The Rose Bowl has signed a contract with the College Football Playoffs, paving the way for the event to expand to 12 teams from 2024, sources confirmed to CBS Sports. The CFP gave the Rose Bowl to agree to terms it was previously unwilling to accept by the end of the week at the latest.
With the Rose Bowl now underway, official announcements of the 12-team playoffs for 2024 and 2025 are expected imminently. The new format was first agreed by he CFP Board in September.
The terms of the deal signed by the Rose Bowl are not yet known, but despite the possibility that the extended playoffs will affect the bowl’s schedule, the bowl will be scheduled for the traditional opening date of January 1 at 5:00 p.m. ET. It demanded that the game be played in a time slot of . That time slot is considered one of the most valuable in sports television. The deal signed by the Rose Bowl could give it much more flexibility in its scheduling process.
In the expanded playoffs, the game itself is more important than the bowl hosting the contest. Had the Rose Bowl refused to agree to his policy of a more uniform schedule, expansion would have been delayed until 2026 after his CFP’s current contract with ESPN ended. This would have generated an estimated $450 million in additional revenue for those involved, and may have pulled the Rose Bowl out of the selection process after the new deal was signed.
The Rose Bowl had offered to host the CFP quarterfinals in 2024 and 2025 in exchange for keeping that time slot as part of the CFP’s new media rights deal starting in 2026. He told CBS Sports about the situation. The offer was declined.
When asked what influence the Rose Bowl had on the process, a person involved in the CFP process simply replied, “They have nothing.” After the conference championship game, he said an early expansion was not possible with the bowl and playoff season in full swing.
CFP is in the ninth year of a 12-year deal with ESPN, which expires after the 2025 season. All necessary parties outside of the Rose Bowl have already agreed to expand to 12 teams for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Ten FBS meetings, Notre Dame Cathedral and participating New Years Six Bowls have agreed on issues such as campus site play, game dates and revenue sharing for early expansion. However, the agreement to expand early had to be unanimous.
Over the years, all BCS/CFP scheduling decisions so far have accommodated the Rose Bowl to broadcast the game in its preferred time slot of 5:00 pm on or around New Year’s Day. rice field. This game was traditionally scheduled after the Tournament of Roses of Parade. The timing was such that the sun always set west of the San Gabriel Mountains during the game, creating one of the most iconic settings in American sports.
Once the CFP was ready to expand, its handlers became less tolerant of meeting the demands of the Rose Bowl. This 5pm time slot will be very valuable in the future when for the first time the game feels more important than the bowl site.
“This is the equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday,” said one industry source for the 5 p.m. time slot. “New Year’s Day is like Sunday, even if it’s not Sunday. Everyone’s hungover from New Year’s Eve. They’re sitting in the back and it’s five o’clock now. Everyone’s done what they need to do. There.” It’s the best window in the
The primary reason for the early expansion is to give teams more playoff access and earn $450 million annually from rights holder ESPN to air additional CFP games in 2024 and 2025. is to A new media rights agreement must be signed in 2026. from.
It is not clear what leverage the Rose Bowl believed it had in the negotiations. I was tired of
The Rose Bowl began relinquishing its exclusivity in 1998, the first year of the BCS. At the time, it was agreed to end an ongoing run featuring Big Ten and Pac-12 champions dating back to 1947. game. It only happened after the 2001 season when Miami defeated Nebraska for their final national title. Both schools at the time said they were meant to feel like outsiders after playing the Big Ten against the Pac-8/10 for 55 years in a row.
When the CFP started in 2014, it was guaranteed that the Rose Bowl would never host a national tournament. Los Angeles was building his new SoFi stadium and the city of Pasadena he had no means of beating LA City SoFi to host the 2023 CFP National Championship. Meanwhile, since 2014, the Rose Bowl has seen him host the CFP semifinals in 2015, 2018 and 2021.
“That game lost its luster [if the Rose doesn’t agree]said one Bowl executive outside the CFP system. Maybe the Rose Bowl just has to give in.
The Rose Bowl flashed on Wednesday night.
