PASADENA, Calif. — Plans to redesign the 81-year-old Rose Bowl in hopes of attracting an NFL team were unveiled Tuesday.
The project, yet to be approved by the City Council or the NFL, would cost an estimated $500 million.
"If I was an NFL fan, this was a pretty good day," said John Moag, a Baltimore investment banker hired by the Rose Bowl Operating Co. to lead the project. "The NFL is very interested in getting back into the market. We wouldn't be going through this exercise if they weren't."
The area has been without an NFL team since 1994 season, when the Raiders moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles and the Rams left Anaheim for St. Louis.
"We are developing an offer to give to the NFL," Moag said. "Hopefully, they accept that offer. That offer contains a commitment from the NFL that not only do they make the improvements to this building, but they provide an NFL team to play there."
The league is interested in the offer.
"Not a penny of taxpayer money is going to go into this," Moag said. "The deal is very simple. We basically turn over the opportunity to make revenue out of this building to the NFL in return for their spending about $500 million to give us a truly renovated stadium."
The neon Rose Bowl sign on the stadium's south entrance dating to 1949 would be retained. However, the site will be known as The (corporate name) Field at the Rose Bowl.
The project is not without its critics. Preservationists want the Rose Bowl to remain a historic landmark. Pasadena Heritage officials met with the architects and Rose Bowl Operating Co. officials last week to view the designs.
Residents who live in the expensive neighborhoods above the stadium are worried about noise and losing the parklike atmosphere of the Arroyo Seco that attracts walkers, golfers, joggers and soccer players.
The City Council is expected to consider the project in mid-May. NFL owners will meet May 20-21 in Philadelphia, where they will see the proposed redesign.