Rose Bowl Stadium

The Rose Bowl Stadium was designed by Pasadena architect Myron Hunt and completed in October 1922 at a final cost of roughly $272,000 — the equivalent of $5 million in 2026 dollars. The original capacity was 57,000; subsequent expansions added an upper deck (1928), additional end-zone seating, and pressbox upgrades that grew the maximum capacity to roughly 100,000 by the mid-20th century. The stadium's current capacity is approximately 88,500 — slightly reduced from peak years due to safety code changes that converted some bench seating to chairback seats.

The stadium's name comes from the Tournament of Roses Association, which commissioned the stadium and continues to operate the Rose Bowl Game. The bowl-shape architecture was inspired in part by the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut (built 1914) — but the Rose Bowl's south end was open until 1928, when the upper deck enclosed the bowl into its current shape. The stadium is built primarily of reinforced concrete with a steel structural frame; the exterior facade features simple Mediterranean Revival ornamentation that reflects 1920s Southern California architectural taste.

Beyond the annual Rose Bowl Game, the stadium has hosted an extraordinary range of major events across its century-plus operating history. Five Super Bowls (XI, XIV, XVII, XXI, XXVII) were played here between 1977 and 1993. The 1984 Summer Olympics soccer matches culminated in the gold-medal final at the Rose Bowl. The 1994 FIFA Men's World Cup Final between Brazil and Italy was played here — the only World Cup men's final held in the United States to date. The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final between the U.S. and China — the famous Brandi Chastain shootout victory — was also played at the Rose Bowl. UCLA football has used the stadium as its home venue since 1982. Major concerts by Pink Floyd, U2, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, BTS, and dozens of other touring acts have played the stadium across the decades.

The Rose Bowl Flea Market — held on the second Sunday of every month in the stadium's surrounding parking lots — is one of the largest and most respected flea markets in the United States and is itself a significant Pasadena tourism draw. The market is operated by R.G. Canning Attractions, which has held the contract since 1968 and has built the event into a destination for antique collectors, vintage clothing enthusiasts, mid-century furniture buyers, and bargain hunters from across Southern California and beyond.

A typical Rose Bowl Flea Market hosts roughly 2,500 vendor stalls spread across multiple sections of the stadium parking lots, with the merchandise mix running from genuine 18th- and 19th-century antiques through mid-century modern furniture, vintage clothing, records, art, Route 66 memorabilia, and the standard flea-market mix of household goods and crafts. The market is large enough that thorough shoppers spend 4-6 hours walking the full layout, and serious collectors arrive at the 5:00 AM early-bird opening to get first access to the day's new inventory.

Admission tiers and pricing as of 2026: general admission is $12 per person (gates open 9:00 AM, closing 4:30 PM), early bird admission is $20 per person (gates open 7:00 AM), VIP admission is $25 per person (gates open 5:00 AM — the time when professional dealers and the most serious collectors arrive). Children under 12 are admitted free with a paying adult. Parking is free in the surrounding stadium lots. The market is canceled only in extreme weather; check rosebowlstadium.com or the R.G. Canning website on the morning of a planned visit to confirm operation.

Public stadium tours are offered by the Rose Bowl Stadium organization on selected dates, typically 2-3 days per week during non-event periods. Tours are roughly 60-90 minutes long, cover the stadium bowl interior including the playing field (sometimes — field access is event-dependent), the press box, the historic stadium club, the locker rooms, and several archival display areas that document the stadium's history. Tickets are typically $20-30 per person depending on the tour package; the more expensive premium tours include additional access points like the historic luxury suites and the field walkways used by major-event athletes. Tours can be booked online through the rosebowlstadium.com website with several weeks of advance notice typically required.

Visitors who can't time a stadium tour can still see substantial portions of the Rose Bowl from the surrounding Brookside Park grounds. The exterior architecture is fully visible from multiple angles along Rose Bowl Drive, and the upper rim of the stadium can be seen from various park overlooks. The historic plaque designating the stadium as a National Historic Landmark is mounted near the main entrance and is accessible to walk-up visitors at any time. Photographers can capture solid exterior photos of the stadium from the surrounding park land without any access fees.

The Brookside Park grounds surrounding the stadium are a substantial Pasadena civic recreation district — Brookside Golf Course (two 18-hole municipal courses), the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center (open to the public for swimming and lap fitness), hiking trails through the Arroyo Seco, picnic grounds, and the Aquatic Center facility for swimming events. Many Pasadena residents use the surrounding park land for daily exercise, and the 3.1-mile loop walk around the stadium itself is a standard local fitness route.

The Rose Bowl Game is college football's oldest bowl game and one of the most historically significant athletic events on the American sports calendar. The game has been played every January 1 since 1923 (with one minor exception in 1942, when it was relocated to Durham, North Carolina due to World War II security concerns following Pearl Harbor). The traditional matchup historically pitted the Pac-12 (formerly Pac-10, Pac-8, AAWU) champion against the Big Ten champion — a conference matchup that defined the game's identity for nearly a century. College football realignment in the 2020s has shifted the matchup format somewhat; recent and upcoming games use a College Football Playoff structure that may match teams from various conferences.

Tickets to the Rose Bowl Game are notoriously difficult to obtain at face value. The Tournament of Roses Association releases a portion of tickets through a public lottery system in the fall; the participating university athletic departments distribute additional tickets to alumni and donors. Resale market prices vary widely depending on the matchup and team fan bases — recent years have seen face-value tickets at $150-300 and resale prices ranging from $300 to $2,000+ for premium seats in highly-anticipated matchups.

The combination of the Rose Parade in the morning and the Rose Bowl Game in the afternoon is the original Pasadena New Year's Day double feature and remains one of the most distinctive single-day events in American sports tourism. Pasadena hotels and short-term rentals book out months in advance for the January 1 weekend; restaurants throughout the city run special parade-and-game menus; and the broader Pasadena civic mood for the New Year's holiday is genuinely celebratory in a way that's distinctive even by Southern California holiday standards.

The Rose Bowl is located at 1001 Rose Bowl Drive, in the Brookside Park area of western Pasadena, roughly 2 miles north of Old Pasadena. Driving from Colorado Boulevard takes 5-10 minutes depending on traffic. The standard Pasadena day plan includes a morning visit to Old Pasadena and Colorado Boulevard, a midday Norton Simon Museum visit, and an afternoon Rose Bowl visit — the stadium's open-park surroundings make it a natural late-afternoon destination after the more enclosed Old Pasadena and museum experiences.

For flea-market visits specifically, the second-Sunday morning timing requires early arrival to get the best inventory. Serious shoppers buy the $20 early-bird ticket and arrive at 7:00 AM; casual browsers can do the general-admission 9:00 AM opening. Wear comfortable shoes and plan for substantial walking — the market spans multiple connected parking lots covering well over a half-mile end to end. Cash is widely accepted by vendors and is often the preferred payment method for negotiation; most vendors also accept credit cards via mobile readers.

For Route 66 road-trippers, the Rose Bowl is a natural Pasadena stop even without an event scheduled. The flea-market timing — second Sunday of every month — works well with most multi-week Route 66 itineraries that include Pasadena. The exterior-only visit (no tour, no event) takes 30-60 minutes and is genuinely free if you simply park in the Brookside Park area and walk the stadium perimeter.