Rose Bowl gives up its cherished tradition: The 2 p.m. PT kickoff

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https://www.si.com/college-football/...otball-playoff

”The traditional epicenter of the sport has bowed to the god of television,” says Sports Illustrated’s Patrick Andrews. For years, the Rose Bowl has been adamant about kicking off at 2 p.m. PT. But next year, the 2026 Rose Bowl playoff game will kick off one hour earlier, at 1 p.m. PT. The 2 p.m. PT kickoff allowed the Rose Bowl game to show off a beautiful sunset in the third quarter. Now, the sunset will come later in the game. "Rose Bowl finally moves its kickoff times up an hour. The tyranny of the sunset ends,” tweets ESPN's Dan Wetzel. The problem with the 2 p.m. PT kickoff was that each Rose Bowl game would run about four hours, forcing the Sugar Bowl playoff game to kick off at or near 6 p.m. PT, or 9 p.m. ET, resulting in that game ending after midnight on the East Coast on a night when people have to get up early to return to work after the long holiday break. Now, the Sugar Bowl will kick off one hour earlier, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. "We’ve known over the past four or five years our game has run late,” said Tournament of Roses CEO David Eads. “We’ve had overtimes, which has thrown off the Sugar Bowl and their timing. … It’s the right role for us to play (in the CFP)"