The Metropolis of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Working Co. filed a lawsuit Wednesday evening to pressure UCLA to honor the remaining twenty years of its contract and hold Bruin soccer video games within the historic stadium by 2044.
The criticism, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom in opposition to UCLA and the College of California Regents, alleges that the college has been “unequivocally expressing its intent to desert the Rose Bowl Stadium and relocate its dwelling soccer video games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood,” and calls that “a profound betrayal of belief.”
UCLA’s lease runs by June 30, 2044, and Pasadena officers say taxpayers have invested greater than $150 million in stadium renovations, whereas not too long ago refinancing one other $130 million in bonds for extra capital enhancements.
“This lawsuit arises in an period when cash too usually eclipses which means and the pursuit of revenue threatens to erase the very traditions that breathe life into establishments,” the submitting reads.
“Some commitments are too elementary to be traded away.”
The submitting alleges that UCLA, after years of public assurances that it’s staying, has now “chosen to ignore these guarantees” and has formally notified the plaintiffs that it’s “transferring on” and that “there’s no manner we’re staying long run.”
Though UCLA has but to file a proper response to the lawsuit, the college disputed the allegations in an exhibit included within the submitting. In a letter to Pasadena’s lawyer, Nima Mohebbi, UCLA exterior counsel David L. Schrader wrote in March that the college has not violated the settlement and that “preliminary discussions” that ponder a transfer “don’t represent a fabric breach for which RBOC can be entitled to a authorized or equitable treatment.”
Schrader wrote that UCLA “continues to guage strategic objectives and the best way to be fiscally accountable and finest fulfill its mission.”
The lawsuit asks for a courtroom order that requires UCLA to honor the whole lot of its lease.
The submitting contends that it will be devastating to Pasadena and the stadium have been UCLA to violate the settlement, that the hurt triggered to the town and its residents “might simply exceed a billion {dollars} (or extra),” and that financial damages might by no means really treatment UCLA’s conduct.
A UCLA athletic division spokesperson didn’t instantly reply Wednesday evening to a request for remark.
Residence attendance at a stadium situated 26 miles from campus has been a deepening concern in latest seasons for UCLA. The crew has averaged 35,253 followers for its 4 dwelling video games this season, placing it on monitor for an all-time low on the Rose Bowl.
The Bruins’ 5 worst dwelling season-attendance figures since transferring to the Rose Bowl in 1982 have come over the past 5 seasons not interrupted by COVID-19, together with 46,805 in 2024. That determine ranked sixteenth among the many 18 Huge Ten Convention groups, forward of solely Maryland and Northwestern, which was enjoying at a short lived lakeside stadium seating simply 12,023.
Employees author Ben Bolch contributed to this report.
