City of Pasadena Moves Closer to Signing 2028 Olympic Games Agreement

At the City of Pasadena City Council meeting on October 28, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into an agreement with the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28).

The City and Rose Bowl Operating Company have been negotiating a Games Agreement with LA28 for the Rose Bowl Stadium to host Olympic soccer. There is now a tiered framework that will take shape over the course of four agreements to be negotiated between now and October 2027.

The City of Pasadena has the distinct honor of having been an Olympic Games venue host city on two prior occasions. The first, in 1932, when track cycling was held at the Rose Bowl, and again in 1984, when the Rose Bowl hosted Olympic soccer, including the gold medal match between France and Brazil, played in front of 101,799 spectators. With the selection of the City of Los Angeles as host city of the 2028 Olympic Games, Pasadena once again has a unique opportunity to host Olympic soccer at the Rose Bowl as well as potentially other Olympic events.

In 2016, the City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Company submitted letters to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), expressing interest in participating as a venue city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Games). The IOC subsequently awarded the 2024 Olympic Games to Paris and the 2028 Olympic Games to the City of Los Angeles. The City and the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 (OCOG) now wish to enter into a binding Games Agreement that sets forth the governing principles and commitments for the City's participation as a venue city. The Games Agreement provides the framework for how the City and OCOG will work together to deliver a successful Games. Key elements of the Games Agreement include defining the City's role, the process for delivery of standard and enhanced public services in connection with the Games, and the reimbursement of certain City expenses and lost revenue through supplemental agreements that will be negotiated in the future between the City and the OCOG. The Games Agreement also addresses various foundational administrative and legal obligations respective to the Games. The nature of negotiating Olympic agreements at this relatively early stage in the process means that the fiscal impact to the City of Pasadena of hosting the Games is unknown at this time but will be negotiated and developed in supplemental agreements. While the City is reasonably confident that it will recover its costs related directly to the provision of Enhanced City Resources, there are no guarantees in the Games Agreement that this will occur. The City's ability to recover its costs are dependent on several factors, including the ability to secure favorable reimbursement terms in supplemental agreements, the financial success of the Games, and ultimately, the solvency of the OCOG. Despite the financial uncertainties, the City is well-positioned to enter into this Games Agreement.

The venue and surrounding infrastructure to support the Games already exist, and the City has a long history of successfully hosting major events at the Rose Bowl, including international and Olympic soccer events, Super Bowls, and the College Football Playoff. As such, in contrast with some other venues in the region, there is not an anticipation for the need to fund and to construct capital improvements to support the Games. The primary cost drivers to the City are those to enhance the level of services that will be required to support the Games and related events. These may include costs for enhancements to public safety, sanitation, streets and roadways maintenance, code enforcement, traffic control, and other services that will be defined in supplemental agreements to be negotiated in the coming years. It is anticipated that the economic impact from hosting the Games at the Rose Bowl Stadium will be substantial to the City, the Rose Bowl, and the local and regional community. Hosting the Games will once again elevate the City's profile on a world-stage and position the City and the Rose Bowl to host future large-scale events.