Monica Almeida/The New York Times
The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., built in 1922, is undergoing a costly renovation.
PASADENA, Calif. — For nearly two years, the battle over bringing the National Football League to Los Angeles has been fought between two business titans competing to build a stadium in either downtown Los Angeles or the nearby City of Industry. No ground has been broken. The N.F.L. has not signaled whether it would approve a new franchise. There is not even a team clamoring to come.
But no matter. The mere prospect of an N.F.L. team returning to Southern California has set off an ancillary brawl 15 miles away, in this gracious and historical community that is home to the Rose Bowl. Pasadena, pressed for money to cover overruns on its $150 million renovation of the Rose Bowl, has offered the 90,000-seat stadium as a temporary home for a team until a final home is built.
That move has set off a storm of protest — with threats of legal action and a recall drive against a City Council member who supported it — reflecting this community's ambivalent relationship with an iconic stadium that has long defined it, but at a price.
For up to 12 weekends a year designated for big events, like U.C.L.A. football games and the actual Rose Bowl extravaganza, the fields, parking lots and golf course that surround the stadium in the Arroyo Seco are overrun with parked cars, tailgaters, party tents and rowdy celebrators.
Joggers, kite-fliers, soccer teams, picnickers and bicyclists are displaced, in the official vernacular of the weekend upheaval. People who live on the gorgeous slopes of Linda Vista, with sweeping views across the Arroyo Seco and the July 4 fireworks display over the Rose Bowl, are all but trapped in their homes by an invasion of 25,000 cars.
"We just can't have the Arroyo being shut down virtually every weekend from August to January," said Mike Vogler, a leader of the opposition. "It's detrimental to our home values. There's an element of the N.F.L. that brings crime, drunk driving and fights that we've seen all over the nation."
Nina R. Chomsky, the president of the Linda Vista/Annandale Association, described the proposed expansion as an assault on a treasured part of this community. "We love and value the central Arroyo: it's our Central Park," she said.
The City Council voted to move ahead with the plan — approving an environmental impact report and expanding the permitted number of so-called displacement events to 25, from 12, to accommodate 13 N.F.L. home games — after a raucous four-hour debate that has rolled on even after the last gavel was dropped. The measure was described by supporters as a critical, but not binding, step to position the city to take advantage of badly needed revenues.
"We have an obligation to keep an open mind to the N.F.L. or any potential tenant because there aren't that many tenants interested in a stadium this size," said Victor Gordo, a city councilman who is president of the Rose Bowl Operating Commission. "We should not prematurely pull ourselves out of consideration. The decision to remain in the hunt is simply a business decision."
The measure was opposed by only one council member, Terry Tornek.
"It wasn't even a close call as far as I was concerned: I don't think it's worth it," he said. "We've betrayed the community. And the fact that we may or may not approve the contract later on doesn't fix that."
The council member who represents Linda Vista, Steve Madison, faces a recall for supporting the proposal; a Web site — recallstevemadison.com — is devoted to his ouster.
"His constituency is so clearly against the N.F.L.," Mr. Vogler said. "People feel betrayed by Madison."
Mr. Madison disputed that, saying there was a long way to go — starting with the N.F.L. approving a franchise here — before anything might happen.
"There was misinformation out there that we were approving a tenant," he said. "We're not even close to that."
"I just have to tell you, with a huge shortfall in the renovation of the Rose Bowl, with budget woes plaguing our city and the tremendous needs that we have in our community, the E.I.R. was not the time and place to address these issues," he said, referring to the environmental report.
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