A lawsuit filed by the Rose Bowl Operating Co. that alleges UCLA is wrongfully exploring options to move its home games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will proceed pending the UC Regents’ appeal of a judge’s ruling denying arbitration, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The suit filed by the city of Pasadena and the RBOC on Oct. 29 in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks to enforce the terms of a lease agreement the plaintiff claims locks UCLA into playing football at the venue until 2044. According to the lawsuit, UCLA has expressed its intent “to abandon the Rose Bowl” and relocate its home football games to SoFi Stadium.
On Monday, Judge Joseph Lipner denied the regents’ motion on behalf of UCLA to put the case on hold pending the outcome of the regents’ appeal of the judge’s earlier ruling denying arbitration of the dispute.
“(The city and the RBOC) filed this lawsuit to obtain a speedy determination of the parties’ rights and obligations concerning UCLA’s contractual agreement to play home football games at the Rose Bowl,” the judge wrote, adding that putting the case on hold would ensure that the suit’s outcome would be delayed by a year or more, leaving the plaintiffs “in limbo and unnecessarily postponing resolution of this dispute.”
In their court papers opposing the case discovery pause, the city and RBOC attorneys stated that UCLA has attempted to stay the case three different times in the five months since the lawsuit was filed.
“All the while, plaintiffs have sought basic, reasonable discovery in the face of UCLA’s stonewalling,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers further wrote in their pleadings.
Lipner heard arguments on the UC Regents and SoFi Stadium motions to compel arbitration, then took the issues under submission before ruling on Feb. 5 that the case should be heard by a jury.
In their court papers in favor of the stay motion, the regents’ attorneys said the appeal raises at least “substantial or debatable” issues; namely that UCLA would be irreparably harmed if it has to continue litigating in court a case that appellate courts may conclude can be heard only in arbitration.
“Moreover, there is no urgency in resolving this matter because UCLA confirmed that it intends to play its home football games at the Rose Bowl Stadium for the 2026 college football season,” the UC Regents further contended in their court papers.