A 1922 historic landmark, the Rose Bowl is one of the oldest football, track, and soccer stadia in the United States. Its history, dramatic setting, and evocative environment are the pillars of the Rose Bowl character and remained the foundation of the design of renovations that Janet Marie Smith, Fran Weld and their team scripted in 2008.

Smith and Weld focused on an incremental solution to upgrades to the Rose Bowl, addressing specific fan experience and operational concerns with the then current facility, rather than proposing a total overhaul of the existing infrastructure and amenities. This approach resulted not only in a more manageable financial commitment, but also in simpler physical changes to the historic stadium, maintaining the identity that football fans knew and loved.

While no single element of the solutions identified, taken alone, would have provided a complete transformation of the Rose Bowl, but when knit together, these improvements were compounded to enhance the historic appeal, fan experience, and operational capacity of the Rose Bowl, extending its useful lifetime well into future generations.