PASADENA, Calif. — UCLA is playing its 2026 football season at the Rose Bowl, but the university still has not committed to the stadium long-term, and a breach-of-contract lawsuit by the city of Pasadena over the Bruins' lease is still pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to court reporting.
Click here to read the Sports Business Journal's report on Pasadena's lawsuit against UCLA.
UCLA has played its home games at the Rose Bowl since 1982, according to the reports.
Its lease with the Rose Bowl runs through June 30, 2044, according to the lawsuit.
The city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Company sued UCLA and the University of California Regents on October 29, 2025, to force the school to honor the lease, according to the Los Angeles Times as reported by Sports Business Journal.
A 2044
Lease, a SoFi Temptation, and a Lawsuit
The complaint alleges UCLA had "been unequivocally expressing its intent to abandon the Rose Bowl Stadium and relocate its home football games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood," according to Sports Business Journal.
Pasadena's position is that the lease is unambiguous and gives UCLA no option to terminate it before 2044, according to a city statement reported by Front Office Sports.
City officials said taxpayers have invested more than $150 million in stadium renovations, and the city recently refinanced another $130 million in bonds for more improvements, according to the reports.
UCLA pays no rent at the Rose Bowl, but it also receives no revenue from luxury suite sales or stadium sponsorships there, according to Field Level Media.
Breaking the lease has been estimated at $60 million to $80 million, according to reports.
UCLA's home attendance at the roughly 90,000-seat stadium has fallen to record lows in recent seasons, averaging about 37,000 fans a game, according to the reports.
SoFi Stadium, home of the Rams and Chargers, opened in 2020 and sits about 12 miles from UCLA's Westwood campus, roughly half the distance to Pasadena, according to the reports.
An Arbitration Bid, a Dismissal Bid, and Three Court Losses
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UCLA first asked the court to move the dispute into private arbitration, and a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied the bid in February 2026, according to UCLA Wire and the law firm Sidley Austin, which represents Pasadena and the Rose Bowl.
That same month, UCLA committed to playing the 2026 season at the Rose Bowl, according to a statement from Mary Osako, the university's vice chancellor for strategic communications.
"UCLA will play the upcoming football season at the Rose Bowl," Osako said, according to the California Post. "We know how much game day means to Bruins."
In June 2026, Judge Joseph Lipner rejected UCLA's attempt to throw out the lawsuit, calling its anti-SLAPP motion "untimely and unsupported by sufficient cause to permit late filing," according to the New York Post and UCLA Wire.
The ruling also allowed the Rose Bowl's claims against SoFi Stadium's operators, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment and Stadco LA, to proceed, according to Sidley Austin.
"We appreciate the court's careful consolidation of the issues and the ruling," said Nima Mohebbi, an attorney for Pasadena and the Rose Bowl. "We look forward to moving the case forward."
UCLA has said it is evaluating its long-term arrangement for home games and that no decision has been made, according to the reports.
A Season in Pasadena, a Revenue Concession, and No Finish Line
The Rose Bowl has since agreed to let UCLA keep revenue from premium seats tied to a new field-level club at the stadium, according to the New York Post.
The official who pushed hardest for the SoFi move, UCLA chief financial officer Stephen Agostini, has since left the university, according to the New York Post.
As of August 2026, officials from both sides had discussed a resolution behind the scenes, but there was "no finish line in sight," according to the New York Post.
The lawsuit remains pending. No settlement and no trial date had been announced in the reports as of October 2026.
Sources
Sports Business Journal, Pasadena sues UCLA, October 30, 2025; Field Level Media via Long Beach Star, Pasadena sues to block UCLA's move; UCLA Wire (USA Today), arbitration denial, February 2026, and anti-SLAPP ruling, June 2026; New York Post, June 4, 2026, and August 2, 2026; Sidley Austin case releases, February and June 2026; talkSPORT, February 23, 2026. Cover photo: Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.