Lawsuit aims to keep UCLA in Rose Bowl

Pasadena and the firm that operates the stadium want school to honor remaining two decades on contract.

- SAM FARMER AND BEN BOLCH

The City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Co. filed a lawsuit Wednesday night to force UCLA to honor the remaining two decades of its contract and keep Bruins football games in the historic stadium through 2044.

The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court against UCLA and the University of California Regents, alleges that the university has been “unequivocally expressing its intent to abandon the Rose Bowl Stadium and relocate its home football games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood” and calls it “a profound betrayal of trust.”

UCLA's lease runs through June 30, 2044, and Pasadena officials say taxpayers have invested more than $150 million in stadium renovations while recently refinancing an additional $130 million in bonds for additional capital improvements.

“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 filing reads.

“Some commitments are too fundamental to be traded away.”

The filing alleges that UCLA, after years of public assurances that it is staying, has now “chosen to disregard those promises” and has formally notified the plaintiffs that it is “moving on” and that “there’s no way we're staying long term.”