Rose Bowl agreement clears way for College Football Playoff's 12-team expansion in 2024 and 2025 [View all]
The Rose Bowl has signed an agreement with the College Football Playoff that paves the way for the event to expand to 12 teams starting in 2024, sources confirm to CBS Sports. The CFP had given the Rose Bowl until the end of the week -- at the latest -- to agree to terms the bowl had thus far been unwilling to accept.
With the Rose Bowl now in the fold, a formal announcement of a 12-team playoff being held in 2024 and 2025 is expected imminently. The new format was initially agreed upon by the CFP Board of Managers in September.
Though the terms of the agreement signed by the Rose Bowl are not yet known, the bowl had been demanding to play its game in its traditional time slot at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 1 despite playoff expansion potentially affecting the bowl schedule. That time slot is considered one of the most valuable in sports television. The agreement signed by the Rose Bowl likely creates significantly more flexibility in that scheduling process.
In an expanded playoff, the games themselves are more important than the bowls that host the contests. The Rose Bowl refusing to acquiesce to a more uniform scheduling policy would have delayed expansion until 2026 after the CFP's current contract with ESPN ends. That would have cost involved parties an estimated $450 million in added revenue, and it may have kept the Rose Bowl out of the selection process once a new contract was signed.
Full story: https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/rose-bowl-agreement-clears-way-for-college-football-playoffs-12-team-expansion-in-2024-and-2025/
The CFP left the Rose Bowl with no choice but to acquiesce.
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