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Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Rose Bowl officials are optimistic they will be able to maintain their traditional Jan. 1 date in the next iteration of the College Football Playoff in 2026 and beyond, Rose Bowl management committee chair Laura Farber told ESPN on Tuesday.
“Because we’re the only bowl that has the date as part of our brand in the New Year’s Six bowls, it’s really imperative for us and important for us,” said Farber, who was at Big Ten media days at Lucas Oil Stadium. “We don’t know when there will be a longform agreement. We’re hopeful it will be sooner than later, but that depends on when the CFP has everything ready to go.”
Farber said the game would also like to maintain its traditional kickoff time of 2 p.m. PT but will be flexible. There has been a push from CFP leaders to take an equitable approach to how the New Year’s Six bowls will figure into the playoff moving forward, which has required a delicate balance to appease the Rose Bowl’s request of maintaining some of its history. Meanwhile, the Rose Bowl has acknowledged its game has changed along with the college football landscape and the playoff.
What was once a historic partnership between the Big Ten and the Pac-12 is now a CFP quarterfinal game in a 12-team field that will include a conference champion coming off a first-round bye against a winner from the first-round home games of the higher seed. The Rose Bowl will host a CFP quarterfinal this season and in 2025, but the sport’s format beyond that is undetermined. New CFP executive director Rich Clark told ESPN last week that CFP leaders are unlikely to make any major decisions about the future until after this season unfolds.
Farber said that if the current, 12-team rotation were to continue, the other New Year’s Six bowls would have to pick up the semifinal games because the Rose Bowl would have a quarterfinal.
“What we care more about is being integrated in the CFP and having an extremely good game,” Farber said. “We’re excited the opportunity will exist for all kinds of teams to play in our game, not just our traditional partners.”
Farber said the ticket allotments for each participating team will decrease, but that means more tickets will be available to the general public — something she expects to see implemented for each of the New Year’s Six bowls.
“There will be more access, and we’re excited about that,” she said. “We think it’s important because we want everyone to be able to see the Grandaddy of Them All.”
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