College Football Playoff, Rose Bowl continue negotiations as expansion looms

Officials from the College Football Playoff and the Rose Bowl Game are still talking it out ahead of CFP expansion

What we know is that the College Football Playoff is set for expansion. What we don't know is when, in part because of where the Rose Bowl fits into the picture.

While the playoff field will expand no later than the 2026 season, the process can go ahead a few years ahead of schedule if all the bowl entities in the current contract agree to the changes on the table.

One entity still trying to hold its end of the bargain is the Rose Bowl, which is negotiating with the College Football Playoff about its place in the new format.

Where the Rose Bowl sits in College Football Playoff expansion

Laura Farber, head of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, told ESPN's Heather Dinich that the game wants to keep its spot at 2 p.m. Pacific on New Year's Day in the years when it hosts a CFP semifinal.

"We're very supportive of the College Football Playoff," Farber said.

"As the only New Year's Six bowl with an independent contract, we're working to navigate our existing agreement. While we're willing to work through certain areas, we've maintained that an exclusive broadcast window on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. PT is important to the Rose Bowl Game."

"Sense of frustration"

According to Dinich, the other primary bowl games — Cotton, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, and Peach — have agreed to not ask the CFP for special concessions.

As a result, there's a "sense of frustration" within the College Football Playoff that the Rose Bowl is "trying to dictate when the sport's championship plays its games."

Meanwhile, the Rose Bowl believes its request is reasonable owing to its prestige in the history of college football as the sport's first-ever bowl game.

"What we're asking for is a three-hour window every three years," Farber said. "If you think about that in the big picture, it's not a big ask."

She added, "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.

"It's not only tradition. It's part of the brand, and who we are, and what has been built since 1903."

(ESPN)

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