The Rose Bowl must waive its requirement to continue playing in its traditional timeslot in ongoing discussions with the College Football Playoffs by the end of the week at the latest, CBS Sports has learned. The Bowl remains the only high flyer as the CFP looks to expand to 12 teams in 2024, two years before their contract expires.
If the Rose Bowl refuses, the CFP could not expand until 2026, and the Rose Bowl could find itself barred from the selection process.
The Rose Bowl has adamantly stuck to its call to begin Jan. 1 at 5 p.m. ET. This slot is considered one of the most valuable in sports television.
However, in an extended playoff, all parties begin to realize that the games themselves are more important than the bowls in which the contests are held.
The Rose Bowl had proposed hosting CFP quarterfinals in 2024 and 2025 — possibly without their traditional Big Ten and Pac-12 partners — in exchange for maintaining its timeslot as part of the CFP’s new media rights deal beginning in 2026, a source close to the situation said CBS Sports.
When asked what impact the Rose Bowl has in this process, one person involved in the CFP process simply replied, “You don’t have one.”
An ESPN report said the Rose Bowl was given an “ultimatum” on Wednesday to make a decision.
Sources tell CBS Sports that a deadline is approaching “where we need to fish or cut bait.” A CFP Bowl official said early expansion after this weekend’s conference championship games was impossible amid the rush of the bowl and playoff season.
The CFP is in the ninth year of a 12-year deal with ESPN that expires after the 2025 season. The required parties have otherwise agreed to expand to 12 teams and are aiming to do so before the end of the current ESPN contract. However, the Rose Bowl is the only party holding up the process that would force expansion to wait until 2026 and therefore cost the CFP and its partners hundreds of millions of dollars.
All 10 FBS conferences, Notre Dame and the participating New Year’ Six Bowls have already agreed on issues such as campus play, game dates and revenue distribution for the early 2024 and 2025 expansion. However, approval for early expansion must be unanimous. If the Rose Bowl doesn’t agree, a source said, it will have single-handedly “killed” the early expansion.
If the Rose Bowl isn’t part of the CFP after the 2025 season, there are several locations that would happily take its place. Possible target cities would be Charlotte (Duke’s Mayo Bowl), San Antonio (Alamo Bowl), Tampa (Gasparilla Bowl), Las Vegas (Las Vegas Bowl) and Nashville (Music City Bowl).
Over the years, every BCS/CFP scheduling decision – until now – has ensured the Rose Bowl could broadcast its game at its preferred timeslot. The game is traditionally scheduled to follow the Tournament of Roses of Parade. The timing was such that the sun always set in the west over the San Gabriel Mountains throughout the game, creating one of the most iconic backdrops in American esports.
Now that the CFP is poised to expand, its leaders are less tolerant of the Rose Bowl’s demands. The 5 p.m. time slot will just be too valuable going forward when – for the first time – the games feel like they matter more than the bowl sites.
“It’s the equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday,” an industry source said of the 5 p.m. timeslot. “New Year’s is like a Sunday, even if it’s not a Sunday. Everyone is hungover from New Year’s Eve. You sit back, it’s 5 o’clock. Everyone has done what they must do. It’s the best window there is.”
The main reasons for early expansion are to give teams more access to the playoffs and to get an additional $450 million a year from rights holder ESPN so it can air the additional games in 2024 and 2025. Whether or not the playoffs are extended early, a new media rights deal will be signed for 2026 and beyond. If the Rose Bowl is going to cost the CFP and their partners half a million dollars, why would they be inclined to involve them in the process further, especially given that they would likely keep their demand for timeslots up?
It’s not clear what influence the Rose Bowl thinks it has in the negotiations. This broadcast window is valuable, and CFP stakeholders seem fed up with accommodating the Rose Bowl in an arrangement that dates back almost a quarter of a century.
“It’s at the Rose Bowl. It’s obvious,” a source familiar with the situation told CBS Sports.
There was no indication of how the Big Ten and Pac-12 feel about the situation, but perhaps it’s obvious since neither conference agrees with the Rose Bowl on the matter.
The Rose Bowl began relinquishing its exclusivity in 1998, the first year of BCS. It was then that an agreement was reached to end a continuous run that stretched back to 1947 with the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions. In the BCS agreement, the Rose Bowl alternately gave up its two courts every four years to host the BCS championship game. That first happened after the 2001 season when Miami beat Nebraska for their last national title. Both schools mentioned at the time that after 55 consecutive years of Big Ten vs. Pac-8/10, they should feel like underdogs.
When the CFP began in 2014, assurances were given that the Rose Bowl would never host a national championship. Los Angeles was building the new SoFi Stadium, and the city of Pasadena didn’t have the resources to outbid the city of LA. SoFi will host the 2023 CFP National Championship. Meanwhile, since 2014, the Rose Bowl has hosted the CFP Semifinals in 2015, 2018 and 2021.
“The shine of this game is fading [if the Rose doesn’t agree]said a bowl executive outside of the CFP system. Maybe the Rose Bowl just has to give in, suck it up.
“It’s just who blinks first.”