UCLA and SoFi discussed Rose Bowl exit in '24

Email is part of new documents filed in the breach-of-contract case against school.

- BY BEN BOLCH

ERIC THAYER Los Angeles Times

UCLA HAS played its home football games at the landmark Rose Bowl in Pasadena since 1982.

New documents filed Friday in the Rose Bowl's breach-of-contract case against UCLA that also accuses Kroenke Sports and Entertainment of meddling on behalf of SoFi Stadium revealed communication between UCLA and a top Kroenke executive dating to August 2024.

An email sent that month from UCLA chief financial officer Stephen Agostini's assistant to executives from Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and SoFi Stadium sought coordination of a Zoom meeting between the parties in September 2024 under the subject heading "UCLA Football Discussion." The importance level was listed as "high."

A list of proposed meeting attendees included Agostini; UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond; UCLA athletics chief financial officer Chris Iacoi; Kroenke Sports and Rams president Kevin Demoff; SoFi Stadium executives Greg Kish and Mike Forrester; and Mitchell Ziets, chief executive officer of Tipping Point Sports, a boutique sports advisory firm based in New Jersey.

"Please review the scheduling opportunities below and let me know what is possible," wrote Shelley Stanley, Agostini's executive assistant. "A reply sooner rather than later would be greatly appreciated, given that we are on the heels of the Fall quarter and the beginning of the UCLA football season."