Rose Bowl

Pros: historic, good sightlines
Cons: its time has passed

I've been to the Rose Bowl twice, once at night for a soccer game, the other time blazing on a sunny afternoon in the (late) summertime when UCLA hosted Ohio State a couple years back. Yes, it is a historic building and I was happy to go the famed ...

Pros: Scenic. Shuttle buses available for parking off of the stadium. Restaurants nearby.
Cons: The parking - typical Pasadena. Rest rooms are not very plentiful.

Of course, the big college rivalry here is the annual, late November game between UCLA and USC. My very first college football game was this event at the Rose Bowl. And this is one of the experiences to have if you live in...

Pros: Great view from any seat
Cons: Parking is either on a golf course, or you're bused in from far away

Being a UCLA fan at a young age, and living in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, I have had my fair share of visits to the Roses Bowl for many different occasions. Whether it be a swap meet, Women's World Cup Championship Game, a Bruins...

Pros: Atmosphere
Cons: Parking, crowded seating

So I got to vist the Rose Bowl this past January to see the beloved Illini get a lashing from USC. Being on cloud nine for just the fact that I was there, I tried to take it all in. The setting of the Rose Bowl is nothing short of fabulous. I ...

Pros: Just a great stadium.
Cons: Took and hour to get in or out.

I've been to the Rose Bowl twice, and even though my team lost both times I've never left disappointed. The area is beautiful, there's lots to do, and the view of the field is terrific.

The only downside it the very limited number of...

Pros: Setting, outer ellipse, Rose Bowl Game.
Cons: Destruction of inner ellipse; adjacent office building, smog.

One of the best half dozen or so stadia in North America and easily [and almost justly] the most famous football stadium. Once a perfect ellipse with wonderful proportions, it has been mutilated in recent decades by the grossly insensitive high-rise office building that towers over it and casts an ominous shadow across the stands [or seats], disguised as "luxury" boxes and press facilities. What kind of football fan watches the game from a glass-enclosed hermetically sealed room fifteen stories above the field?! And the bowl has also been mutilated by the thoughtless destruction of the inner field-level ellipse to accommodate [yechhh!] soccer. I shudder to think what abuses will be visited upon it if it "wins" the competition to become the home of an nfl team.

Still a wonderful setting, when the smog doesn't completely mask the hills and etch your retinas.