A Tournament of Roses official would not comment on media reports that the Rose Bowl is asking for guarantees as part of the College Football Playoffs expansion.
According to a report by ESPN, Laura Farber, the chair of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, said the game wants to keep its exclusive broadcast window at 2 p.m. on January 1 in years that it would also host a CFP semifinal.
According to the report, organizers of the game are willing to temporarily concede the traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-12 battles to host a quarterfinal game in 2024 and 2025.
On Sunday, Pasadena Now attempted to reach out to Farber.
“Laura is not doing any additional interviews at this point in time,” an official with the Tournament told Pasadena Now on Sunday.
According to Sports Illustrated, a final decision on the Rose Bowl’s fit within an expanded College Football Playoff format is expected this week.
The CFP wants to expand from four teams to 12 teams as early as 2024, but to do so the new terms must be unanimous.
The Rose Bowl has long fought to maintain its traditional Jan. 1 date and start time, 90 minutes after the parade.
The 106-year-old bowl game is the oldest in the nation.
In the expanded format, six bowl games — the Rose Bowl, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach and Cotton bowls — would host the quarterfinals and semifinals games in a rotation.
According to SI, Rose Bowl Game organizers wanted to hold a traditional Pac-12 vs. Big Ten game when its playoff game did not fall on New Year’s Day, at its traditional 2 p.m. start time.
Organizers for the remaining five bowl games have reportedly agreed to amend the contract.
Expanding the College Football Playoffs could potentially be worth billions of dollars in media contracts by some estimates.