How college football’s seismic shifts are impacting Rose Bowl Game and giant New Year’s Day parade

It was 1946 in the Crown City – the proud home of the Rose Bowl and the Rose Parade.

The parade’s theme rang out that year, “Victory, Unity, Peace” – a theme sparking the birth of new aspirations for a war-weary nation.

Pasadena’s Rose Bowl – later known as “The Granddaddy of Them All” – and its giant spectacle of a parade were right at the center of this new era, with all the pomp and tradition it could muster.

Something else was born that year: An exclusive agreement between the Tournament of Roses, the Big Ten Conference and the precursor to the Pac-12, already nascent juggernaut leagues in the college sports world.

For decades, that pioneering pact fueled Pasadena’s prominence as an epicenter of the college football universe on New Year’s Day – from USC’s multi-decade march to Rose Bowl Game royalty to UCLA’s stunning dominance on New Year’s Day in the 1980s.

It was lucrative for the conferences and the Tournament of Roses, as over decades it would generate billions of dollars tied to broadcast rights to the conferences while the organization took a robust “management fee” from the arrangement.

Big money. Big time.

Over the years, the money generated became the Tournament’s biggest source of revenue each year, making the Rose Bowl Game the largest payout of any postseason bowl.

But all along, the clock was ticking.

After next year’s game, the direct “relationship” with ESPN over media rights that has benefited the Tournament of Roses for so long will end, a result of the massive surge of change in college football and its expanding playoffs over the past 10 years.

The Jan. 1, 2026, Rose Bowl Game is the final year that it will be tied to that long-held agreement.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, it all shifts to the College Football Playoff (CFP), which will begin to manage all of the broadcast agreements for the so-called “New Year’s Six,” including the Rose Bowl Game.

Leaders knew this moment was coming, but it hasn’t blunted the impact of the forces on college football and its stakeholders, such as the Tournament.

“This is a cataclysmic shift in college athletics,” said David Eads, CEO of the Tournament of Roses. “It’s not just about the Rose Bowl Game. It’s about all the bowl games. It’s about how players are being paid. It’s about NIL. It’s about all those things coming to a head.”

Tournament officials stress that they are “excited” about the changes and the future under the CFP – a moment they say they had to meet to guarantee marquee, consequential New Year’s Day matchups in Pasadena each year.

But the fate of the old agreement, and the new deals that will succeed it, will cause a big financial blow for the Tournament of Roses, which is already re-adapting not just the future of Southern California’s beloved bowl game at a landmark stadium, but of the massive global spectacle that precedes it: The Rose Parade. And still others, from city business leaders to elected officials, are tuning in to how the change will impact the short- and long-term future of the small city with the big aura that woos the eyes and ears of the world every Jan. 1.

“The changes taking place today are definitely impacting us, the work we do and how we do it, and causing us to shift our models that we’ve used for many years,” Eads said.

A big deal, and big change

Eads was in the room Dec. 4 at the Hilton Pasadena with dozens of community leaders and business representatives for the annual Pasadena Chamber of Commerce President’s Breakfast.

Held just weeks before Jan. 1 each year, it’s often a moment of ceremonial vibes. A graceful Rose Court is introduced to the audience, sitting at nicely curated, big, round tables. Speeches from the chamber’s leaders give way to a keynote from the Tournament of Roses president.

This year, Tournament President Mark Leavens began in a familiar, jovial form – how he came up with this year’s Rose Parade theme, and an interesting tale on how he chose Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson as this year’s Rose Parade grand marshal.

The din of forks and knives on plates hushed as attendees paused to hear Leavens, himself a longtime volunteer and leader in the Tournament, shift into the hard facts of the end of a prized ESPN contract, with big money at play and the impact on his beloved Tournament association, which has managed it all for so long.

The bottom line, Leavens said: This January’s Rose Bowl Game will be the last one under the kind of direct, long and lucrative broadcast pact the Tournament has had with ESPN, meaning the College Football Playoff apparatus would take ownership of the deal and manage the college football playoffs and major bowl games – Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar.

The change means a 25% hit to the Tournament’s $20 million operating budget, and $3 million to $5 million less in management fee revenue starting in 2027.

Over time, such revenue has added up.

Under the about-to-end deal with ESPN, signed all the way back in June 2012, intake from games ranged from $80 million to $100 million each year over the years.

Over the last 50 years, Leavens said, through such distributions to the Rose Bowl Game, “we’ve contributed over $1.7 billion to the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences.”

The ability to negotiate media rights directly with the broadcaster – in this case ESPN – was huge.

While most of the money was passed through to the conferences, the Tournament benefited from its chunk, and so did its New Year’s Day planning.

“It was a real partnership,” Eads said, noting a board with representatives from the Tournament and the two conferences, “that made decisions around our game, our ticket pricing and how the game would be put on and the rules around the game.”

There was a tone of closeness – “family” – in 2012, when Libby Wright, then chair of the local Rose Bowl Management Committee noted in a press release announcing the deal: “The Tournament of Roses is thrilled to extend our agreement with ESPN to broadcast the Rose Bowl Game. Since 1989, the Rose Bowl Game has witnessed tremendous success with our partners at ESPN, which includes year-round, multi-platform promotion.

“As we prepare for the 100th Rose Bowl Game in 2014, we look forward to new beginnings with a partner we consider family and continuing to showcase to the world the passion, strength, tradition and honor unique to our game.”

Family. Tradition. Unique. … Rose Bowl Game.

But since then, the college football system has been full of seismic “new beginnings.”

Through a transfer portal, college players can now transfer immediately to other schools, creating a kind of “free agency” once only the domain of professional athletes. While it gives players freedom of mobility, and teams the ability to upgrade fast, it discourages longer term development and team stability.

College athletes are now paid, through “Name, Image and Likeness” (NIL) deals that allow compensation.

The specter of UCLA’s football team flirting with moving from the Rose Bowl Stadium to SoFi Stadium for home games is a corollary moment in a world where, amid the changes, high-profile college teams seek more exposure and dollars.

And then there’s the surging force: the playoff and its expanding format.

For years, the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena was always in the mix for hosting a championship.

The Bowl Championship Series was played from 1999 to 2014, attempting to match the top-ranked teams in a national championship game. Venues rotated with the Rose Bowl hosting the title game in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.

From 2015 to 2023, the first College Football Playoff included four teams and two semifinal games to determine a championship. The final championship game in this format was played at SoFi Stadium in 2023.

Then 2024 brought a surge: The field expanded to 12 teams with the quarterfinals and semifinals hosted by the New Year’s Six (the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar bowls), with the championship game at a separately determined neutral site.

It’s a long way from 1902, when the first Rose Bowl Game was played in Pasadena, between Michigan and Stanford. (Michigan’s rout that day, 49-0, over Stanford was said to be so over the top that future games were replaced with Roman-style chariot races, inspired by the literary classic Ben-Hur. Football eventually came back permanently to the Tournament in 1916).

Along the way, the importance of bowl games has shifted since the realigning of conferences and the dilution of the Pac-12 as a power conference, the expansion of College Football Playoff, changes to the transfer portal dates and teams declining to participate in non-playoff games.

The Pac-12 – once the domain of giants such as UCLA and USC, who went to the Big Ten in pursuit of better media rights deals and exposure and recruiting chances – itself was whittled to only Oregon State and Washington State. (The conference will reportedly expand next year).

Brand vs. tradition

The changes have set the context for the Tournament of Roses, which now finds itself – like the universities shifting out of the Pac-12 for more exposure – having to act to maintain the Tournament’s brand at a time when, as Eads noted, “now, we’re basically fee for service.”

The CFP pays the Tournament what will now be a “significantly reduced” fee to put on a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl.

Much is at stake as the Tournament adapts. Many are sensitive to maintaining the luster of the game amid so much change. For many, the Rose Bowl Game brand is inseparable from tradition and a sense of place.

“It’s kind of part of this sports business Darwinism almost,” said David M. Carter, adjunct professor of sports business at USC and principal at The Sports Business Group, a consultancy firm. “It’s proving to be the survival of the financial fittest. Not necessarily those with rich histories and traditions.”

Even as Pasadena officials say they are moving to maintain that tradition, Carter — whose work has included consulting with the Rose Bowl Operating Company — said the Tournament is among groups across the country feeling the impact of the game’s changing incentives.

The Rose Bowl Game and the parade that precedes it are huge economic drivers in the region, to the tune of $245 million and more than 2,000 jobs, Leavens said.

Cities that rely on bowl games for branding and tourism are feeling the hit of “unintended consequences” of the evolution, Carter said.

“If you look around the country, you can start to see this changing bowl structure is having downstream effects on bowl committees, which you can softly consider the TofR that,” Carter said.

Carter noted too the impact on the luster and relevance of bowl games in general.

“Many of them are losing relevance,” he said. “There’s an overhaul of the bowl system going on now, where a lot those bowl games just really lack any athletic relevance, but they do carry some benefit to sponsors that still would like to be involved in these down-the-dial bowl games.”

But there’s also the big-time programs’ reactions to the changes, which many say impact that relevance.

Notre Dame recently stunned the college football world by opting out of any postseason contests after the team was snubbed from playoff consideration by the CFP selection committee.

That prompted further criticism of the committee’s decision and process, and raised more questions over the future relevance of the Bowl games themselves.

Local leaders and experts push back on the most dire scenarios of what could happen to games such as the Rose Bowl. They defend its luster and pledge ongoing fidelity to the grandeur of the game. But many are sensitive to the impact of changing incentives in college sports, and the unintended impacts in the long term.

On one hand, they say the Rose Bowl Game will always be a giant tradition in Pasadena, but there is a strand of lament over a loss of control, and over the potential domino effects if, for instance, UCLA would successfully be able to get out of its football contract with Pasadena and its Rose Bowl stadium and move its home games to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, who grew up with the game and the parade in Pasadena and whose city is embroiled in the emerging legal battle to keep UCLA playing in the city, said “the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl Game are very important to and inseparable from Pasadena’s brand and identity.”

There’s faith in the Tournament’s ability to maintain the brand and the tradition. But that faith is mixed with the impact of today’s changes some 20 years down the road.

“The worry is that with the College Football Playoff group driving decisions now, maybe not in the near future but sometime in the future, they may think like other bowl games the name is the important part, not where it’s played,” said Paul Little, president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.

Carter pointed to the fate of the Orange Bowl, which for years was steeped in tradition at Miami Field, only to move to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that’s on the horizon for the Rose Bowl, I’m just saying that’s a historical example of people thinking, ‘How could a bowl game that shares the same name as the venue and had such a rich, amazing legacy as the Orange Bowl end up not just an afterthought but actually no longer existing?’” Carter said.

Eads said his organization is rolling with the changes, and he’s pushing back on doomsday scenarios.

He acknowledged the challenge of maintaining the tradition and the game’s luster amid a surge of changing rules and contracts. But he said his organization is determined to maintain that luster.

“We work really hard to safeguard our brands,” he said. “We’re excited to be part of the CFP playoffs. We understand that that’s something we definitely want to be part of and not not be a part of.

“A lot of people feel like the Rose Bowl Stadium should be hosting the National Championship every year. So, it’s got a place in history that people have affinity for, admire and want to be a part of. So, we’ll continue to work on that. We believe we can maintain the value of our brands, even if it’s this new CFP model.”

He was emphatic about the geography:

“Let me set the record straight. The game will always be held in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl stadium,” he said.

Moving forward, though, many see the playoff change as an opportunity to add to the tradition and maintain the brand – including the CFP itself.

“We believe the expansion of the College Football Playoff presents a real opportunity to strengthen the reputation and impact of our bowl partners,” said Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff, in a written statement to the Southern California News Group.

“The local committees and host organizations have always been an essential part of what makes postseason college football special, and that won’t change,” he added.

Clark, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who in his college days excelled as a defensive lineman and in academics at the U.S. Air Force Academy, said his own bowl game experiences have bolstered his own appreciation for what the bowl games mean for fans, players and coaches.

“At the CFP, we are committed to working closely with the Tournament of Roses to ensure the Rose Bowl Game remains a vibrant, meaningful event for student-athletes, fans, and the local communities, and we believe the changes ahead only serve to elevate the profile and value of the bowls within the broader college football postseason,” he said.

Eads and other local officials say they are happy to be working with the CFP, noting “they’ve been great partners since the start of the playoff in 2014.”

Moment of truth

Gordo said he was “disheartened” by a deal that transferred ownership of the old agreement to the CFP.

But the expanding playoff structure and the end of the long-held contract was a kind of moment of truth for the Tournament, one tournament officials had to embrace, they said.

The Tournament and the local bowl committee could have opted out of the College Football Playoff altogether. But it would have meant local bowl organizers would have had to secure their own broadcast partner for a game that would have featured teams all ranked outside of the top 12. Moreover, it would have been competing for audience with the playoff games on Jan. 1, Eads said.

It took a minute though.

Three years ago, as the CFP was looking to expand the playoff to 12 teams, it was the Tournament and the CFP still negotiating over issues such as the time of the Rose Bowl Game in one of the most lucrative time windows in college sports – afternoon on New Year’s Day. The Tournament was seeking to hold on to its long-held 2 p.m. start time for when the stadium hosts semifinal games. It reportedly caused a measure of frustration with the CFP, with concerns that Rose Bowl organizers were trying to dictate when big-time bowl games were played across the country.

“You start out with the Rose Parade, and on the same day you have the Rose Bowl Game to celebrate the start of the New Year,” Laura Farber, chair of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, is quoted as saying at the time. “It’s not only tradition, it’s part of the brand, and who we are, and what has been built since 1903.”

Ultimately, the Rose Bowl Game being part of the Playoff system “made the most sense,” as a quarterfinal or semifinal, Eads said.

“This guarantees that we have top teams playing in a marquee matchup in Pasadena every year,” he said. “All parties agreed that this made the most sense for the future of the Rose Bowl Game.”

Notable this year, though, is that the Rose Bowl Game – a playoff quarterfinal between top-seeded Big Ten champion Indiana and ninth-seeded Alabama – will start an hour earlier, at 1 p.m., in an attempt to capture advertising revenue from the game being earlier on the East Coast, Leavens said.

More like Netflix, less like Blockbuster

Eads said the Tournament of Roses is looking to meet the moment, rolling with the punches and the evolution of the game.

He likened the moment to Netflix adopting to the digital age in a way Blockbuster didn’t.

“Blockbuster didn’t adjust to the environment. Netflix adjusted to a digital model and they are strong today,” he said.

“We’re in a very similar situation. Our role has changed. We can’t control what those changes are, but we can adapt to them, and that’s what we’ve been working on over the past year or two, knowing that this day was going to come.

That adjustment will be an uphill climb – which has already begun – to make up for the hit the Tournament is taking.

Revenue from the bowl game has always made up for losses in the Rose Parade, he said. And in a way, it’s the programming around the parade itself that is and will see changes.

While the parade does generate some sponsorship revenue and modest entry fees, those revenues don’t fully cover the cost.

“Historically, the game has always helped bridged that gap,” Eads said. “When I say historically, I mean for 111 years the game has bridged that gap. The game made money, the parade lost money, but at the end of the year the TofR was in the black.

“So that’s where we’re having to adjust to a new financial model.”

That model is about quickly pivoting to find new sources of revenue but also reining in expenses where it can.

“We’ve kind of taken on the mantra of ‘if the activity we do doesn’t get the parade in the street or the game in the stadium, then we have to question why we are spending money on whatever the initiative or the program is,’” he said. “The community will see changes in what we do and the events we do. Because we’re just not able to operate at the level we have in the past, because we’re in this new situation.”

Knowing the clock would eventually run out on the mega-ESPN contract and the hefty management fee contracts with the conferences, the Tournament has already been moving on changes.

For instance, parade performances have expanded into four or five segments. And on Jan. 1, they will expand from two to three mid-parade performances.

“These are all sponsorable assets,” Eads said. “That’s new revenue we’ve never had before.”

Two years ago, the Tournament launched its own parade livestream, with current aspirations of landing that stream on a major platform, say Amazon or Netflix, to generate major revenue sharing.

This Jan. 1 will be the third lulelemon Run With the Roses 5K, a New Year’s Eve midnight event that has drawn thousands of runners on Colorado Boulevard in the dark hours before the parade.

Last year, Floatfest – the famous post-parade float exhibition – has expanded to a third day, meaning an extra day of ticket sales.

Tournament officials are also cutting expenses to keep up, eliminating events and downsizing staff where possible.

The Tournament’s traditional Royal Ball was cut two years ago. Operating committees have seen their expenses reduced. The Tournament’s Football Committee, which once traveled to Big Ten and Pac-12 games throughout the year, has limited its travel.

Leavens also pointed to an endowment the Tournament of Roses started. It leverages the goodwill of fans and donors who want to see the Bowl game and parade thrive.

And there’s also security costs, which make up a huge bulk of parade expense. That has led to talks with the city and other stakeholders.

“We’re talking to all of our partners at all levels to help us figure out how we’re going to navigate this new reality we face underneath this new CFP model,” Eads said.

“We know there’s not a simple fix,” Eads added, citing the fragile “balance” of growing an audience and generating revenue.

The scope of re-imagining is wide, Eads noted.

“I think you have to take a look everything. The location of the parade. Where it’s being held. Does it have to be 5.5 miles long? Can we reduce our security costs?” he said. “Again, nothing has been resolved. But we have to look underneath every stone to find the right way to move forward and to navigate the situation.”

Sports Senior Editor Tom Moore contributed to this report.