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Rose Bowl Championship

The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football game, usually played on January 1 at the stadium of the same name in Pasadena, California. Sometimes nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All," the Rose Bowl is part of the annual Tournament of Roses event. For years the game bucked tradition by going without a sponsor, but in 1998, the game began being known as The Rose Bowl Game presented by AT&T and in 2002 as The Rose Bowl Game presented by PlayStation 2. Since 2005, when the agreement with Sony expired, the game has been presented by Citi. The game was first played in 1902, pitting Michigan against Stanford, but the next game was not played until 1916. The Tournament also includes a parade with floats covered with flower petals. Before the Rose Bowl stadium was built, in 1923, games were played in Pasadena's Tournament Park, approximately 3 miles southeast of the current stadium. For many years the game was televised by NBC; since 1988 it has aired on ABC.

In its early years (except during World War I), the game always featured a team (not necessarily the conference champion) from the Pacific Coast Conference (ancestor to today's Pac 10), as well as a team invited from further east. Beginning with the 1947 game, the game's participants were established as the champions of the Big Ten and Pacific 10 Conferences. Since 1998, however, with the creation of the Bowl Championship Series system, team selection for the Rose Bowl is now tied into the other three BCS Bowls, although in any given year the Rose Bowl still attempts, if possible, to maintain the traditional Pac-10-Big Ten format. The 2002 game of Nebraska (Big 12 Conference) and Miami (Big East Conference) was the first since 1946 to not feature the traditional pairing. As one of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl games (the others being the Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowls), the Rose Bowl hosts the national championship game once every four years under the BCS system.

Years listed below indicate the January game date; for example, the 2003 game was played following the 2002 autumn football season. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 1942 game was moved to Durham, North Carolina due to World War II travel restrictions.

The impact of the BCS on the Rose Bowl matchups has resulted in the initial participation by several teams, even in years when the BCS national championship game is not contested there. The 2003 Rose Bowl game featured the first appearance by Oklahoma. The 2005 bowl featured the University of Michigan against the University of Texas, who bumped California, a Pac-10 school, from the final at-large bid. Despite the controversy, this was a milestone for Texas as it marked the first meeting between the two teams, and also the first appearance - and victory - by Texas in the Rose Bowl.