As the Oldest of the Games that Make Up the Bowl Championship Series, the 99-Year-Old Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses Parade Are Arguably the. . .

We understand 2001 is only hours old, hardly enough time yet to break your first resolution or rent Stanley Kubrick’s suddenly timely space flick, but we want you to flash-forward to next Jan. 1.

It is a Tuesday, under crisp skies, the kind of day that launched half a million Iowans toward Long Beach.

You rent a motor home for the Rose Parade--weren’t the floats lovely, June?--after which you eight-wheel over to the Rose Bowl for the game only to discover you have snagged the primo parking spot in the 100-year history of the game because . . . ?

Because nobody is there. No players, no coaches, no bands, no joke.

Welcome to 2002, the BCS odyssey.

Next year’s Rose Bowl is going to be different, and this may be the first you’ve heard about it.

They’ve been fielding calls for weeks at Tournament House in Pasadena about the rumor that has been going around town.

“No one is mad,” Harriman Cronk said over lunch recently. “They’re just confused. They don’t quite know when the game is going to be.”

Cronk is football chairman of the Tournament of Roses Assn. Believe him when he says next year’s Rose Bowl will be played Thursday, Jan. 3, on ABC, at 5 p.m., in the dark, more than two days after the last Rose Bowl float has peeled off Colorado Boulevard.

Next year, the Granddaddy of all bowls goes prime time, 8 p.m. in the East, when the Rose takes its turn as host of the bowl championship series national title game.

Next year, for the first time since 1946, members of the Pacific 10 and Big Ten conferences will not meet in the Rose Bowl, unless the schools are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS standings.

Next year, the winner of the Pac-10, if not No. 1 or No. 2, will play in the Fiesta Bowl.

Next year, the Big Ten champion, if not in the title game, will play in another BCS bowl game--Fiesta, Orange, Sugar.

Next year, the Rose Bowl may pit Florida State against Texas, or Tennessee against Kansas State, or Clemson against Miami.

The good news? Maybe we keep a few more Iowans in Cedar Rapids.

“We won’t have a panoramic view,” said Mitch Dorger, the Rose Bowl’s chief executive officer. “The blimp shot from the south is just going to be a different shot.”

To say the Rose Bowl is excited about hosting the national title game would be understatement.

“This will shine a light that has not been shone for a couple of years,” Dorger said. “We set an image for the whole nation. It’s a fascinating opportunity for us. We have to react to this spotlight on us. We’re going to prime time.”

We sat down recently with members of the Rose Bowl’s inner circle to discuss next year’s game.

How did this happen?

Long-story-short. In 1996, after years of mayhem in the college bowl system, the Rose Bowl agreed to join a consortium that would allow the champions of the Pac-10 and Big Ten to play in the national title game if either school was ranked No. 1 or No. 2.

This was the last major obstacle cleared, short of a playoff, of pitting No. 1 against No. 2 in a national title game.

For years, the bowl system was a mess, with individual bowls cutting their own deals with schools months before the end of the season.

In 1992, the Bowl Coalition was formed to tie conference champions to specific bowls.

In 1995, the coalition gave way to the Bowl Alliance, which allowed schools to abandon their tie-ins to play in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game. It also opened two at-large spots for schools to compete for the title-game spot.

Problem? The Rose Bowl was still out of the loop.

In 1994, undefeated and second-ranked Penn State was not allowed to play No. 1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl because it was contractually bound to the Rose Bowl.

Same thing happened in 1996, when

No. 2 Arizona State couldn’t play No. 1 Florida State because the Sun Devils had to play Ohio State in the Rose.

The Rose Bowl agreed to join what would become the BCS in 1998.

Why?

“In all honesty, to give the public the opportunity to have No. 1 and No. 2 play each other,” Cronk said. “At the same time, we maintain the integrity of the other bowls.”

The first BCS title game was the Fiesta Bowl in January 1999. The Sugar Bowl had last year’s game, the Orange Bowl gets this year’s matchup between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida State.

Next year, the Rose Bowl is up.

The risk of joining the BCS for the Rose was that the game, which started in 1902, could be diminished.

In fact, a UCLA defeat at Miami in 1998 knocked the Bruins out of the national title game and into the Rose Bowl, the first time in memory where a trip to Pasadena could be seen as a demotion.

The Rose Bowl was content with its contract with the Big Ten and Pac-10, a bond that was forged after the 1946 season.

“It was not easy,” Cronk said of joining the BCS.

“Maybe some people will continue to have doubts about it.”

Has the Rose Bowl ever hosted a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game?

Yes, but only because of the Pac-10 and Big Ten schools involved. In the 1963 game, No. 1 USC defeated No. 2 Wisconsin for the national title. In the 1969 Rose Bowl game, No. 1 Ohio State defeated

No. 2 USC for the championship.

What are the logistical problems of playing the game two days after the parade?

There are many. The Tournament of Roses Assn. sees the two events as equal parts of one grand event.

“We have a parade and a game,” Dorger said. “It’s been synchronized with one another in many ways.”

The two-day gap may deter the high school band that can’t afford to stay two extra days to attend the game.

Also, some events will need to be shuffled. The VIP luncheon, a post-parade party where people go to kill time until the game, will become more of a tailgate party next year on the day of game.

“We don’t want to lose momentum between great events,” Dorger said. “How do you build a crescendo from the parade to the game?”

Here’s one idea: Officials may put some of the floats on display on the Rose Bowl grounds for viewing on the day of the game.

How closely is the Rose Bowl monitoring the other BCS championship games?

Like hawks.

The Rose Bowl will have a 10-person team at Wednesday’s Orange Bowl game.

“We need to know what the standard is in entertainment,” Dorger said. “If they do something right or wrong, we want to learn lessons from it. We set a very high standard for ourselves. We want to be the best.”

The Rose Bowl has also sent teams of officials to the Southeastern Conference and Big 12 title games and has sent representatives to meetings of the other BCS conferences.

Why?

Because there is a good chance both of next year’s teams will be participating in their first Rose Bowl game.

Cronk: “Do they know that their band is going to march in a parade for 5 1/2 miles?”

Dorger said the Rose Bowl experience can be overwhelming.

Officials were dispatched this year to Purdue because the Boilermakers are making their first appearance in 34 years.

“It’s partly to put their minds at ease,” Dorger said. “They haven’t experienced the magnitude of movement of a bowl this size. The trustees suddenly weigh in. It’s a crush of people you’re not used to moving. It’s the mystique of a bowl they’ve heard about all their lives but never participated in. It’s the pageantry of Pasadena and knowing the local area. We try to make them feel comfortable.”

Won’t it be strange not having the Rose Bowl game on Jan. 1?

Strange, but not unprecedented. In fact, in years when Jan. 1 falls on Sunday, the parade and game are held Jan. 2. It’s called the “Never on Sunday” policy, a custom started in the early years to avoid frightening horses tethered outside local churches.

Should I leave now to beat the traffic?

Cute.

Traffic is a concern because the 5 p.m. kickoff will be at the height of rush hour, but Rose Bowl officials are hoping to rekindle the spirit of the 1984 Olympics.

“I think businesses will stagger work hours, like the L.A. Olympics,” said Nancy Atkinson, the Rose Bowl’s sports information director. “I think that will happen for the national championship.”

Officials also hope that daylong activities on the Rose Bowl grounds will encourage people to start tailgating early.

“We anticipate people will beat the afternoon rush by getting there early, and the rush hour will be over by the time they leave,” Dorger said.

How much money will each team receive for participating in the national title game?

We don’t know yet, because next year’s ticket prices have not been set, but a good guess is around $15 million. Cronk says the Rose Bowl will always have the highest payout of the BCS bowls because its seating capacity of 93,000 can generate more revenue.

What about ticket distribution?

This is a little complicated.

“Think of the ticket section as a large puzzle, and each team is a piece of the puzzle,” Rose Bowl Game Director Kevin Ash said.

Even though there might not be a Pac-10 or a Big Ten school in the game, both conferences and the Tournament of Roses will receive their allotments, although Dorger says the national title game participants will receive at least as many tickets as they get in any other BCS bowl. This is possible, again, because of larger stadium capacity.

Will the Rose Bowl still be the Rose Bowl?

Of course. In 1942, because of restrictions on large crowds on the West Coast after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl was played at Durham, N.C. Oregon State defeated Duke, 20-16.

“It’s still the Rose Bowl,” Atkinson said. “We still count it.”

Will there ever be a playoff system in college football?

Probably, but not likely before the 2006 season. Last January, ABC and the BCS agreed to a four-year, $400-million extension on the original four-year deal. The parties exercised a three-year option and added a fourth year to coincide with the end of the Pac-10 and Big Ten’s contract with the Rose Bowl.

Think of it as tying things up with a nice BCS bow. With the extension, each of the four BCS bowls will have hosted the national title game twice, with the Rose Bowl getting its second game in 2006.

It’s tough to say what will happen then.

“At this time, there is just no desire to have any kind of playoff in the Pac-10 and Big Ten,” Cronk said. “This is a wild guess, but even at the end of the cycle, I don’t think we’d embrace a total playoff.”

What the Rose Bowl might embrace is the winners of the four BCS bowl games advancing to two semifinal games the following weekend and then a “title” game the week before the Super Bowl.

What about media concerns?

The Rose Bowl has hosted the Super Bowl and a World Cup, and the setup will be similar.

“We know we’re going to get hit with certain elements,” Ash said.

The Rose Bowl has credentialed 263 media members for this year’s game. Next year, the credential list will exceed 500.

Will next year’s game have a theme?

Does Broadway put on musicals?

You bet there’ll be a theme.

In 1902, Michigan played Stanford at Tournament Park in the first intersectional postseason football game.

One hundred years later . . .

“We’re going to make an anniversary of this,” Dorger said.

Let’s hope next year’s game is more orderly than the first, which ended in a stampede of fans. The game was scrapped and replaced with chariot races until the Rose Bowl resumed in 1916.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

2002 Facts

Parade will be Jan. 1

Game will be Jan. 3

Game will be BCS championship, pitting Nos. 1-and 2-ranked teams in nation

No meeting of Pac-10, Big Ten champions unless they are ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the nation