The College Football Playoff could soon be expanded to 12 team, but there’s one thing holding it up: the Rose Bowl.
In order to expand the CFP in 2024, there must be a unanimous agreement among everyone involved in the existing 12-year contract. Thus far, the Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, Peach and Cotton Bowls and their officials are all in agreement. Those representing the Rose Bowl are not.
“The possibility of early entry to an expanded College Football Playoff is not something we’re against,” Laura Farber, the chair of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, told ESPN earlier this month. “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 remaining hang-up is that the Rose Bowl wants to keep its traditional date and time (2:00 p.m. PT on January 1). However, the expansion proposal approved by the other five bowls would have the six games host quarterfinals and semifinals in a rotation.
In years when they are not hosting a CFP game, the Rose Bowl wants to pit teams from the Pac-12 and Big Ten against each other in their traditional window. The 11-member CFP Board of Managers are not willing to offer that. For now.
“Everything else can be resolved or has been resolved,” a high-ranking source told Sports Illustrated.
If the Rose Bowl and its officials don’t join the others in agreement, the earliest the CFP can be expanded is 2026. That would cost the CFP an estimated $450 million in revenue over the next two seasons.
The 106-year-old game, dubbed “Granddaddy of Them All,” is a tradition unlike any other and has played host to some of the best games ever played.
