Rose Bowl Experience: No Ticket Needed

Tony Bermuda could easily have watched Oregon play Wisconsin from inside the Rose Bowl instead of on a TV screen in the Rose Bowl parking lot.

He could have bought a ticket as the well-connected owner of the popular Redwood Bar in downtown Los Angeles -- or used the one someone gave him for free before the game.

“There was a really cute girl, she was alone and I thought I was going to get another one. I gave it away to her,” explains Bermuda, who watched the game with tailgaters in the parking lot.

The Covington and Hendricks families are big UCLA fans who just wanted to soak up the Rose Bowl experience, making new friends like Bermuda while enjoying the game and the atmosphere.

It’s not the first time Bermuda has shown up at the Rose Bowl for the big game without a ticket. He says it’s the fourth time he has scored a free ticket before the game. He hangs out where he thinks the most passionate fans are. He gets to know them, and in so doing, convinces them that they would have a better time giving him their extra ticket instead of selling it to a scalper.

“People are very generous and they want to share, just bringing that out of a person is hard,” he says. “If you get me in the game, I’ll buy you a beer.”

Even though he didn’t get into the game, he says he has no regrets. He enjoyed the game from the parking lot and he’s hoping the ticket he was given, which he then gave away, will make him a new friend.

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