This post was updated Oct. 30 at 10:07 p.m.
The City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Company filed a lawsuit against UCLA and the UC Board of Regents on Wednesday, accusing the university of trying to move home football games from Pasadena to SoFi Stadium.
The complaint, filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, will attempt to force the university to honor the contract that will keep UCLA’s football games in Pasadena until 2044, according to the LA Times. It alleges that UCLA formally told both parties it would not be staying at the Rose Bowl long-term, according to the LA Times.
“On Wednesday, October 29, 2025, the City of Pasadena took the unfortunate but necessary step of filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to enforce a lease agreement between the Rose Bowl Stadium and UCLA,” said Lisa Derderian, the chief communications officer for the City of Pasadena, in an emailed statement. “That lease agreement is unambiguous, explicitly stating there is no option for UCLA to terminate the lease prior to its expiration in 2044.”
Derderian added that Pasadena expects the university to honor the agreement, which was signed in 2010 and amended in 2014, and will do “everything in its power” to ensure that UCLA follows through on its contractual obligations. Despite the actions taken by the university, the city looks forward to continuing the partnership, she said.
“While we continue to evaluate the long-term arrangement for UCLA Football home games, no decision has been made,” UCLA Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako said in a single-sentence emailed statement in response to The Bruin’s request for comment.
Spokespeople for the Rose Bowl Operating Company board did not respond in time to a request for comment.
UCLA’s lease agreement with the historic football stadium – which has hosted college football’s oldest bowl game since 1902 – saw extensive changes in 2010, when the two parties agreed to drop the remaining 13 years on its existing contract in favor of a 30-year extension to end in 2042.
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News of UCLA’s alleged plans to move home games to SoFi Stadium – the home stadium of the LA Rams and Chargers – comes as criticism of poor fan attendance has risen. The average fan attendance of UCLA home games this season is 35,253.
When UCLA football started its 2025 campaign 0-4, many across the collegiate football landscape took notice of the empty stands that permeated the Pasadena-based stadium. In March 2024, UCLA’s fan attendance marked the biggest decline of the then-Power Five schools since 2016.
The last five seasons, barring campaigns impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, have marked the team’s worst home attendance records since moving its home stadium to the Rose Bowl in 1982. UCLA’s lowest attended game this season came against New Mexico on Sept. 12, when just 31,163 fans were reported to have attended. The Rose Bowl has a maximum capacity of 89,702.
While the Rose Bowl has been the Bruins’ home field for over 40 years, students and fans alike have cited its distance from UCLA’s campus and the inaccessibility of Pasadena as the biggest deterrents for fans to attend home games.
SoFi Stadium finished construction in September 2020 and is under 13 miles away from the UCLA campus, around 14 miles closer than the Rose Bowl.
UCLA also has a long-standing relationship with Pasadena, with Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck having previously served as the city manager. Pete Angelis, one of Beck’s deputies and the associate vice chancellor of UCLA Housing & Hospitality, represents the university on the Rose Bowl Operating Company board.
Contributing reports from Maggie Konecky, Daily Bruin senior staff.
