Club World Cup fans tell of ‘dangerous' Rose Bowl conditions amid heat and lack of water

The Guardian

5 hours ago

Conditions for fans at Sunday's Club World Cup fixture between Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, have been described as 'dangerous' and 'horrific' after attenders struggled to get access to water and experienced tightly packed crowds amid temperatures of at least 31C/88F in the stadium.
Supporters have told of having to dispose of full water bottles before entering the ground, of people in distress inside the venue and of lines that lasted 45 minutes to get access to water that was for sale.
One fan, who has attended events at the Rose Bowl on multiple previous occasions, contacted the Guardian to tell of the 'poorly run experience' which they said had made them reluctant to attend the World Cup next year.
'There was no way to simply buy water,' said John Celmins, a resident of Santa Barbara, of the match which kicked off at midday in California. 'You could go to a beer-only stand but there were no water stands and no extra water stations. There were long lines at every vendor and even at the drinking fountains.'
Another attender, Bryan González of Oakland, California, said that there were no additional water stations and that misting setups were consistently crowded throughout the game.
'People were filling up their cups [with water] and throwing them all over each other's back,' he said. 'Luckily they had those misting stations by the bathroom area, so people were swarming under there, taking turns.'
Celmins said that a contributing factor to the issues was that the Rose Bowl typically allows fans to bring in sealed water bottles into games, but did not on this occasion. The stadium's policies as outlined on its website state that unopened or empty disposable water bottles are allowed, as are reusable water bottles so long as they are empty.
The Rose Bowl website also states, however, that the regulations may change depending on the event, and in this case Fifa's directives appear to be taking precedence. The Fifa Club World Cup code of conduct says that 'empty, transparent, reusable plastic bottles' up to one liter may be brought in but explicitly bans all other types of bottles (aside from those needed for medicinal purposes or baby bottles).
Intense traffic, tight crowds and long lines are nothing new at the Rose Bowl, which was opened in 1922. But those issues were exacerbated during a midday game in high heat, especially given that none of the seating bowl is covered and the vast majority of the concourse area outside the seats is on blacktop surrounding the stadium.
Still, attenders told the Guardian that the experience was significantly worse than usual. Among other events, the Rose Bowl serves as the home venue for UCLA's American football team, and routinely hosts other major college football games.
'The stadium knows how to handle nearly 90,000 fans but today it struggled with 81,000 which I do not understand at all,' said Celmins. 'I am much less likely to try and attend the World Cup after this poorly run experience.'
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Celmin's and González's sentiments were echoed by a number of match-goers who made their feelings clear online. Underneath posts on the Rosebowl Instagram account one user described attending the match as the 'worst mistake' of their life. 'We're sunburnt all over and everything hurts,' Khusan Madimov wrote.
Another Instagram user, Val Wright, said: 'Dangerous experience. It should have come as no surprise the weather was 90 [degrees] and there was going to be 90,000. 45min queue at every vendor for water. Lines so long there was gridlock between sections 13-20 before and during half-time. Even Pasadena fire dept taking away sun stroke victims struggled to get through. I've been to football matches all around the world and we [never] felt this unsafe. We left at half-time.'
Fifa and the Rose Bowl Stadium organization were approached for comment on Monday but had not replied at time of writing. Last week sources close to the organisers told the Guardian that Fifa would be monitoring match conditions daily to ensure safety amid hot weather and would introduce measures to protect supporters if necessary.
The Rose Bowl is due to host five more matches in the group stage of the Club World Cup, including one, Atlético Madrid v Botafogo on 23 June, that has a kick-off time of noon local time, like Atlético's game v PSG. The stadium hosted the 1994 and 1999 World Cup finals, but is not a 2026 World Cup venue.