Rose Bowl moving to ESPN starting in 2011
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The Rose Bowl, the Granddaddy of college football bowl games, is moving to cable.
The venerable bowl game’s switch to ESPN, starting in 2011, became inevitable last year when ESPN outbid Fox for the next four-year cycle of the Bowl Championship Series package. That put all BCS bowl games under the same network umbrella.
In the current four-year cycle, which ends this season, Fox owns broadcast rights to the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls while the Rose Bowl maintained a separate contract with ABC that runs through the 2013 season.
The Rose Bowl will host two games this year on ABC, the Jan.1 game and the BCS national title game Jan. 7.
Starting in 2011, parent Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN, takes over coverage of all four BCS games.
“Having all BCS matchups on one home, especially within ESPN’s year-round college football environment, is the very best scenario,” John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president for programming and acquisitions, said in a released statement. “Fans will welcome ESPN’s all-encompassing approach, and the additional opportunities and value resulting from our multi-platform presentation will benefit the college football community and our business partners.”
-- Chris Dufresne