For the last 40 years, the UCLA Bruins have played their home football games at one of the most iconic venues in all of sports, the Rose Bowl. However, that appears to be changing, as UCLA shocked the college football world with reports from the UCLA athletic department that the Bruins plan to leave the Rose Bowl and move their home games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood starting in 2026.
According to 247’s Tracy Pierson, the UCLA athletic department appears to believe the move is a “near-done deal… Many athletic department sources discuss it as if it’s already been acknowledged and accepted…According to the reporting, “UCLA will play its home games at SoFi starting with the 2026 football season. It will be officially announced at the end of the current football season.”
On October 29th, the city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl filed a lawsuit against UCLA over the potential move. According to multiple reports, UCLA has been attempting to terminate the lease at the Rose Bowl to move the team’s home games to SoFi Stadium.
The Rose Bowl and the city of Pasadena believe this move would cause huge financial losses and are reportedly seeking over $1 billion in damages from terminating the lease agreement. Currently, UCLA has a deal in place with the Rose Bowl for the Bruins to play their home games in Pasadena until 2044. However, UCLA has been determined to buy out the remainder of the contract, which would cost about $60-80 million, to end the lease and move the team’s home games to SoFi.
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Why is UCLA Making This Move?
Is it a great day to be alive and to be a Bruin?
A UCLA Deal Motivated By Pervasive Greed In College Football
This move by UCLA is another example of greed that has corrupted college football. If you watch a college game in 2025, cancel your plans because there are so many advertisements in a modern college football game that any big game is on average three and a half hours long, if not longer.
Additionally, conference realignment has ravaged college football, taking iconic programs away from the Big 12 like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and ripping apart iconic rivalries that once served as the backbone of the sport.
In 2022, UCLA and USC spearheaded a move to the Big 10 despite being nowhere near the other schools geographically in the quest for more money. The Big 10 ultimately paid UCLA and USC $140 million up front and $2.3 billion overall for joining the conference. Other Pac-12 schools followed suit, abandoning the Pac-12, which ultimately dissolved the conference that was once the premier conference for West Coast collegiate athletics.
This move by UCLA is yet another example of the greed taking hold of college athletics.
Despite the Rose Bowl’s iconic appeal, UCLA has struggled to fill the stadium. One key reason is the team’s long-standing struggles on the field. The once-proud UCLA football program endured a difficult stretch from 2005 to 2013, posting a 50-71 record. The past decade has shown improvement, however, with the Bruins going 78-33 and making five bowl appearances.
The second issue is that UCLA’s campus is in Westwood, quite a distance from Pasadena, making it a long trek for students to attend games—especially when the team is struggling. Bruins fans have long requested a stadium closer to campus, but the reality is that there simply isn’t enough space to build one in an already crowded part of West Los Angeles.
Furthermore, the Rose Bowl is one of the most beautiful venues in college football; it makes no sense to move to an indoor stadium in sunny Los Angeles.
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This move by the Bruins is all about fattening their pockets. UCLA will claim the reason for the move is to play in a stadium closer to Westwood. The real reason UCLA wants to make the move is so it can charge premium rates for luxury suites at SoFi that the Rose Bowl does not have.
As noted, UCLA’s low attendance has taken a toll on football revenue, generating just $8 million in ticket sales in 2024. SoFi Stadium, with its premium corporate sponsorships and luxury seating, promises to fill UCLA’s coffers. The expectation is that these revenue streams will help offset the impact of empty seats on game days, regardless of whether the move actually boosts fan attendance.
This move by UCLA is sad, and it represents a new low for Los Angeles collegiate football. More and more, we see schools brazenly cast aside the traditions that made fans fall in love with the sport for more and more money.
How much money is enough? This move will not increase attendance. Part of the fun of attending a UCLA game is to see the Bruins play in the Rose Bowl: take that away, and you take away what is special about going to a UCLA football game.
This year’s UCLA football team is a great story. After a disastrous start to the season, UCLA fired head coach DeShaun Foster and appeared to strike gold with Jerry Neuheisel, son of the former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel. Jerry was formerly the UCLA offensive coordinator and has done a masterful job of restoring pride to this UCLA team. Following a putrid 0-4 start to the year, Neuheisel helped UCLA win 3 of its next 4 games, making them a respectable team on the rise.
A feel-good story ruined by greed as UCLA takes 2 steps forward and 10 steps back. UCLA has just one home game remaining this year against the Washington Huskies on November 22nd. Get your tickets now because this could be the final time UCLA fans will ever get to see their beloved Bruins play in the iconic Rose Bowl.