We hope that you have remained cool during this hot summer as the Fall months and school years quickly approach. It’s time to put the ball on the tee and kick off another exciting season of UCLA Bruins football. The new era and time to shine is here for Coach DeShaun Foster and the rest of your Bruins. They start at the end of this month on the road in Hawaii. But, before we get to that, we must bring you up to speed on some other things.

First and foremost, we all know the importance of having the right teammates in the huddle with us. With excitement, we welcome the Stadium’s first-ever Director of Community Relations, Dominick Correy. Dominick will be seated in the Legacy Foundation Offices at Tunnel 7A, so when you’re at the Stadium come say hello as he’s a key part of our future. Dominick has an extensive history in Pasadena with many nonprofit charities and most recently was a key member of Senator Anthony Portantino’s staff. We are beyond excited about the work Dominick will do at America’s Stadium and look forward to partnering with him on many big, small, and impactful future initiatives. Dominick stated, "I not only look forward to one day meeting you, our Rose Bowl Legacy Family but also to building new partnerships and collaborations with our neighbors, local and national organizations, and other community-focused individuals who want to give back on behalf of the Rose Bowl."

     

Construction activity in the Stadium has been busy this summer, which includes implementation of a new and improved stadium sound system. The new system, serving the gate entries and stadium seating bowl, among other locations replaces the existing system which has been in service for nearly three decades. There are many benefits of an improved sound system, including the ability to harness vast advancements in audio technology that features equipment with digital tuning capabilities and provides exceptional audio quality for speech clarity and music reinforcement for all listeners.

Our Legacy team has been on the road visiting some friends back East during the month of July and continued our relationship with some great friends around the country. While in Columbus, Ohio we supported Archie Griffin in his annual scholarship golf tournament, which has awarded millions in support of high school Olympic Sports athletes to attend The Ohio State University. As many of you know, Archie played in four Rose Bowl Games and is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in college football history, in addition to being the All-Century Player for the Rose Bowl Game®. We will honor Archie and all that he has done for the game of college football with a statue at the Rose Bowl Stadium. The dedication will be on Saturday, August 17th, at 11:00am PST and is open to the public. Legacy will also donate an exact copy of the statue to OSU, which will be installed near Ohio Stadium and thus tie America’s Stadium to the Horseshoe as two historic, iconic college football venues.

                                 

There was another stop up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was a great time to discuss their upcoming historical marker to honor Coach Bo Schembechler. It was a great time to reminisce about last year’s national championship and the coming football season in the Big Ten Conference with Wolverine legends and those that have dug their cleats into the famous turf in Pasadena.

                                 

Did You Know? Charles Woodson’s gold NFL Jordan Brand cleats were donated to the Rose Bowl Stadium on loan from our friends at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The cleats can be seen on display inside the California High School Football Hall of Fame (located at tunnel 20 during all events).

Back home in Pasadena, we remain so thankful for our elected officials in the local, county, regional and state governments for their support. We were honored to visit the City Council chambers on July 24 to thank the Pasadena City Council and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger for their support in getting Senate Bill 96 signed into law late last year. The law will benefit the Stadium to the tune of $1-$2 million per year during its five year activation period. Additionally, we visited with many of our friends, neighbors and supporters during Vice Mayor Steve Madison’s Town Hall meeting at Brookside Golf Club that same evening. What a great set of presentations from Pasadena Fire, Police, the One Arroyo Foundation, and so many more that care about the Arroyo Seco and Rose Bowl areas.

Speaking of Brookside, it has undergone some incredible changes. Have you seen or visited the ‘Tee Time Tavern’ yet? It’s an incredible private room with TVs, a world-class golf simulator, and so much more. We had our Staff holiday social there last year. Check it out here.

As I mentioned, the football season is here, and your Bruins start an amazing new journey in the Big Ten. The Bruins first official game in the conference will be against Indiana on September 14th here at the Rose Bowl Stadium. To show you how historic this game will be for both teams, this will be the first football meeting ever between the two schools. The last time and the only time Indiana played at the Rose Bowl was on January 1, 1968. So, to say that this is an exciting new journey is an understatement. The rest of the home schedule will be Oregon on September 28th, Minnesota on October 12th, Iowa on November 8th, USC on November 23rd, and Fresno State on November 30th. In speaking to our Premium Seating team, the phones have been lighting up with fans from Minneapolis, Iowa City, and beyond. Don't wait to get your premium ticket for the year—call Meaghan and her team ASAP (626) 585-6800 if you have a game in mind.

Lastly, the Summer Olympic Games have started in Paris, and we are so excited to get ready for the next Olympics in LA in 2028. Several of the Rose Bowl Institute’s Advisory Board have been active for the Paris 2024 games including Billie Jean King, Misty May-Treanor, Julie Foudy and 2022 Sportsperson of the Year Award Winner, Simone Biles. The Rose Bowl has hosted so many major soccer matches over the year, and we are fired up to have the world’s best soccer athletes and fans right here in the Central Arroyo. There are a lot of exciting things coming to the Rose Bowl Stadium and we couldn’t be more excited to have you join us on the ride.

Regardless of a gift, right now is a GREAT time to get involved with so much coming to Pasadena and this iconic venue. Contact myself, Kelli or Dedan to chat about how you can be on the team. Thank you for your continued support and we will see you all soon at America’s Stadium.

Cordially on behalf of the Legacy Foundation team,

Brian Brantley
Vice President, Advancement
bbrantley@rosebowlstadium.com