Tournament Park and Rose Bowl stadium

The very first Rose Bowl Game at Tournament park in 1902: Michigan v Stanford

Before the Rose Bowl was built, games were played in Pasadena's Tournament Park, approximately three miles (5 km) southeast of the current Rose Bowl stadium, near the campus of Caltech. Tournament Park was found to be unsuitable for the increasingly large crowds gathering to watch the game and a new, permanent home for the game was commissioned.

The Rose Bowl stadium, designed after the Yale Bowl in New Haven, hosted its first "Rose Bowl" game on January 1, 1923. The name of the stadium was alternatively "Tournament of Roses Stadium" or "Tournament of Roses Bowl", until the name "Rose Bowl" was settled on before the 1923 game.^[8]

The stadium seating has been reconfigured several times since its original construction in 1922. For many years, the Rose Bowl stadium had the largest football stadium capacity in the United States, eventually being surpassed by Michigan Stadium in 1998.^[9][10] The maximum stated seating capacity was 104,594 from 1972 to 1997. Capacity was lowered after the 1998 game; the 2006 game, which was also the BCS championship game, attracted a crowd of 93,986; and there were 94,118 spectators at the 2011 game between TCU and Wisconsin.^[11] As of 2012, the Rose Bowl is number seven on the list of American football stadiums by capacity with a current official seating capacity of 92,542 and is still the largest stadium that hosts post-season bowl games.^[12] The Rose Bowl is also the only CFP bowl game that is held in a non-NFL stadium.

Team selection 1916–1946

In the game's early years, except during World War I, the Rose Bowl always pitted a team—not necessarily the conference champion—from the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the predecessor of the current Pac-12 Conference, against an opponent from the Eastern U.S. During the last two years of World War I, teams from military bases met in the Rose Bowl. During its history, a number of notable matchups have been made with the top football teams and top coaches of the time. These include the 1925 game, with Knute Rockne's Notre Dame and their Four Horsemen, against "Pop" Warner's Stanford; the 1926 edition saw the Alabama Crimson Tide's win over Washington; and 1940 featured Howard Jones' USC Trojans against Bob Neyland's Tennessee Volunteers. During this period, there were ten games in which undefeated teams were matched.

World War II – 1942 venue change to Durham, North Carolina

A packed Duke Stadium during the 1942 Rose Bowl

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and a series of attacks on West Coast shipping beginning on December 18,^[13] there were concerns about a possible Japanese attack on the West Coast. The Rose Parade, with a million watchers, and the Rose Bowl, with 90,000 spectators, were presumed to be ideal targets for the Japanese. Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt recommended that the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl festivities be cancelled.^[14][15][16] The Rose Bowl committee originally planned to cancel the game. On December 16, Duke University invited the game and Oregon State to Duke's home stadium in Durham, North Carolina.^[17][18] After the 1942 Allied victory in the Battle of Midway and the end of the Japanese offensives in the Pacific Theater during 1942, it was deemed that a large portion of the West Coast was no longer vulnerable to attack, and the Rose Bowl Game continued on in the Rose Bowl stadium. The Tournament of Roses parade itself still was not held in 1943 because of the war.^[19]

Big Nine–PCC agreement

During World War II, many college football schools had dropped some conference opponents and instead played football against local military base teams. Many colleges could not even field teams because of the draft and manpower requirements.^[20] After the war was over, demobilization and the G.I. Bill enabled returning servicemen to attend college. The 1946 season was the first true post-war college football season with travel restrictions lifted and civilian college opponents returning to schedules.

The Big Nine and PCC were of the same accord when it came to treating players as amateurs, as compared to the semi-professional status that the Southern Universities proposed. Also, the Big Nine and PCC both had the same attitudes towards desegregation and allowing African-Americans to play football.^[21] Many other universities were still segregated. None of the Southeastern Conference schools had an African American athlete until 1966. The Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl would not be integrated until 1948, 1955, and 1956 respectively.^[22]

The Big Nine agreed in 1946, after eight years of negotiating over payments, rules, and ticket allocations, to a five-year exclusive deal with the Rose Bowl to send the conference champion to meet the PCC champion.^[23] UCLA, USC, Minnesota and Illinois all voted against it.^[24] The 1947 Rose Bowl, with UCLA meeting Illinois, was the first game under this agreement.

Big Ten–AAWU/Pac-8/10/12 agreement

When the PCC dissolved prior to the 1959 season following a pay-for-play scandal in 1958, there was no official agreement in force. The Tournament of Roses selected from the former members of PCC and invited Washington, the first champion of the newly formed Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), to play Big Ten champion Wisconsin in the 1960 Rose Bowl. The Big Ten authorized its members to accept any Rose Bowl invitation at their discretion.

The AAWU signed an agreement with the Rose Bowl that remained in force from the 1961 Rose Bowl until the advent of the BCS era in 1998. In 1962, after Minnesota changed its vote against pursuing a new agreement (resolving a 5–5 voting deadlock which had prevented any new negotiations for years), a Big Ten agreement was finalized, which went into effect with the 1963 Rose Bowl and lasted until the BCS era.

While the Big Ten supplied the "East" representative and the PCC, AAWU, or Pac-8/10 supplied the "West" representative from the 1947 Rose Bowl to the BCS era, an "exclusive" Rose Bowl agreement did not exist throughout this period. In particular, the Big Ten was not part of any agreement for at least the 1961 and 1962 games. In particular, the 1961 Big Ten champion Ohio State, declined the invitation to play in the 1962 game without penalty.^[25][26][27]

The AAWU used "Big Five", "Big Six", and "Pacific-8" as unofficial nicknames (each reflecting the number of conference members). It officially adopted the "Pacific-8" name for the 1968 season. The name changed to "Pacific-10" with the arrival of Arizona and Arizona State in 1978, its last official name change prior to the formation of the BCS in 1998. The Big Ten Conference retained the same name throughout this period, even though it had eleven members by the start of the BCS era because of the addition of Penn State in 1990.

Both conferences had a "no repeat" rule in force for a number of years. Under this rule, any team that had appeared in the Rose Bowl game the previous season could not go, even if they were the conference champion. The notable exception was Minnesota playing in the 1961 and 1962 games during the period when the conference agreements were in a state of flux. Second-ranked Ohio State did not participate because its faculty council voted it down,^[25][26][27] allowing Minnesota to return.^[28] The PCC's rule went into effect following California's third straight defeat in 1951 and ended with conference's disbandment in the summer of 1959; it affected the 1955 and 1958 games. The Big Ten abolished their rule in 1972; it had recently affected the 1966 game. Southern California played in four consecutive Rose Bowl games from 1967 to 1970; Ohio State played in four straight from 1973 to 1976.

Both conferences also had "exclusive agreements" with the Rose Bowl game, in the sense that member schools were not allowed to play in any other bowl game. Both conferences abolished this rule before the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. As a result, Michigan and USC were allowed to play in the 1976 Orange Bowl and the 1975 Liberty Bowl, respectively.

Bowl Championship Series

The Rose Bowl with the banners for the Rose Bowl Game (the right scoreboard had been removed during the 2011 renovation)

Stanford defeated Wisconsin 20–14 in the 2013 Rose Bowl on January 1, 2013

As of the 1998 season, with the creation of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), team selection for the Rose Bowl was tied to the other three BCS bowls, although in any given year the Rose Bowl still attempted, if possible, to maintain the traditional Pac-10 (Pac-12 after the addition of Utah and Colorado in 2011) versus Big Ten format (though if the champion from either or both conference was ranked BCS #1 or #2, they were allowed into the national championship game and were replaced by another team, typically from the same conference as the team being replaced). Twice in this era, the Rose Bowl had served as the BCS championship game.

The 2002 game served as the BCS championship game between the BCS No. 1–ranked Miami, then a member of the Big East Conference, and the BCS No. 2–ranked Nebraska, then a member of the Big 12 Conference. The Nebraska selection as the BCS No. 2 team was controversial because Oregon was ranked No. 2 in both the AP and Coaches Polls, while Nebraska was ranked No. 4 in both polls and did not play in its conference championship game (No. 3 Colorado, who would play Oregon in that year's Fiesta Bowl, did and won the Big 12's automatic bid to the BCS). This prevented a West Coast team playing in the Rose Bowl for the first time, and it also marked the first matchup since 1946 not to feature the traditional pairing of Pac-10 vs. Big Ten teams.

The 2006 Rose Bowl game featured offensive powerhouses Texas, riding a 19-game winning streak, and USC, which entered the game with a 34-game winning streak and two Heisman Trophy winners. Texas won 41–38. The game had a television viewership of 35.6 million,^[29] the highest for college football contest since the 1987 Fiesta Bowl between Penn State and Miami.

On two other occasions during the BCS era, Rose Bowl participation had expanded beyond the Big Ten and Pac-10. The 2003 Rose Bowl couldn't select Big Ten co-champion and automatic qualifier Ohio State, who finished No. 2 in the BCS and thus received a bid to the Fiesta Bowl to play for the national championship. The Rose Bowl was poised to select Big Ten co-champion Iowa as an at-large in order to preserve the traditional Big Ten/Pac-10 match up. However, the Orange Bowl, which selected ahead of the Rose Bowl that year, chose the Hawkeyes. As a result, the Rose Bowl featured the first appearance by Oklahoma, who faced Pac-10 Champion Washington State. The 2005 game featured Texas of the Big 12 Conference, selected, amid some controversy, over California of the Pac-10, marking the second time a West Coast team did not make the Rose Bowl. The controversy was the result of the BCS computer rankings which elevated Texas over California. Texas went on to defeat Michigan in the 2005 game, featuring a four-touchdown performance by Vince Young, foreshadowing his 467-yard performance a year later in the 2006 defeat of USC that won the National Title for Texas.

The 2004 game is also noteworthy. In this game, USC defeated Michigan, 28–14, thus earning the top ranking in the AP Poll and a share of the national championship with BCS champion LSU. USC, despite being No. 1 in the AP poll, did not qualify for the BCS championship game because of their standing in the BCS system.

The second BCS-era Rose Bowl arrangement ran from 2004 through 2014. The Big Ten and Pac-12 (the new name of the Pac-10) retained their bids, but a provision was inserted mandating that the first time that either conference could not fill their bid (because a school from the Big Ten or Pac-12 qualifies for the BCS National Championship Game), and if a non-BCS conference school qualified, the Rose Bowl was required to take that school.^[30] As a result, Texas Christian University (TCU) became the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in the Rose Bowl in the BCS era. The 2010 TCU Horned Frogs finished their second consecutive regular season at 12–0, were back-to-back champions of the Mountain West Conference, and ranked No. 3 in the final BCS Poll. TCU defeated No. 5 Wisconsin 21–19 in the 2011 Rose Bowl. TCU's appearance satisfied the 'first time' clause of the agreement.

The 100th Rose Bowl Game featured a traditional pairing of Big Ten champion versus Pac-12 champion, with Michigan State playing against Stanford on January 1, 2014. Michigan State won the game, 24–20.

The Bowl Championship Series format ended with the 2014 BCS National Championship Game, played at the Rose Bowl Stadium on January 6.

College Football Playoff

The BCS was replaced by the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014, seeding four teams into two national semifinal games, leading to a championship game. As part of the arrangement, the Rose Bowl game was selected as a semifinal playoff game every three years. In years when the Rose Bowl is not part of the playoff, it takes the Pac-12 and Big Ten champions, unless one or both teams qualify for the playoff, in which case they are replaced by an alternate team from the same conference.

The first game under the new arrangement was played on January 1, 2015, and was known as the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual. It featured the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 Conference and the Florida State Seminoles, the first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) team to participate in the Rose Bowl. Oregon defeated Florida State, 59–20, ending the Seminoles' 29-game winning streak, which dated back to the end of the 2012 season. As a result, Oregon advanced to the 2015 CFP National Championship played on January 12. The 59 points were a new Rose Bowl Game scoring record for a team.

The 2016 Rose Bowl featured Pac-12 champions Stanford against Big Ten West Division champions Iowa. Stanford defeated Iowa, 45–16, scoring 35 points in the first half, the most points ever scored in the first half of a Rose Bowl. The 2017 Rose Bowl featured Penn State of the Big Ten and USC of the Pac-12. Penn State set a record for the most points score by a losing team in a Rose Bowl, as USC won, 52–49.

In the 2018 Rose Bowl, the Georgia Bulldogs (12–1) defeated the Oklahoma Sooners (12–1), 54–48, in double overtime in a semifinal playoff game to advance to the 2018 CFP National Championship game. It was the first Rose Bowl game to go into overtime. The 2024 Rose Bowl, also a semifinal playoff game, became the second Rose Bowl game requiring overtime, as Michigan (13–0) defeated Alabama (12–1), 27–20.

Sponsorship

Large card stunt^[39] in 2004

For many years the Rose Bowl eschewed sponsorship, but in 1999, it became "The Rose Bowl Game presented by AT&T." Unlike the other bowl games, the sponsor was not added to the title of the game, but instead as a presenter.^[40] In 2002 it was branded The Rose Bowl Game presented by PlayStation 2. From 2003 to 2010, after the agreement with Sony expired, the game was presented by Citi.

In June 2010, Citi decided to end sponsorship of the Rose Bowl games, including the National Championship game.^[41] In October 2010, HDTV maker Vizio signed a 4-year contract to be the official sponsor of the Rose Bowl games through 2014.^[42][43] After Vizio declined to renew sponsorship in 2014, financial services giant Northwestern Mutual became the new presenting sponsor.^[44] From 2015 to 2020, the game was sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and officially known as the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.^[45][46]

The 2021 edition, sponsored by Capital One, was officially known as the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One.^[47] As the sponsor of the 2021 Orange Bowl, Capital One became the first company to sponsor two New Year's Six bowls. Capital One continued their sponsorship of the game, with the 2022 edition officially being named the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One Venture X after the company's travel rewards credit card.^[48]

Prudential Financial became the new sponsor of the Rose Bowl in 2023 and will continue until the 2026 game.^[49]

Broadcasters

The Rose Bowl was first televised in 1947 on W6XYZ,^[50] an experimental station in Los Angeles that would eventually become KTLA.^[51] The 1952 game was the first nationally televised bowl game and the first nationally televised college game of any sport.^[52] From 1952 to 1988,^[53] the Rose Bowl was televised by NBC at 2 p.m. PST, and in most years was the only New Year's Day bowl airing at that time. The 1956 Rose Bowl has the highest TV rating of all college bowl games, watched by 41.1% of all people in the US with TV sets.^[54] The 1962 game was the first college football game broadcast in color. Television ratings for the Rose Bowl declined as the number of bowl games increased.^[54] The other bowl games also provided more compelling match-ups, with higher-ranked teams.^[54] In 1988, NBC gave up the broadcast rights, as the television share dropped in 1987 below 20.^[54]

From 1989 to 2010, the game was broadcast on ABC, usually at 2 p.m. PST.^[54] The first 9-year contract in 1988 started at about $11 million, which is what NBC had been paying.^[54] The 2002 Rose Bowl was the first broadcast not set at the traditional 2:00pm West Coast time.^[55] The visual of the afternoon sun setting on the San Gabriel Mountains on New Year's Day is recognized as an important part of the tradition of the game.^[56][57]

The 2005 edition was the first one broadcast in HDTV. Beginning in 2007, Fox had the broadcast rights to the other Bowl Championship Series games, but the Rose Bowl, which negotiated its own television contract independent of the BCS, had agreed to keep the game on ABC. Beginning with the 2010 season, ESPN (majority-owned by ABC's parent company, The Walt Disney Company) now broadcasts all the BCS/CFP games, including the Rose Bowl game.^[58][59] The game is also broadcast nationally by ESPN Radio and by ESPN International for Latin America. In 2013, ESPN Deportes provided the first Spanish language telecast in the U.S. of the Rose Bowl Game.^[60]

The Rose Bowl game contract with ESPN was extended on June 28, 2012, to 2026, for a reportedly $80 million per year.^[61][62]

Future games

Appearances and win–loss records

The below tables list results by teams competing as members of the Big Ten conference, Pac-12 conference, and all other participants. Included in Pac-12 results are teams who competed as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference, Pacific-8 Conference, or Pacific-10 Conference—predecessors of the Pac-12.

Updated through the January 2023 edition (109 games, 218 total appearances).

† Some teams who are members of the Pac-12 and Big Ten made appearances while not members; thus, the following results are included in the "Other teams" table:

• Penn State's January 1923 loss predates their joining of the Big Ten
• Nebraska's January 1941 and January 2002 losses predates their joining of the Big Ten
• Stanford's January 1902 loss predates formation of the Pacific Coast Conference, predecessor of the Pac-12
• Washington State's January 1916 win predates formation of the Pacific Coast Conference, predecessor of the Pac-12

‡ The Southeastern Conference has one current member and two former members who made additional appearances in the Rose Bowl while those schools were not members of the SEC. Alabama made additional appearances in 1926, 1927, and 1931 before becoming a charter member of the SEC in 1932. Another SEC charter member, Georgia Tech, made an appearance in 1929, and left the SEC in 1964. Tulane, also a charter member, made an appearance in 1932, prior to the SEC's establishment in December of that year. Tulane left the SEC in 1966.

Frequent participants

If there are any Big Ten teams that shoot for a national championship, they're damn fools ... You play to win the Big Ten championship, and if you win it and go to the Rose Bowl and win it, then you've had a great season.

— Bo Schembechler of Michigan, July 1989^[64]

Among Pac-8/10/12 and Big Ten schools, the record for longest drought since a team's last Rose Bowl appearance is held by California (1959), followed by Minnesota (1962), Oregon State (1965), and Indiana (1968).

Among Pac-8/10/12 and Big Ten schools who have played in at least one Rose Bowl, the record for the longest period since a win is held jointly by Indiana and Nebraska, who have never won, followed by Washington State (1916), Cal (1939), Oregon State (1942), Northwestern (1949), and Iowa (1959). As of 2016, head coaches Howard Jones (5–0) and John Robinson (4–0) lead the list of undefeated Rose Bowl records.^[65]

Archie Griffin of Ohio State and Brian Cushing of USC are the only players to ever start in four Rose Bowl games. Legendary coach Woody Hayes led Ohio State to the Rose Bowl from 1973 to 1976, while USC head coach Pete Carroll led the Trojans to the Rose Bowl from 2006 to 2009.

Rose Bowl records at the Hall of Champions

Current members of the Pac-12 or the Big Ten to have not appeared in the Rose Bowl are Arizona (who joined the then-Pac-10 in 1978) and Colorado (who joined the Pac-12 in 2011), and Maryland and Rutgers (who both joined the Big Ten in 2014), though California appeared in the Rose Bowl only as a member of a predecessor league to the Pac-12.^[66] Similar to Cal, Nebraska played in the 1941 and 2002 games, but was not a member of the Big Ten Conference at these times. Idaho and Montana, who were members of the Pacific Coast Conference from 1922 until 1958 and 1950 respectively, never finished near the top in the PCC football standings. Former Big Ten member Chicago withdrew from the league prior to the bowl arrangement being set.

USC has played the most Big Ten schools in the Rose Bowl. As of 2016, the only opponents remaining for the Trojans are Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the two newest Big Ten schools that have yet to appear in the Rose Bowl: Maryland and Rutgers. Ohio State and Michigan are tied for playing the most schools in the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl. The remaining opponents for the Buckeyes are Oregon State, Washington State, and the two Pac-12 schools that have yet to appear in the Rose Bowl: Arizona and Colorado. The remaining opponents for the Wolverines other than Arizona and Colorado are Oregon and Utah.

Top-ranked teams

No. 1 ranked teams at the end of the regular season that have played in the Rose Bowl game are listed below:

• 1955: No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 17 USC, 20–7
• 1961: No. 6 Washington defeated No. 1 Minnesota, 17–7
• 1963: No. 1 USC defeated No. 2 Wisconsin, 42–37
• 1966: No. 5 UCLA defeated No. 1 Michigan State, 14–12
• 1968: No. 1 USC defeated No. 4 Indiana, 14–3
• 1969: No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 2 USC, 27–16
• 1973: No. 1 USC defeated No. 3 Ohio State, 42-17
• 1976: No. 11 UCLA defeated No. 1 Ohio State, 23-10
• 1980: No. 3 USC defeated No. 1 Ohio State, 17–16
• 1998: No. 1 Michigan defeated No. 8 Washington State, 21–16
• 2002 (BCS National Championship Game): No. 1 Miami defeated No. 4 Nebraska, 37–14
• 2004: No. 1 USC defeated No. 4 Michigan, 28–14
• 2006 (BCS National Championship Game): No. 2 Texas defeated No. 1 USC, 41–38
• 2021 (CFP Semifinal Game): No. 1 Alabama defeated No. 4 Notre Dame, 31–14
• 2024 (CFP Semifinal Game): No. 1 Michigan defeated No. 4 Alabama, 27–20 (OT)

Twice in a season

Of the 24 bowl rematches of regular season games, five have taken place in the Rose Bowl. In three of those instances, the same team won both the regular season game and the Rose Bowl Game. UCLA won three of those five Rose Bowl games, including both instances in which a different team lost the regular season game but won the Rose Bowl Game.

• 1956 Iowa 14, Oregon State 13
  • 1957 Rose Bowl rematch: Iowa 35, Oregon State 19
• 1965 Michigan State 13, UCLA 3
  • 1966 Rose Bowl rematch: UCLA 14, Michigan State 12
• 1975 Ohio State 41, UCLA 20
  • 1976 Rose Bowl rematch: UCLA 23, Ohio State 10
• 1982 UCLA 31, Michigan 27
  • 1983 Rose Bowl rematch: UCLA 24, Michigan 14
• 1987 Michigan State 27, USC 13
  • 1988 Rose Bowl rematch: Michigan State 20, USC 17

Player of the Game awards, 1902, 1916–2004

Player of the Game awards, 2005–present

Beginning with the 2005 Rose Bowl, Player of the Game awards have been given to both an offensive and defensive player.

Source:^[72][73]

Books

• America's New Year Celebration. The Rose Parade & Rose Bowl Game. Albion Publishing Group, Santa Barbara, California. 1999.
• Samuelsen, Rube. The Rose Bowl Game. Doubleday Company and Inc. 1951.
• Big Ten Conference football media guide. (PDF copy available at http://bigten.cstv.com Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.)
• Pacific-10 Conference football media guide. (PDF copy available at http://www.pac-10.org Archived August 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.)
• Malcolm, Moran, and Keith Jackson (foreword). The Rose Bowl: 100th: The History of the Granddaddy of Them All. Whitman Publishing, LLC, January 6, 2013. ISBN 9780794837938.