A panoramic view of the Rose Bowl, January 2020 (File photo – Aaron Ames)
The Rose Bowl, a Pasadena staple is going to see some changes.
By Briony James
The old four-team playoff system for the college football conferences has given way to a system that includes 12 teams. This, of course, has changed the bowl system as well.
The old system has been enlarged to accommodate a growing world of college football but nothing can erase the Rose Bowl’s eminence as the first game to be broadcast across continents. It will still shine as a playoff game with all its excitement crowning it on any day it is played.
The changes to college football in 2022 mean that the Rose Bowl is no longer the biggest East-West contest, nor will it always be played the afternoon of New Year’s Day. These changes were fractious and while Pasadena fought them, there was little it could do in the face of a new college football system. In an age where players come from many parts of the nation in every college, the first game of 2023 will feature Penn State vs. Utah at 2 pm PST, coincidentally marking the 100th anniversary of Penn State’s first game at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1923 and the two teams’ first contest. Perhaps it is not the old fashioned Rose Bowl of yore, but the players still play and the stadium still stands. The Rose Bowl goes on to meet the future.
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The Rose Bowl game was never the “Granddaddy of them all”. It is a very respected place but it wasn’t always the best college teams that played in the game because of the archaic tradition that pitted the Pac12 (Pac 8, Big 5, Big 6) vs Big 10. The time of the game is also irrelevant. Just ask the fans if they care what time the game starts. Pasadena and their obsession with tradition gets in the way of many aspects of life here but you need not worry about preserving the importance of the Rose Bowl game. The Cheez-It Bowl or Pinstripe Bowl post no danger yet😂🤣😄🏈.