Delay of Game : Rose Bowl Championship Is Expected to Be Held Jan. 2, but Parade Will Be Day Before

For as long as the Pac-10 has played the Big Ten at the Rose Bowl, the game has followed the spectacular Tournament of Roses Parade.

That was before the “Super Alliance.” Now, once every four years, the Rose Bowl will host the national college football championship. That game is expected to be held the day after the Rose Parade, which will have to carry New Year’s Day on its own, tournament officials said.

Traditionally, both the parade and the bowl game have been held on Jan. 1 except when that falls on a Sunday. Then the two spectacles have been held Jan 2. “Moving the days is very big change if you’re looking to maintain tradition--one year out of four there won’t be a tradition,” said Pasadena City Councilman Paul Little. “That is going to mean doing two huge events two days in a row. The cost is going to be enormous.”

Under the agreement announced this week among six college athletic conferences that is geared toward determining a definitive college football national champion, the Pacific 10 and Big Ten will no longer necessarily meet up in Pasadena, beginning in 1999 when the new agreement takes effect.

And if that isn’t enough tampering, when the Rose Bowl gets its chance to host the top-ranked and second-ranked teams--which will happen at the latest in 2002--the national title game will be played on Jan. 2, during TV’s East Coast, prime-time hours. No Pac-10/Big Ten showdown would occur that year.

The Tournament of Roses, however, has no plans to change the date for its namesake parade.

“Everything in life changes,” said Harriman Cronk, chairman of the tournament’s football committee. “A relatively small percentage of those at the parade go to the game.”

Cronk, who helped forge the deal between the leagues and ABC television, said the network that has spurred the new format with $518 million in funding wants the championship game to be the culmination of all the bowl games.

An ABC Sports spokesman confirmed the network’s desire for a Jan. 2 game, noting that it would affect only one Rose Bowl in the next seven years.

Under the alliance, the Pac-10 and Big Ten will meet in the Rose Bowl only if neither team is ranked No. 1 or No. 2.

And if the Pac-10 or Big Ten produces the No. 2 team, it will play the No. 1-ranked team somewhere else, while the other league’s team would play in the Rose Bowl against an opponent to be picked by the bowl alliance.

If either league’s team is No. 1, it will meet the No. 2 team at the Rose Bowl--on Jan. 2. And if neither the Pac-10 nor the Big Ten produces a top-ranked team during the four-year contract, the Rose Bowl is guaranteed to host the title game in 2002, and every four years as long as the agreement continues.

“Having the game a day later won’t make a bit of difference,” said William Leishman, whose grandfather helped build the stadium and whose father created the Pac-10/Big Ten matchup. “In fact, it will be beneficial to the Pasadena economy and give people a chance to rest up. I don’t see any downside.”

Some supporters of the change were excited about the additional dollars two days of events are expected to bring. Pasadena hoteliers said they see the extra day as only helping the region’s economy.

But others were less persuaded by promises of new revenue.

Councilman William E. Thomson Jr. said he is concerned not only about city costs, but also the strain on the tournament’s 930 volunteers.

Times staff writer Abigail Goldman also contributed to this story.