USC Move to the Rose Bowl?

(Flickr pic by Steve Eggleston.)

It's possible, as the school's deal is up with the Coliseum. But, as the L.A. Times writes, it also could be a negotiation ploy:

Frustrated by lack of progress on a lease agreement with the Coliseum Commission -- one that would allow the school to run and renovate the venerable Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum -- USC is negotiating with the Rose Bowl to begin playing home games in Pasadena next fall.

While a deal with the Pasadena stadium is not complete, a potential USC lease agreement is on the agenda for a Dec. 6 meeting of the Rose Bowl Operating Co. The school's two-year lease with the Coliseum expires after Saturday's game.

Some insiders have dismissed USC's talks with the Rose Bowl as a negotiating ploy, saying it's highly unlikely the school would ever leave a stadium that's practically part of its campus. But others point to the number of teams that have left the Coliseum over the years and say USC is likely to uproot if there's no significant progress with the commission.

"We've been a loyal, faithful tenant of the Coliseum for 80 years, and our goal is to continue playing in the Coliseum for another 80 years," said Todd R. Dickey, USC's senior vice president for administration. "But in order to do that, the Coliseum has to be improved. It needs to be repaired and restored. And we've offered to make those improvements, not just to hand the money over to the Coliseum Commission, but for the university to actually operate the facility."

Timing of the news is interesting, of course, with the big USC/UCLA faceoff this Saturday at... yes, the Rose Bowl Coliseum.