The Rose Bowl Stadium is an American stadium that is mainly used for football events. It is located in Pasadena, California. It is mostly known as a college football venue. Here are 10 interesting facts about this stadium.
First Game
In 1902, the first bowl game was played and since 1916 it has been an annual tradition. The Rose Bowl stadium was built after few years since the first game and this name was named after this game.
Bowl Game original name
The bowl game was first played in 1902 but at that time this game had a completely different name which many people don’t know and that was “Tournament East-West Football Game”.
Purpose of construction
In the first years, this stadium had no proper arrangements and capacity was pretty low as the stands were awful and old. To host the annual Bowl Game, this stadium was built with proper arrangements to host more spectators.
Design
The design and structure of this stadium are inspired by “Yale Bowl Stadium” which is located in New Haven, Connecticut. Both these stadiums resemble each other.
Cost and construction date
The construction of this stadium was started on 27 February 1922 and the construction cost was $272,198. It has a total capacity of 88,565. Its architect was Myron Hunt.
Name plans
After the construction was completed in 1922, the officials were yet to decide the name for this stadium. The original plans were to name this stadium “Tournament of Roses Stadium” and “Tournament of Roses Bowl”. Then, in the end, the officials decided on the name “Rose Bowl” since its main purpose was to host annual rose bowl games and also because of the Yale Stadium with which it resembles much.
Capacity
It can host up to 88,565 spectators which makes it the 17th largest stadium in the world. This stadium was the largest in the United States for a couple of decades but was then surpassed by Michigan Stadium in 1998.
Other events
Apart from bowl games, this stadium also has hosted many other great and important events like the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final, 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Match and CONCACAF and United States Soccer Federation matches.
Construction time
Constructing a stadium with more than 80,000 capacity usually takes 2-3 years but Rose Bowl with 90,000+ capacity was built in just 8 months.
Original shape
In the beginning, the shape of this stadium resembled the shape of a Horse-shoe but after the complete construction of the South stand in 1928, it started to completely look like a bowl.
