The name of the Rose Bowl Stadium might be sacred, but it turns out its front lawn is up for grabs.
Honda will get two signs in Area H, the grassy open space directly in front of the Rose Bowl, for 26 years, in exchange for funding a path around the area.
The “Honda Community Recreation Loop” is expected to give runners, walkers and others a three-fourth mile track next to one of America’s most iconic stadiums.
“We determined it would be good to do something to help support the recreationists and the public at large,” said Darryl Dunn, general manager of the stadium.
The loop has been unfunded for years. Donors, including Honda as the largest contributor, will pay roughly $1.9 million total through the Rose Bowl’s Legacy Foundation, with $1.2 million going toward the loop and fitness equipment.
Each of the donors will be listed on a sign, though the loop itself will be named after Honda.
The rest of the donation will pay for improvements at the stadium and for a program that supports field trips to the Rose Bowl for Pasadena Unified School District students, according to a staff report.
“Honda’s support of the Rose Bowl Stadium spans decades as one of the Stadium’s founding partners,” Dunn wrote in the report.
In 2010, the Rose Bowl Operating Company and the city agreed to allow Legacy to secure contributions for specific naming rights in the stadium. Nearly all of those naming-rights deals were for inside the venue.
But while other college stadiums have allowed sponsors to change their stadium’s names for massive donations, the Rose Bowl has avoided it.
Pasadena-based Wescom Credit Union is one of the few with a sign outside the Bowl. Their sign near Rosemont Drive has drawn criticism from residents and city council members for its lackluster appearance.
“I think it is unbecoming of the world class attraction that we claim the Rose Bowl is,” said Councilman John Kennedy, in a request for stricter standards for the Honda signage.
Originally, the Rose Bowl Operating Company wanted to rename Area H as “Honda Park” in honor of the donations, but shifted to loop after residents objected.
The Arroyo’s resident associations still oppose the new proposal, as they’re concerned about corporate branding sullying the area.
In a letter, the presidents of three Arroyo associations called on the city to take a more careful approach to the naming by creating a framework with consistent guidelines for design, aesthetics and sponsorships.
“Central Arroyo is one of the great open spaces in our area, in California and in the United States,” said Nina Chomsky, president of the Linda Vista-Annandale Association. “We want a consistent, high quality, subtle but meaningful, sign program for all of these activities.”
The city has pledged to vet the signs through the design commission before construction on the loop completes in 2017.
