a couple different responses. I think Derek's mentioning of intentional is hugely important because the the most harmful, expensive thing we could ever do to the Rose Bowl is we pass it on to that next generation and a bunch of people we will never meet or see that need to enjoy it the way that we've all enjoyed it. The most expensive, harmful thing we could ever do is to do nothing. And to be intentional stewards of of this and lean on our core tenants like UCLA and the Tournament of Roses and our music partners, um, these aren't just things that we got together as a staff and you know, put a blindfold on and reached into a hat and pulled out and say, hey, let's do a field club. Like there, there, there, there are there's some intent a ton of intentionality behind that, but there's also intentionality on maintaining our national historic landmark status. We're one of four major stadiums nationally out of those 2600, 2700 historic landmarks in the whole database. And there used to be more. We're aware that there used to be more, and that that that plaque and that that right got stripped away from those venues. And some of those venues now, um, you know, people can go Google what they what they were, but some of those venues now are getting torn down, they don't exist anymore, or they're moving out of state, or they're moving out of market, or whatever it might be. So we are keenly aware of of what we need to do. And we've aligned ourselves with some really strategic and smart historical partners, both in the Pasadena community and nationally, that study and know these things to to kind of help protect us and run interference for us and tell us, hey guys, you can't do that, but you can do this. Yeah. Because the last thing we want to do in any of these intentional projects while we while we work and think of the patron and how we can best take care of their experience and and elevate their experience in year 103, 104, and beyond is risk that national historic landmark status because that's a huge reason our heartbeat is as strong as it is nationally. So um it it is a weird, delicate balance. So you you almost are forced into this period of intentionality that you never get out of. And I think that's made us really, really good at what we do and thoughtful at what we do and and allows us to just keep the same strong partners in the huddle that want to see the same for the Rose Bowl Stadium moving forward, not just in this moment of the 28 Olympic Games.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

It also forces me every day to understand that patience is a virtue. Yeah. Amen. Bang your head against the wall.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

I mean, that that kind of leads into my next question. Again, we have a background in in historical renovations, we know the difficulties, and I think there's a lot of misconceptions around what it takes to do anything within these facilities. Anything. Sure. You know, you want to move a door over, it's like, well, we gotta we gotta go through a process to make sure that door can be moved to a certain area. Um so what does a any regular project look like and what are some of the hurdles that you have to go through? Because I said I think that's a lot of people, we take it for granted we're in the industry, but I don't think a lot of people understand the lengths that you go to and the groups that you coordinate with to make sure that that iconic stadium stays a historical landmark. Yeah. So run us through kind of some of those um fun experiences. You probably got a whole dog pile to pick from one out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Well, I'll I'll oversimplify it here. Um, you know, three of the key groups that that we work closely with. Every project where we're you know touching the stadium, especially to the magnitude of which we're touching the south end zone uh right now. Uh we work with a uh local historical preservation consultant um to bring in and really be by our side um for the necessary period during the design process to make sure that the properties um of which are uh designating uh the stadium and the venue, a historic landmark, um are being adhered to. And you know, we're not doing anything. One that changes the the thread or fabric of of what's made the stadium what it is, what gave it as historical designation um back in the 80s. Um but two also um just to make sure we're um not even if if we can put some something somewhere that we're doing it again, thoughtful, intentional. I come back to that in a thoughtful and intentional manner. You know, how are we uh blending uh concrete work, you know, to make sure that it's not sticking out like something that doesn't belong, right? You know, if we're if we are you know doing something that may need to be undone someday, how are we doing it so that it's reversible? Different pieces like that. So certainly our local um preservation consultant is is one key stop along the uh journey. Uh we also work here really closely with uh Pasadena Heritage and the folks over um at Pasadena Heritage. You know, really for all these projects that we just mentioned, whether it be the South End Zone or the uh video board replacement or the seating replacement project, you know, we've already started having conversations with them relative to what the future holds from that standpoint. You know, that's a group that's that's super important here in this community, um making sure that the community's historical asset assets, the city of Pasadena's historical assets maintain their integrity. And, you know, when you look at the laundry list of we just talked about all the events that that we host, I we probably need like two more podcasts to talk about the all the historical properties around the city of Pasadena. But we're really thankful for um them also approaching us in a thoughtful and intentional manner to have these conversations um to make sure that um what we are doing is is being done um in a reasonable manner. And then of course, you know, we go through all just like any other venue, the city planning process and the historical nat the hor historical folks uh through the city planning departments as well to make sure that, you know, again, as we before we break ground, we have a thoughtful plan that's that's ready to be to be delivered intentionally and and uh is going to maintain the integrity of what's important to us. And that's it's being a national historic uh landmark. There aren't many venues in the country that that can say they hold on to that designation, and there there are many uh venues in the country who have held that designation and let it slip through the cracks, and that's just that's just not uh that's a non-negotiable for us. That's not something we're willing to uh move upon.

SPEAKER_05 32:12

And that's a cool journey that that Derek mentioned too, because everybody that's a part of that journey, he mentioned a bunch of the the preservation groups and the consultants that we work with. Everybody wants the same thing. They they they just don't want to let go of what what it is in all of our minds, right? And that's a really cool thing to kind of try to to wrap in and and move forward in in an in a way that evolves the venue and doesn't allow us to to think of it any differently. And it it makes the projects, yes, a little bit longer when you got to move the door, you gotta move the window front, whatever it is. Um, but to have everybody kind of aligned and in generality pulling in the same direction, it it makes for a really positive outcome 99% of the time. So we're I mean, we're excited in this community with all the historic designations around Pasadena and the LA area and you know what they mean to people. I I think in if if you respect where these places have come from, you for the most part get to the the finish line that you need to um with with the appropriateness of whatever said project is. And it's it's nice to have a ton of people in the huddle with us that want to see this done for the Rose Bowl for the right way, not regardless of the Olympics coming, regardless of what happens to New Year's Day football, regardless of how college football evolves or Pokemon evolves or whatever, they want this for the Rose Bowl because it again, it is going to this generation that we will never meet.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:36

So how how do you how do you steward that and then hand it off in a way that that is meaningful? And whether it's the two of us that work for the the staff at the Rose Bowl and actually have a hands-on stewardship of these projects or people that are taxpaying residents, it it's all the same. And and that's a really neat feeling to have around this town and around this region for the Rose Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Yeah. I would just I would just comment that you know it is it is so much more difficult, but it's always worth it, right? Yes when you go through that process and you get to that and you and you see what what you've done.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Yeah, if I could extend that just a little bit, it makes us better. Yeah. To be quite honest with you. It makes us think of things differently. It makes us analyze, you know, different parts of a renovation, perhaps differently. Uh, and the end product is, you know, we we typically find nine times out of ten is we're better off for anyway. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

We always describe it as when you talk about a historical renovation versus doing a ground up build or something like that. We it's equate it to if you found the you know, the burnt out shell of a 57 Chevy and you said, hey, put this back together and make it beautiful versus a Honda Civic coming off the assembly line, it's like there's no comparison of what's happening. And then also on top of that, there's four or five organizations that are want to check you every single step of the way. So again, it's harder, but when it's done, it's beautiful, it evokes more emotion. It's it's something that people want to be a part of. That's right. Um so kudos to you guys for for doing that and going through that. Um but now thinking about all this amazing work that needs to be done, you guys uh taking this upon yourselves to make sure we have this beautiful stadium for our community. How do you fund something like that? How do you go through the process of, you know, where is the money coming from? Is the city paying for it? Is it donors? How does that work?

SPEAKER_05 35:18

It's it's all the above. Okay. Um public-private partnerships, multimedia rights activities, um, government, state, federal funding, and and obviously the private philanthropy is probably the most direct line to it. But um shout out to any of your big donors.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

Um we'll get there for sure. Yeah, I'm still thinking through.

SPEAKER_05 35:38

They're all worthy of it, so I don't leave them right out. But um the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation is our 501c3 nonprofit. It was founded in 2010 because of uh the old renovation, the renovation that's just you know 10, 15 years old now, um, had a bit of a shortfall. So they needed to close that delta. So they founded a nonprofit that was really driven by civic philanthropy, um, modeled after one in Omaha, Nebraska with all the Berkshire Hathaway people and whatnot. And a lot of local people stepped up to help fund that gap. Um what that did, I think, is it it proved we're we're in a really unique situation where we have a nonprofit organization that supports a publicly owned building that that's you know, it's not asking people to give money to City Hall, but it's pretty darn close. When you talk about, you know, all the nonprofit opportunities that not just Pasadena has per capita, but you know, just nonprofit in general. What do we all give money to? What make what tugs on our heartstrings? What's important to us? And but what those original 25 or so donors proved in 2010 when they funded that gap on the the first renovation project is that there's this generational emotional connectivity to a place. And it for families, you know, Derek mentioned, you know, these people come in, they want to go to section 19, row 66, seat 12. They know exactly what happened there. Um, it really flipped the light switch on for us, not just with donors around the country, but with our our elected officials, with our partners. Hey, how do we how do we how do we drip this emotional thought process out of all these people, regardless of of what their level of contribution could or should be? And you know, it's always imperfect. You know, we never choose to have it, have it all figured out, but I think we went from that original 25 or so donors hyperlocally to about 5,000 nationally. And they're everywhere from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Columbus, Ohio, Austin, Texas. Um, our our elected officials are engaged. We have a pretty aggressive grant program that that we look at for funding throughout state and and federal sources. But it but it's always this cultivation period of you know, how do we how do we find what's next? You know, what do we do if a COVID hits and you gotta lock the gates for for a certain period of time? What do you do if there's um you know the eat and fire? You know, we the eat and fire, what we did after the eat and fire for three and a half, four weeks was probably our most important event ever. When we turned into a a command center for first responders, almost 5,000 of them just to I mean, there was a McDonald's, there was a barbershop. Our most important event ever. Yeah. And um so when you when you start taking the the common denominator of all those different events, so to speak, you get this cathedral, you said earlier, that everybody wants to be a part of. And that results in a dollar here, a million dollars there, uh, a Senate bill signed into a law there, whatever it might be. And and before you know it, you start stacking up these wins that help Derek, myself, our and and our staff really clear the way to go do a renovation in the South End Zone project or to have our 25th displacement event as as we expand upon our music festival business. And and we actually have more music events and we have sporting events every year, which not a lot of people know. And but all these things kind of work together. And if one is out of step, it doesn't mean it it holds us back. But if one of those is out of step, it certainly gets the attention of somebody in Columbus, Ohio or Austin, Texas, because they want to know the Rose Bowl is healthy and thriving for everything beyond, you know, what what we're looking at in our near view mirror right now, up to and through the Olympics. So funding, you know, how do we get funding? I get the question a lot, like what is our donor profile? Our donor profile is the four of us. It's the person walking on the street, it's the person leaving a Texas Longhorn game, whatever it might be. And those are just the football people, right? You know, when you start talking to this community specifically about economic impact and job creation and you know what the stadium does for our hotel and retail partners, um, it it is a lightning rod that that creates this ripple effect throughout the Pasadena and Southern California communities. So it's great that people want to walk up and give us a donation check to support the South End Zone Field Club or the Video Board or the seat enhancements, whatever those projects might be. They're also supporting it by coming to an event and buying a hot dog because of Senate Bill 96. They're also supporting it by going to the flea market the second Sunday of every month because that flea market has been just an absolute staple of ours going back to the the the 60s. Um so funding is always a weird model. It's it's it's a mix of all these, yes, obviously in your face, nonprofit-oriented, state, federally funded things, but anybody that walks through those gates is a funder of the Rose Bowl. And that's incredibly important to us. And we we treat each person like they they are of that importance level to get us to that next step. So um it's been a fun ride, but it is not, you know, we don't have an alumni base. Um, we we we do not have that type of group to look into like you you would at a university or a hospital. But like you said, we're a cathedral. And and there's a lot of people in that in that group that want to call it that, look at that, share it, whether they're in Vermont or Southern California.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Well, speaking of Southern California, you mentioned like the profile of you know this group being potential donors. Um let's just say there is someone walking the street. Did you bring your checkbook? Is that what you're doing? You two. I have to, it's my job to ask, guys. Yeah. Um I do well, let's just say there is someone walking uh just outside the office right now. Um they know the Rose Bowl, they know it's needed improvements, they want to support. What would be your number one piece of advice about how they can support? Is it just simply going to a game? Like, how can the average person pitch it and make sure that the stadium moves forward in the right direction?

SPEAKER_05 41:34

I I spoke to a community group um late last week, and um it was ironically a group of locals, local neighbors, community members to the stadium. And the two takeaways I I gave them, regardless of their their propensity to give or their willingness to buy a brick or attend an event, was two things. I wanted them to know how much the stadium gives back to the community, the surrounding community, and I wanted them to know that we are giving every ounce of our thoughtfulness, our intention, et cetera, to maintain it as this historic element that we all know, whether you call it National Historic Landmark, you know, the word historic is just, I think, used in generality. Those are the two things I wanted them to walk away from. And now that what we gave them, the information we gave them underneath those two bullet points, filled in all the gaps on you know, how to give, you know, the the lasting legacy capital campaign, what the foundation is, what Derek's working on with the End Zone Club, um, the music festivals. We gave them all that information, but we wanted them walking out of there with two notes of pride that they could carry back into their their next uh glass of wine with with their neighbor or their next little league game when they're walking in the car with with their kid and and and their friend. I I don't think enough people, I think people appreciate the Rose Bowl. I don't think they understand fully just the the the the incredible positive 365 247 element of it that that that it gives back to the community. You know, the the easy ones are the ones that we see on TV and and those are the ones that people always want to talk about. But we started this podcast talking about Pokemon, right?

SPEAKER_04 43:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:13

And uh and and the demographic that that grabs their attention. They they don't care about January 1st necessarily. And I think as I walked away from that group of of community members and neighbors, that's the easiest way to give is to become an advocate and talk through. Hey, have you heard what they're doing over there? Do you know why they're doing it? How awesome is this? Oh, yeah, by the way, there's guns and roses coming and Noah Con and all this good stuff. Like that's the natural stuff that you're gonna see in here on the radio and TV and whatnot. But I think that that breeds this um civic pride that the Rose Bowl has always had going back 103 plus years. That the more we can grow that through our storytelling and through people just wanting to be positive and understanding the positivity of that space, not the traffic pattern. Not the challenges of a 103-year-old venue. You're going to get that at Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, et cetera. But we still love those places, right? So we we want people to understand and feel that and be able to illustrate that to their to their colleagues and their friends, specifically in Pasadena, but in throughout the Southern California region and nationally. We want them to have that knowledge of it. And if they end up giving, great. If they end up talking to an elected official, great. If they end up buying a brick, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:27

But enjoying it and being a positive advocate advocate, that's kind of what kicks it down the road and gets it to that next step. Our our South End Zone project that our staff is putting on is going to be phenomenal. It's going to be awesome. Doesn't mean some people aren't going to like it, right?

SPEAKER_04 44:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:42

But we want them to appreciate the positivity that's coming from that venue and where it was, where it is now, where it's going. Yeah. And if they can illustrate that and feel warm and fuzzy about it, we've done our job.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Yeah. You know, I think too, we we talked about vibrancy a little bit earlier and you know how you know the venue today is as vibrant as it's ever been. And you know, when you think about what gives it its vibrancy, it's a people, right? Yeah. You know, you can host any event uh that you choose or um what have you, but um people coming to the stadium, coming into the gates, you know, coming and having a meal at Brookside over at the club side clubhouse at Brookside restaurant or playing a round of golf, you know, coming to the egg bowl or bunny brunch um that we're hosting coming up here in April. People coming into the stadium gates uh is what gives it the vibrancy, you know, as Dean said, just coming down, coming in allows you to either let us tell you the story of the stadium or let you uh kind of learn for yourself, you know, the story of the stadium just by allowing it to evoke the emotion and the uh grandeur uh within you and kind of think back to that, you know, whether it's uh first Super Bowl halftime show, they really kind of put halftime shows on the map and and all of the the various events it's hosted in its history.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

Yeah. And it is so easy. I mean, being local and doing the loop and running and cycling and being there, it is so easy to take it for granted. Yeah. Because after a while, you're like, yeah, this is just in my backyard. It is what it is. I don't I don't even think about it anymore. And that's why I love what we're doing in this podcast because it's the reminder of, oh wow, we are so lucky to have this here, but you just forget about it after a while. I think people that are coming in, they see that, they see how special it is. I think it's hard when you're local to keep that appreciation up because it's just you take it for granted. Sure. You know, it's right there in your backyard and it is what it is.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

So um, and yeah, the especially I love the philanthropic side, the amount of charity events that I've been there out on the field, the Bolton's throwdown, all the all the different ones are so great. Um, and it's that's another big piece that I think a lot of people don't see, right? Again, they think of football, but they don't see all those little events and all the good it's doing for the community, things like that. That's right. Um, I did want to circle back around to the Olympics just one more time because it's such a big topic right now. We've got another podcast just around the Olympics and the car-free Olympics and everything you're talking about. Um, yeah, what is the overall role? We mentioned soccer. How is the Rose Bowl going to stand out in 2028 for for the Olympics?

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Well, I think the entire Arroyo um is going to be alive for the Olympics with the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center announces the Olympic diving venue. Uh, you know, certainly that's going to be a big piece in what's happening uh in the city of Pasadena, but also the Rose Bowl, too. So um, you know, it's going to be a really interesting runway here as we see the pieces get put together. We we just sat with some of the LA 28 staff for a lunch last week, uh, and and they were talking about the Olympics over in in Italy and and Milano uh that just wrapped up. Um and it was actually interesting. I learned a stat that I was kind of curious about. I was curious to learn how many individuals on the local organizing committee were lifetime Olympic employees effectively, and how many just jumped from local organizing committee to local organizing committee so forth. And they they said it was a much higher percentage uh than I thought it would be. There's several hundreds of people, it sounded like that's cool. They kind of come on. So we're really excited for the 26 winter games to wrap up because it sounds like it seems like to us that's when planning really starts in earnest for the uh 28 games. So, you know, I think our teams from an operational standpoint um are starting to attend different security briefings, different security activities. I know we we collaborate with the local venues quite a quite a bit too. We were just uh our our operations team was just over at the Coliseum for a security exercise that they put on with local law enforcement aid agencies. So again, just ingratiating ourselves to the staff and the different um operating bodies that come in and make part of that. But but uh I think you're going to see the arroy just morph into uh is something that quite honestly, it's a picture I can't even paint right now uh relative to how many people are going to be coming down. You know, we've talked as the Arroyo, you know, Carfrey, but does it become an off-site parking location for other venues, whether that be Dodger Stadium or Crypto.com Arena or Bimo Stadium, whatever, whatever it may be. But we think it's going to be 24-7, 365 activation uh once we get to July of 2028. And then of course our role um as a soccer venue, it's really cut and dry. And that's why we're part of why we're so excited for it is we are a soccer venue, whether it was last year. Club World Cup, that's right, or the the various World Cups we've hosted. We we know a thing or two about that. We we have the the hands down, in my humble opinion, um, the best grounds crew um in the country, if not world. Okay. Miguel Lopez and his team that they keep that playing surface in Cadillac shape year round. So I know he's really excited to show off his um his and his team skills when the uh the Olympics come to town. Uh but yeah, I think it's going to be a couple of weeks of uh inundation in and around the arroy. I think the city's going to come alive to a whole whole new level. You know, I think when you talk about the economic impact of an event, uh the Olympics is uh is going to uh uh yield an unfathomable um benefit to the city and local community.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

Yeah. Yeah. What was the stat from uh Chris mentioned? Is it's uh how many Super Bowls per day? Oh my god, it's like Super Bowl, 50 Super Bowls or something. That's right. The stat of amount of people to say, it's insane. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

It's insane. And it's it's you know, it's it's one thing to think about, you know, the Super Bowls in a day that we'll have with soccer events, but then you know, as you guys are alluding to, that's not only happening in Pasadena, that's happening in Carson and in downtown LA and Englewood and Westwood and it just all over my my mind is is you know trying to fathom what that what that looks like, but it'll be fun. Gear up.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

No, for sure. Um yeah, 100 Super Bowls a day. It's uh just no big deal. Nothing, no big deal. Yeah, it'll be fun. No, the scale is really incredible. I think uh Chris said it was like seven billion dollars altogether, is how much funding has to come together for the Olympics, and the city of LA's budget is like 11 billion, and it's like okay, well, that's yeah, I think we're we're really trying to work intentionally with the uh local organizing group here in LA 28 right now to you know understand what what are your needs.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

You know, certainly uh we know power phone lines, etc. etc. But you know, I think what we'll see throughout Olympic venues a lot of overlay come in. And so we're we're trying to collaborate right now upon what are different pieces of overlay that you're bringing in um to our venue that we might want to sit down and have conversations with relative to hey, how do we co-fund this to make it a make it into a permanent uh fixture and and so that you know not only uh individuals can enjoy it during 2028, but for years beyond that.

SPEAKER_02 52:01

Yeah, the things that you can having like that lasting legacy from the Olympics is huge. That's one of our episodes called the Festival Trail, very similar. How do we create a pedestrian path that connects all the venues that stays afterwards? So we have a pedestrian path where we can get around LA amazingly.

SPEAKER_00 52:17

The thought of it is Yeah, we're so excited, you know, not to interrupt, but we're we're excited for those lasting impacts too. And you know, one of the pieces we talked about earlier is again being nestled into this idealistic uh community. Uh, it's not easy to get to the stadium. And and we'll all raise our hands and say that until you think about the multitude of options um that you have available, the A-line and its connectivity from Long Beach to Pomona and and probably beyond by that point, I'd imagine. Um, and and what that allows, not just for the Olympics, but every day, the shuttle programs that we run from Old Pasadena by the way. Uh it's also about a 25-minute walk, 30-minute walk from the Memorial Park Station, 25 minutes from our shuttle lot down to the stadium. And it's not, you know, it's a beautiful walk. Dude, you're walking by the gamble house, and you just get to feel the historic nature of the city. And so, you know, you asked earlier, you know, what are our priorities as a venue? One of our big priorities is making sure we're telling the right story relative to, you know, it can be challenging to get to our venue unless you uh don't want it to be challenging. And there's you know, a million ways to get down to the bunch of lime scooters and you're good.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

That's right. That's right. We'll let you take that one.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

Um, we'll let you take that one to a community forum.

SPEAKER_01 53:34

You guys want to talk about the museum? Heck. Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 53:38

Deedon, I'll you talk about that's you know Dean's baby, but I'll if I can just kind of prelude it to say because I I don't think the audience knows there's a museum. This this place is Cadillac, and it's one of those places that as I tease into it for Deedon, you know, I talked about having chills earlier when you're talking about all of the performers and the people that come into our venue and just kind of are mesmerized by what happens. This room that he's about to describe is this it's it's the history of the Rose Bowl Stadium encapsulated into you know maybe 400 square feet, and I get chills, absolute chills every day when I walk into the room. But tell us a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_05 54:19

400 square feet, by the way, which is one of the two original locker rooms. So Penn the athletes were a lot smaller back then. Um I think Penn State only brought 13 guys to the first the first game. Twofold. The space that you all are talking about is our 1922 locker room museum. It opened in 2017 thanks to donor gifts. And the idea behind that room was let's take this original locker room that needed preservation and needed love. You you couldn't really bring tour groups in there. We have a great tour program the last Friday of every month for for the listeners out there that want to check out the stadium. But we we had this space, you couldn't even take patrons into an original space of the venue. That was a huge issue. And the mission of the foundation is to preserve, protect, and enhance the venue for future. So it was it was it was right on target for us. So we went and raised the money from a few individuals, and we turned this locker room space, we shorted up, but it became this museum that was originally actually meant to be a showroom for a larger museum. We were we were kicking the tires, did the financial performers on a 30,000 square foot version of it in lot F or one of the parking lots. And the showroom opened and it kind of shoehorns a little bit of everything in our history from the moments that locker room was used for six years to the music history to Army Navy to UCLA to the Rose Bowl game, et cetera. And when the space opened, it it kind of hit us across the nose like, gosh, why would we want to worry about you know the HVAC breaking in a 30,000 square foot museum on a Wednesday? We we need to worry about the HVAC in here. Why would we want to worry about the scan rate on a Tuesday? So the the this little showroom became the museum for the larger museum, which is the stadium itself. And we started looking at the stadium through a different lens as this walking museum. Like, all right, now we have this 1922 locker room space, which is at tunnel 15A, if if you're in the stadium. What do we do with the rest of the property? And statues came out of it. Now we have six statues on the property, historical markers came out of it. We have about 10 of those, and we're adding. Uh, we actually have the the state high school football hall of fame for the state of California that's at tunnel 20. Um, and it's actually open to all ticketed patrons at any event to go in there if you're not part of our tour program. So the venue itself, the I think the ultimate goal is to if the four of us go and we all come in four different tunnels, four different gates, can we all take something away from it other than our our our ticket stub, which you can't even take those anymore. They're digital. But can we all take something away? Did we learn something? What happened here? Peyton Manning took his first snaps here. Eddie Robinson and Gramlin coached here. Um John Cooper is the only coach to coach in four Rose Bowl games for four different schools, et cetera, et cetera. And that's actually a mechanism we we use to translate philanthropy in a way where we we would go to donors in the Columbus, Ohio area. Sorry, Ann Arbor, I keep calling out Columbus, but go to the donors in Columbus and talk about hey, we have this vision for this historical marker for Coach John Cooper, who is a huge Ohio State Buckeye coach, as well as Arizona State and UCLA and I think Oregon State, um, if I'm remembering right. Can you help us fund this historical marker? It's educational, it'll fund the marker, but the net benefit of that funding goes to support infrastructure improvements that that Derek and his team work on. So out of this 1922 400 square foot locker room, turned museum, originally a showroom, came this whole idea of, hey, how do we fund the whole campus, but also fund these infrastructure improvement projects? And it it became a catalyst for the the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation to kind of grow into that donor base of 5,000 people because now we could not just pull on their heartstrings because they love the Rose Bowl, we could pull on their heartstrings because they liked Peyton Manning or they liked California high school football. And it almost became this convening mechanism for our patrons as well to now enjoy things that didn't previously exist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:08

And that's, I mean, that I've been in the museum and it's it really is a special place. And you leave just being like, wow. And I think that is the unique thing that I hear a lot of people say, you know, how how are you going to bring the Rose Bowl up to the Intuit Dome level and things like that? And I think the the answer is absolutely not. Like we're not trying to be the Intuit Dome because that's there's nothing special about that. Like the magic of the Rose Bowl is the history that you're talking about. That's really what makes it special. Um, so that idea of those comparisons, there just there is no comparison at all. You know, you say, oh, world-class facilities, it's different. There's two different things.

SPEAKER_05 58:43

We used to talk to we used to talk about, and and this is pre-Darek and I, and our uh the leadership of our our CEO, Jens Wyden, pre a lot of our regime. We used to talk about ourselves by remembering the rally cry of the Orange Bowl Stadium, which is now a bronze plaque in the Marlins Ballpark, I think, out in the Miami area. They they kept a plaque where it used to be. It's not there anymore. And it was like this rallying cry of fear that we would instill into the general public. Hey, we have to protect it or we become the Orange Bowl. And I think that was that was probably the right tone for where we were in that moment of time. Where we are now is we are we are Augusta National, we are Fenway Park, we are Wrigley Field, and each of those places have these incredibly unique aspects of them that people appreciate on a very intimate, emotional, indescribable level. So yeah, we're not trying to be something that we're not. Absolutely not. But it also doesn't mean we stand flat footed every day.

SPEAKER_00 59:38

And yeah. That's right. No, it's uh you know, we we will always be the Rose Bowl Stadium. Uh there's a number of incredible venues here in the LA area. Uh, but but quite frankly, you know, very few of them. You know, the Coliseum is certainly a venue of incredible historic significance as well. But uh, you know, between us and the Coliseum, we're about as good as it gets when you talk about um just the ability to walk into the gates and you know, idealize on on what's come before you. And um while we'll continue to make sure we're advancing and you can connect to your cell phone and you have the latest, greatest concession items um in the venue or what have you, uh, but we'll never do anything that compromises uh what makes the fabric of what makes a rose bowl uh as special as it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

I think uh yeah, that leads me to my one of my final questions is uh Is it the lightning round? Well we're we're getting we're getting there. Okay. Uh America Stadium. It sounds like this is why the Rose Bowl is America Stadium. Just all of the cultural history of the country somehow woven into this one place for a hundred plus years. Yep. I mean, is that the message you take to the donors nationally? It's like you might not live in Pasadena, but you're a part of this place.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:54

Yeah, 100%. It's it's in our DNA. We are there's something here for for everybody again. And and what do we do moving forward? What do we do for those people who who it's their first time there? It's their might be their last time as well. You know, um America Stadium is is special to us because it it it I think it's special to Pasadenians because it it it identifies that there is something bigger here in their backyard that that we should all probably appreciate a little bit stronger and more as we kind of lean into our future. Um but for our our mayor Victor Gordo says it a lot, Pasadena is the center of the universe.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:29

You know, we have JPL, we have Caltech, we have the Rose Bowl. Like there, there's not many 140,000-person cities in the country that can lay claim to all those things. Like that's a pretty neat thing. So yeah, I mean it's America Stadium, but I think it also goes beyond these domestic borders. We had a few months back, uh, one of our colleagues at the stadium um got the call that uh a Brazilian World Cup alum from '94 was coming through LA and he wanted to bring his family by the stadium. Well, that Brazilian soccer alum ended up being Dunga, who was the captain of the team in '94. And uh our our colleague Brian brought him through game of tour, and Dunga like cried, teared up, cried emotionally for what that to be able to share it with his family in 2025 after kind of going through that as a as an ultimate competitor in '94. Like, that's what it does to people. And yeah, it's America's Stadium. But I I think that's what probably makes us most excited for these Olympic Games is you know, we we know we're gonna be ready for it and it's gonna be awesome, like hands down. Like it's just gonna expose us to so many people that are never gonna have that hair stand up in your arm feeling again in their life, like we're gonna give it to them that that those few days they're in Pasadena. It's gonna be a big shot in the arm for you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:44

Oh no, absolutely. Lightning round, lightning round. Oh, you guys ready? There we go. First or favorite memory of the Rose Bowl. You get to go first. Make Dean go first every time.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:59

My my favorite memory of the Rose Bowl, I think, is seeing it through my kids' eyes because they don't know it the way that we all know it, right? Or my wife knows it. And um, so that you know, the day after the game is is the day after the Rose Bowl game on January 2nd. It's usually kind of a a lower key staff day. And you know, I we we've made it a family tradition to kind of bring my wife and I bring our kids out, and there's a lot of things going on there, a lot of people running through the confetti from 24 hours prior. My son and daughter and their friends are having like this epic kickball game on the goal line amidst the Indiana end zone. And I'm like, what is going on right now? Yeah, and they have zero, they know where they're at, but they don't know where they're at, right? And I think that's like a really so that I think that's my favorite memory that keeps kind of perpetuating itself is kind of seeing it through their eyes, and one day they'll know it for something bigger like like we do. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:51

Yeah, I think I'd have to go with, well, first of all, you know, I I grew up in upstate New York, and on January 1st, um, it was typically, you know, negative three degrees, and it was snowing outside, and you know, you're you're a northeasterner. Um, and so you know, I always had woke up, turned on the rose parade, watched with my mom, and and of course watched the game and just you know kind of mesmerized upon uh what was happening in Pasadena. It looked like this foreign land, it was sunny, it was beautiful. Um and then to come out to California, you know, some nine years ago now or so. Um my first event here, I don't know how I I go with anything else. It was UCLA football game against Texas AM. Um and uh Texas AM went up big in the fourth quarter, and Josh Rosen orchestrated a comeback for the ages. And I said, is every is every football game like this? Um this is awesome. Um, but I think that was you know probably uh a pretty special moment. I'm sorry you didn't ask for two, but you get two. Um I think you know the concerts, you know, I remember Coldplay, I think was my first concert, and and just the magic, the magic of a concert inside the stadium. Uh I I don't know what tees it off more for me than any other concert I've been to at any other venue in the country, um, but it's just special.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:11

Yeah, sports and music are like maybe the last two things in this world that bring people together the way that they do. It's well said.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:17

And when you pair it with a place like the Rose Bowl, it's it's undeniable. Yeah, well, that's a great segue into the next one, which is what is one dream event that you'd like to bring to the Rose Bowl, uh artist you'd like to host at the Rose Bowl, an event you'd like to see there.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:33

I'd like to see a comedian in there. That's a good one. I was wondering. I I don't know, like as you look at our DNA and our timeline, I don't know that we've ever we've had comedians open for musicians before, and I don't know that we've ever had a comedian, but I I think with there there's only a certain amount of performers musically, comedically, whatever, that can fill the venue the way we see the venue filled in our minds. Like not everybody's gonna come to U2 in 2009 when they played the round and and Did their 360 tour. But I think that's the the the the love we have for the flexibility of this new 30 million dollar South End Zone space is it allows us to kind of create an internal amphitheater within the venue itself. And maybe you can get some exploratory responses on things like comedy or smaller, more intimate music shows and symphonies and things of that nature. Because um Derek referenced it in his in his Coldplay answer, like musically, we or acoustically rather, we feel like we're one of the best venues out there.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:30

And that will always carry forward. So now how do we take these new projects like we're doing with this field club and turn them into that, but maybe on a smaller level? So I'd like to see comedy. I like to laugh. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:40

Yeah, it's cool. Uh yeah, this is a tough one. You know, uh, there's so many pieces out here you could say. Then NHL Winter Classic, at least one in the stadium series. You know, I I I hesitate saying this because now Jen's is gonna call us when we get back and say, okay, well, go get it. Yeah. And uh, but I think the NHL uh winner classic would just be a one-of-one event, you know, and that technology has come so far. I think they played it in Miami early this year. They played one in Tampa. Yeah, um, which oddly I think uh they played one in Tampa Bay as well, and the temperature at the Tampa one was colder than the last five ones they've done in the northeast or something, so it's kind of wild. But yeah, no, I think the the magic of the one on one, one of one events at the stadium, of which I'd I'd consider that certainly one of those, um, is is pretty pretty amps the place up a little bit, and it's what we do, you know. We we do different things, um, so it'd be fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:34

I love it. I love that you said comedy because I went to the great outdoor Canadian comedy fest. It was up in uh Ottawa, and I came back, and this was after we had walked, and I chat GPT'd an entire business plan for a comedy festival at the Rose Bowl. I'm like, we have to come on this at the Rose Bowl. Come on. Because it was such it was Nate Vargotsky, it was unbelievable, it was all outdoors, lots of chairs, it was it was a really fantastic event. That's cool. So good stuff. Um all right, we'll wrap it up here. One more question. What does success look like for you guys in 2040? You're looking out, you're about to pass the torch, you're leaving the stadium. For us personally or the venue? I think personally in the venue, you know, either one.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:14

I feel like we get a little bit of this vibe and feeling every day, every week, every event, whatever. You know, it the industry that Derek and I are in moves so quickly, and it's always on to the next, on to the next, on to the next. We're actually going through some some staff exercises now to just kind of politely check each other, pump the brakes a little bit, slow down, celebrate wins, plan the you know, plan the next one. It's okay to feel good about stuff, it's okay to feel bad about stuff. What do you leave on the table? How do we get better?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:41

I I think in 2040, irregardless of professional paycheck where we're at at that point, it it's knowing that we kind of made left it a lot better, not just better, a lot better than we found it. And that that's a very cliche thing to say, but I think knowing, you know, we just talked for an hour on like just the uniqueness of of how do we the uniqueness of how we um, you know, uh do these these renovation projects, capital projects. There's so much that goes into it. There's so much that goes into an event like Pokemon or a concert or a football game or a South End zone renovation project. So I think for me it's just kind of being able to look back and knowing that we got a a ton of wins stacked on top of each other, but also kind of internalizing, knowing maybe for a future memoir down the road, like what we all had to battle to get get those done.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:30

Yeah, I think you know, 15 2040. It's about 15 years from now. You know, one, the venue will then be uh 188 years young. That'd be awesome, which is insane, which there's no doubt it'll be 118 years young at some point. Uh but I think at that point it's it's reflecting upon the um you know carefully uh cultivated projects that we've executed. Um to again, all due respect to Intuit Dome. It's it's a fine venue. I've been there many times. I enjoy going there. Um but you know, to look back and say, you know what, we're not the Intuit Dome, and that's okay because we're the Rose Bowl and we've done a series of p things to um um strengthen it over the years. You know, I'm I I love the phrase incremental is monumental. And I think that's hard for some people because you know, Dean and I and the whole team were go, go, go, go, go people. And sometimes it's difficult to slam on the brakes and say, hey, a little bit of progress can be a lot of bit of progress, especially when you stack it up over 15 years. So, you know, in 2040, I hope to look back and and see that we've really um done our best to thoughtfully splash in enough renovations and and uh operational improvements to the venue uh that that we know uh uh for darn sure that you know 15 years from then stadium is gonna be as healthy as it's ever been.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:52

Um, last part here, if somebody wants to be a part of the legacy, if they want to help out any specific way, they should reach out to you, Deedon, to be involved.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:01

The best way to do it right now, we are in the middle of a multi-project, multi-year, $80 million capital campaign titled Lasting Legacy, actually. Uh, I know we've used that a few times in this interview. So you can go online to rosebowlastinglegacy.com. It'll tell you about each of the eight projects from the refurbishment of our historic Rose Bowl sign to the South End Zone Club and the things we haven't even gotten to yet.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:22

Um, but rosebold lastinglegacy.com is on there. And for anybody that wants to give, Rosebowl Legacy Foundation.org is is the site. So but you can give through either sites. One just kind of talks about where we are and where we're headed. So um appreciate anybody out there that wants to provide something special to what we think is a very special future.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:42

It's one $80 million check, right? That's what Chris gives today. We'll see what Chris gives in first. A little bit closer to goal because of him. No. All right, guys. Well, Derek, Deedon, thank you so much for coming in and joining us. I think that was a fantastic conversation. And um, yeah, as things progressed. Hopefully, we'll get you back on in 24 months, see where we're at. Love it. Awesome. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:06

Thank you.