Report: Rose Bowl, city sue UCLA for alleged plan to move to SoFi - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — The city of Pasadena, California, and the Rose Bowl Operating Company have sued UCLA for allegedly trying to move its college football games from one of the sport's most iconic stadiums to the much newer SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

According to the Times, the suit accuses UCLA of «profoundly» betraying trust by attempting to relocate its home games from the facility the Bruins have called home for 43 years to the home of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers.

UCLA's current lease runs through 2044. But the stadium is 26 miles from campus, and the Bruins (3-5, 3-2 Big Ten) have struggled with attendance in recent years. This season, UCLA's average attendance for its four home games is roughly 35,000.

SoFi Stadium opened in September 2020, is about 12 miles from UCLA's campus and has a capacity of 70,240.

«This lawsuit arises in an era when money too often eclipses meaning and the pursuit of profit threatens to erase the very traditions that breathe life into institutions,» the suit claims. «Some commitments are too fundamental to be traded away.»

UCLA has undergone several major changes over the past two seasons. It joined USC, Washington and Oregon in leaving their longtime conference home, the Pac-12, for the Big Ten in 2024.

Earlier this season, the Bruins fired second-year coach DeShaun Foster and replaced him with interim coach Tim Skipper. They've also changed offensive and defensive coordinators this season.

The Times reported UCLA's outside counsel, David L. Scrader, sent a letter to Pasadena attorney Nima Mohebbi in March, saying the school's efforts to conduct «preliminary discussions» about relocating games did not constitute a