UCLA to move from Rose Bowl to Sofi

[guffus]

Breaking: Deal is Close to Done for UCLA to Move to SoFi Stadium

It's well-accepted as happening within the UCLA athletic department that UCLA will move its home games to SoFi Stadium...

247sports.com

Sounds like it is close to a done deal. UCLA will move its hime football games from the Rose Bowl to Sofi, maybe as early as 2026. This will cost UCLA $60M to $80M to break its lease, which technically has no buyout clause and runs through 2044 at the Rose Bowl

 

[HuckFinn]

Breaking: Deal is Close to Done for UCLA to Move to SoFi Stadium

It's well-accepted as happening within the UCLA athletic department that UCLA will move its home games to SoFi Stadium...

247sports.com

Sounds like it is close to a done deal. UCLA will move its hime football games from the Rose Bowl to Sofi, maybe as early as 2026. This will cost UCLA $60M to $80M to break its lease, which technically has no buyout clause and runs through 2044 at the Rose Bowl

Likely a wise move. Recruits today know little about the great tradition of the Rose Bowl and probably don’t care. I have been there. It’s a dump. Kids want glitter. Touring the rose Bowl would be a downer.

 

[Zstatman]

Makes sense to me, more pizzaz.

It's 13 miles from UCLA to Sofi versus 22 to the Rose Bowl so a bit easier for the students to get there.

This is why UCLA joined the B1G, to get access to the money to do these kinds of things.

 

[Seth53]

Can a move to Sofi for CFP games or other bowl games be far behind?

Rose Bowl (stadium) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

SoFi Stadium - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ICHawk24]

It's 13 miles from UCLA to Sofi versus 22 to the Rose Bowl so a bit easier for the students to get there.

12 vs 32, so a bigger difference.

It will be a positive move for UCLA, but their athletic dept is already hugely in debt and this won't help.

They are probably one of the schools pushing the most for the private equity deal that could ruin the B1G.

 

[Fryowa]

Likely a wise move. Recruits today know little about the great tradition of the Rose Bowl and probably don’t care. I have been there. It’s a dump. Kids want glitter. Touring the rose Bowl would be a downer.

Rose Bowl is most definitely a dump. Never been there for a game but took a tour many years ago. Even then as a youngin' I thought it looked more like a long-forgotten swap meet, county fair-type venue only bigger. Some place you'd go see a washed-up country band play on a Tuesday night with a tractor pull beforehand.

Nothing lasts forever and the shine eventually wears off of everything. Smart move by them.

Michigan Stadium same thing.

Distance from top row to sideline at 50 yd line:

Michigan Stadium - 270'.
Rose Bowl - 255'
Kinnick Stadium - 176'

Distance from row 1 to sideline:

Michigan Stadium - 42'.
Rose Bowl - 86'
Kinnick Stadium - 17'

Yes, capacities are different...but Kinnick also has 2 huge triangular sections on the south end which have no seating. Fill those in with seats and you're easily at the Rose Bowl capacity.

 

[Fryowa]

12 vs 32, so a bigger difference.

It will be a positive move for UCLA, but their athletic dept is already hugely in debt and this won't help.

They are probably one of the schools pushing the most for the private equity deal that could ruin the B1G.

The B1G was "ruined" years ago. This isn't college football anynore and you need to just accept it or move on to another hobby. This is a professional feeder league now and has nothing to do with college because the "college" part of it is just a technicality for show. I saw an interview with MG a while back that said he was never on campus and did/does all his classes online.

The private equity deal is good for the B1G as it exists now. The reason the bigger schools are against it is because it'd even the playing field a little. If you think Michigan is mad about it for any other reason than it takes away some of their advantage, you're wrong. Let's not act like their athletic dept is some kind of a bastion of morality. Get real.

College sports does not exist anymore...absolutely nothing about it is collegiate other than the logos on uniforms. It's nothing more than a pro feeder league for the NFL. I liked it better before too, but this is the world now.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Makes sense to me, more pizzaz.

It's 13 miles from UCLA to Sofi versus 22 to the Rose Bowl so a bit easier for the students to get there.

This is why UCLA joined the B1G, to get access to the money to do these kinds of things.

Yeah it's sad for us old heads that the Rose Bowl is what it is now. Nostalgia just doesn't mean anything. A part of that is on our generation for not doing a good job of passing that sort of thing down.

If anything it's too bad UCLA was in the middle of such a crazy long lease with them to have to break. They must have a whole lot of confidence that this will be a boon to them financially in the short and long term. Hopefully it will be.

Wonder how the USC folks think about it.

 

[Hawkboys]

The private equity deal is good for the B1G as it exists now. The reason the bigger schools are against it is because it'd even the playing field a little. If you think Michigan is mad about it for any other reason than it takes away some of their advantage, you're wrong. Let's not act like their athletic dept is some kind of a bastion of morality. Get real.

I honestly believe that OSU, UM and USC are against it because it will delay their move to a single Super Conference of 20-24 CFB schools where they negotiate massive TV rights and their own playoffs.

 

[guffus]

It was really bad timing for UCLA. They essentially signed a new 30-year lease in 2014, 2 years before the Rams announced they were leaving St Louis to build the grand new palace in Los Angeles that became known as Sofi Stadium.

Although the cost to break the lease sounds expensive, if they could work it out to pay the penalty gradually over the the remaining 18 years of the lease, it may only cost $4M a year. But that's a big IF. Sounds like UCLA does not have much leverage in this contract, which sounds air tight.

But I guess what's driving UCLA to do this anyway, sounds like they can collect a lot more in luxury box revenue at SoFi, at least enough to justify the move. To be honest I doubt this would get any more students to attend the games. 12 miles away might as well be 100 miles away if you don't have a car. Sure, you can still take a bus, but kids today probably won't bother.

 

[Fryowa]

Honestly now they should just tear the damn thing down. It's recognized as a national landmark but there has to be a way to do it. The stadium will now host one football game a year and a couple concerts. Load up the det-cord and knock 'er to the ground. It's taxpayer money being spent to keep it operating anyway.