Rose Bowl renovation news

Great piece in the New York Times about the proposed renovations for The Rose Bowl. The stadium people want to start January 2011 and have it done over four years which will be in time for the 100th anniversary Rose Bowl game and the BCS championship game.

Monster money quote:

“The window of opportunity to make this work, really, is today,” said Michael Beck, the city manager of Pasadena, which owns the stadium. “Two years ago, we couldn’t afford to do it. Two years from now, interest rates will be higher and construction costs are likely to be higher. This is the perfect economy to make an investment in.”

Asked about the wisdom of investing in a stadium, a strategy that has left many municipalities in dire financial straits, Beck conceded there was some risk.

“But there’s also the other risk,” Beck said. “That’s the risk of not doing anything.”

The danger of that strategy is illustrated in Miami, where the Orange Bowl stadium, built in the same era as the Rose Bowl and itself an iconic site, no longer exists.

It was once home to the Dolphins, the University of Miami and Super Bowls, as well as the Orange Bowl game. But when the Dolphins owner Joe Robbie could not persuade city officials to add suites to the Orange Bowl in the 1980s, he built his own stadium and moved the Dolphins. The Super Bowls followed. Then the Orange Bowl game. And finally, the University of Miami.

Until next time.