rose bowl history
rose bowl history
Rose Bowl ticket holders are treated to the oldest and most prestigious college football game in the country. The game, played in a stadium by the same name, was first played on January 1st, 1902. After Michigan’s blow-out win over Stanford in that inaugural game, the Tournament of Roses officials ran chariot races instead of a football game. Football was back for good though in 1916, when Rose Bowl ticket holders saw Washington State edge Brown by a score of 14-0.
The Granddaddy of Them All, as the Rose Bowl is often referred as, had the most loyal of the conference allegiances, before the BCS restructuring. A top team from the Pacific Coast Conference (the beginning of today’s Pac-10) was matched with a team from a more easterly location. For over 50 years starting in 1947 the game would feature the champions of the Big Ten Conference and the Pac 10 Conference. Since the creation of the Bowl Championship Series system in 1998, the Rose Bowl is now tied with the other major bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl. This alignment has the top two teams in the country play for the national championship, rotating from one bowl to the next. The 2006 National Championship game was played at the Rose Bowl. Ticket holders for that Texas and USC match-up witnessed what some sports analysts say was the most exciting championship game in all of sports history. The Rose Bowl tries to keep its Pac-10 and Big Ten ties, but with these teams often involved in the BCS championship games it has become more difficult to sustain this match-up.
The Rose Bowl is more than just a top tier college football bowl game. The game that is traditionally played on New Years Day also features the Tournament of Roses Parade featuring floats covered entirely with organic material including plants, flowers and fruits. The games played before 1923 were played in the Pasadena Tournament Park, just a few miles southeast of its current home, but when the construction of the Rose Bowl Stadium the game had a new permanent home. The stadium can hold more than 80,000 fans and has played host to numerous events including the Super Bowl five separate times.
Another feature that is different from other major bowls is that the Rose Bowl has held true to tradition in attempting to go without a sponsor. However in 1998 the game was known as the Rose Bowl presented by AT&T, in later years presented by Playstation 2 and currently by Citi. Rose Bowl tickets still do not prominently display the current sponsorship as do the other bowls such as the FedEx Orange Bowl, or the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, instead opting to have the sponsor present the game, instead of being part of the game.
The Granddaddy of Them All is the most storied college football game of them all. Rose Bowl tickets are always a hot item as fans know they are going to a historic venue and are likely to see an intense battle between two of the best college football teams in America.
