Rose Bowl Reportedly Negotiating Role in Expanded College Football Playoff

One sticking point for the College Football Playoff adopting a 12-team format as soon as the 2024 season could be its relationship with the Rose Bowl.

According to Heather Dinich of ESPN, a top Rose Bowl official said on Wednesday that "everyone involved in the existing [CFP] 12-year contract must unanimously agree to changing the terms, and the CFP and the Rose Bowl are still negotiating the historic game's role in the new model."

The Rose Bowl is hoping to keep its exclusive broadcasting window on New Year's Day at 5 p.m. ET on the years it serves as a host site for a CFP semifinal. However, it "seems willing to temporarily concede its relationship with the Big Ten and Pac-12 to host a quarterfinal game in 2024 and 2025, but in return, it's asking for assurances in the new contract," per Dinch.

"The possibility of early entry to an expanded College Football Playoff is not something we're against," Rose Bowl Management Committee chair Laura Farber told ESPN. "We continue to work with the CFP on this issue. We last spoke two weeks ago to the CFP but have not heard back from the CFP."

The issue in years when the Rose Bowl doesn't host one of the playoff games is that its prime slot on Jan. 1 could directly compete against a CFP quarterfinal.

"We have not decided anything about 2026 and beyond," A CFP source told Dinich. "Should the Rose Bowl tell us where to play our games? Most of us think not."

The Rose Bowl has reportedly asked for assurances that the other major bowl games—the Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach Bowls—have not requested. And there is reportedly a concern within the CFP that the Rose Bowl may even be trying to determine when the CFP plays its games.

"For anyone to say that the Rose Bowl Game is the sole reason right now that expansion may not happen before the current cycle runs out is categorically wrong," Farber said, pushing back against those concerns.

"Yes, we need to work through the details of our contract and our separate broadcast agreement, but we remain open to that. There are also issues not specific to our game that need to be resolved, including the NFL schedule, revenue sharing and on-campus schedules."

The Rose Bowl, a companion event to Pasadena's Tournament of Roses New Year's celebration and parade, was first played in 1902 and has been played every year since 1916. Dating back to 1961, the game traditionally featured a matchup between a Big Ten and Pac-12 school.