Report: CFP Won't Guarantee Rose Bowl Jan. 1 Window amid Expansion Negotiations

Rose Bowl organizers are reportedly hesitant to agree to College Football Playoff expansion because of uncertainty over whether the Rose Bowl will continue to be played on New Year's Day.

According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, CFP expansion is poised to occur by 2026 at the latest, following the conclusion of the tournament's television contract with ESPN, but officials are hard at work to move up the timeline.

While officials for the other five CFP bowls have agreed to 2024 expansion, Rose Bowl officials want the game to remain in its traditional 5 p.m. ET timeslot on Jan. 1, but the CFP can't guarantee that will be the case once expansion occurs.

Expansion plans call for the six CFP bowls to rotate hosting quarterfinal and semifinal games, and while the Rose Bowl has requested to be a non-CFP game played on Jan. 1 when there is no playoff game on that date, the CFP Board of Managers agreed it would not guarantee that type of exception for the Rose Bowl.

If Rose Bowl officials cannot be convinced to agree to expansion in 2024, it would cost the NCAA a combined $450 million in added revenue between the 2024 and 2025 playoffs.

The first Rose Bowl game was played in Pasadena, California, in 1902 between Stanford and Michigan. It has been played annually since 1916, with only two games held somewhere other than Pasadena.

Called "The Granddaddy of Them All," the Rose Bowl is always played on Jan. 1 with the exception of years when Jan. 1 falls on a Sunday. On those occasions, it is played the following day.

The Rose Bowl used to be played between the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions, but that hasn't always been the case in recent years due to the Rose Bowl's involvement in the playoff.

It is likely that a big part of the reason for the Rose Bowl officials' insistence that the Rose Bowl continue to be played on Jan. 1 at 5 p.m. ET is the fact that it is part of a major celebration in Pasadena.

Along with the Rose Bowl, the Rose Parade is held annually on New Year's Day, making it a special event for residents and those visiting.

The College Football Playoff is guaranteed to remain a four-team affair in 2022 and 2023, but the Rose Bowl organizers' willingness to compromise is reportedly what will determine if expansion happens in 2024 or waits until 2026.