Thoughts on a "Rose Bowl Kickoff" Game

I've got the Rose Bowl on my mind lately (especially as a Penn State fan) with how it is always one of the best looking games in college football.
As seen in the Gridiron Bowl IV votes, I chose that as a top pick, mostly because the field always looks so nice at the Rose Bowl.

My thought is, for the opening weekend of the season, there can be a Rose Bowl Kickoff game each season.
The rules to host would be:
The Western Conference team closest to the Rose Bowl stadium that has a scheduled home game against an Eastern Conference team would be the first choice to host (this would keep the East-West tradition of the Rose Bowl).
If that team declines to host, then any other Western Conference teams hosting an Eastern Conference team would be eligible to host.
After that, the LA Express (if playing a home game in week 1) would be next in line to host, regardless of opponent (as this would be like a home game for the Express).
After that, San Diego would be next in line to host, as they are the next closest team to LA (unless they are set to be the home team against the Express in week 1).

Given these rules, for this season, Colorado is the only Western Conference team hosting an Eastern Conference team (Jacksonville) in week 1.
Colorado can decide if they would like to host the Rose Bowl Kickoff Game, or decline. That would leave the LA Express next in line to host Salt Lake.

Thoughts on this idea?

I like this idea a lot and, and if this idea goes forward, Colorado would be very interested in playing in a Rose Bowl kickoff game to start this season.

Good to hear.
I should also point out, although the game will not be played at your home stadium, the simulation will still simulate as if you're at home, just like what's done for international games (so no team loses the home advantage for games like this).

I would love to have the Samurais playing at the Rose Bowl kick off, one of my favorite stadiums!

Rafael Menoncin wrote:I would love to have the Samurais playing at the Rose Bowl kick off, one of my favorite stadiums!

The schedule is randomized each season, so Portland playing in the game is pretty much up to chance. I'll try to rotate teams as much as possible, but there's only one opportunity a year to play in the game.

Preliminary Field Design for the Game
I have commissioned a logo to be made, that will basically be a templated logo, to be used each season, with only the year in the logo changing. That logo will be placed at midfield, once completed.



I'm going to set the kickoff time for the the opening Saturday at 5PM (Same kickoff time as the Rose Bowl Game) to give the game it's own spotlight on kickoff weekend.

I just love the Rose Bowl Field. So much tradition and Pagentry. Oh BTW Austin is that field based on the RB Field Template I designed a couple of years ago. ;-)

]

John

Austin Snelick wrote:Preliminary Field Design for the Game
I have commissioned a logo to be made, that will basically be a templated logo, to be used each season, with only the year in the logo changing. That logo will be placed at midfield, once completed.



I'm going to set the kickoff time for the the opening Saturday at 5PM (Same kickoff time as the Rose Bowl Game) to give the game it's own spotlight on kickoff weekend.

At least the East-West Rose Bowl tradition will remain alive in the GSL, the 2023 Rose Bowl Game it was the last on the tradicional match-up, hoping for next year semifinal (the last of the current deal) be the USC Trojans or the Oregon Ducks facing the Ohio State buckeyes or the Michigan Wolverines to close the granddady of them all, beginning in 2024 the Rose Bowl Game will be reduced to a ordinary quarter final without any specific tie in :-/

sfcom1 wrote:I just love the Rose Bowl Field. So much tradition and Pagentry. Oh BTW Austin is that field based on the RB Field Template I designed a couple of years ago. ;-)
John

No, I forgot about this actually. I just modified the NFL template I have.

Rafael Menoncin wrote:

Austin Snelick wrote:Preliminary Field Design for the Game
I have commissioned a logo to be made, that will basically be a templated logo, to be used each season, with only the year in the logo changing. That logo will be placed at midfield, once completed.

I'm going to set the kickoff time for the the opening Saturday at 5PM (Same kickoff time as the Rose Bowl Game) to give the game it's own spotlight on kickoff weekend.

At least the East-West Rose Bowl tradition will remain alive in the GSL, the 2023 Rose Bowl Game it was the last on the tradicional match-up, hoping for next year semifinal (the last of the current deal) be the USC Trojans or the Oregon Ducks facing the Ohio State buckeyes or the Michigan Wolverines to close the granddady of them all, beginning in 2024 the Rose Bowl Game will be reduced to a ordinary quarter final without any specific tie in :-/

I would hope those playoff games are at least chosen with the intention of finding an East-West matchup for the Rose Bowl game. If you're going to have all these bowl games in the playoff system, then they can at least try to fit all the matchups to be as close as the original bowl matchups. There's no reason why they can't do that the best they can.

Austin Snelick wrote: I would hope those playoff games are at least chosen with the intention of finding an East-West matchup for the Rose Bowl game. If you're going to have all these bowl games in the playoff system, then they can at least try to fit all the matchups to be as close as the original bowl matchups. There's no reason why they can't do that the best they can.

From what little I know from Fiesta Bowl HQ here in AZ. It would be hard to keep the traditional regional tie in's for the quarterfinal games. But given that the CFP (College Football Playoff) and ESPN will run the show. The entire playoff will be more like "March Madness." given that there will be 12 teams in 2024. This years games with The Fiesta (TCU/Michigan) and The Peach (Ohio State/Georgia) where not set up to be regional at all. Just 3 vs 2, and 4 vs 1. And the Final is being played at So-FI Satdium in LA.

John

sfcom1 wrote:

Austin Snelick wrote: I would hope those playoff games are at least chosen with the intention of finding an East-West matchup for the Rose Bowl game. If you're going to have all these bowl games in the playoff system, then they can at least try to fit all the matchups to be as close as the original bowl matchups. There's no reason why they can't do that the best they can.

From what little I know from Fiesta Bowl HQ here in AZ. It would be hard to keep the traditional regional tie in's for the quarterfinal games. But given that the CFP (College Football Playoff) and ESPN will run the show. The entire playoff will be more like "March Madness." given that there will be 12 teams in 2024. This years games with The Fiesta (TCU/Michigan) and The Peach (Ohio State/Georgia) where not set up to be regional at all. Just 3 vs 2, and 4 vs 1. And the Final is being played at So-FI Satdium in LA.

John

Right, but the hope, at least for, would be, with more teams, it might be more likely that you have an Oregon v Michigan or Washington v Penn State matchup in the playoffs, and then the CFP committee has to choose where that game will be played. The hope would be, they'd choose that matchup for the Rose Bowl. At the very least, they can try to put a PAC12, or B1G team in the Rose Bowl. I guess it all depends on if they know which seeds will play in which Bowl, before the seeding is determined, or if which games play which bowls happens after seeding is determined.

The most bizarre of all that story is the Pasadena city leaders (the same guys that limit the rose bowl to only 15 events per year and had done everything to keep the NFL far from the stadium) celebrating like they saved the Rose Bowl Game...

Maybe a National quarterfinal brings more tourists and huge tv contracts, but the Rose Bowl Game itself will be dead, only the name will remain...

I'd like to officially state that the Rose Bowl Kickoff game will become an annual occurrence.

Next order of business, will be voting on the logo for the game.
I asked rbronish to come up with a logo (he has entered every logo design contest, and has finished in 2nd place for many of them, if anyone is wondering why I specifically asked him), and he came up with several good ones.
The logo will serve as a template, that will be used each season, only with the date changing each season. The logo will run at least through the 2025 season.

Here are the logos to vote on. We will do our usual ranked choice, so choose each logo in order, which is best, to least best.

Logo #1:




Logo #2:




Logo #3





Since the main display location of the logo on the website is on the field, I think it's relevant to show what the logo would look like on the field as well.

Logo #1




Logo #2




Logo #3

Those are giving me a huge 2014 nostalgia, that year we got "Two Rose Bowl games" the first one was the classic PAC 12/Big 10 match-up (it was also a celebration of the 100th Rose Bowl Game) and the other was nothing less than the 2014 BCS National championship game! Both had special logos



Back to the GSL, my picks are

1. Logo #2 (Loved the emphasis on the sunset)
2. Logo #1
3. Logo #3

#1 - Logo #1
#2 - Logo #2
#3 - Logo #3

#2
#3
#1

John

I wanted to let these logos sit with me a bit before putting my vote in, because they're all so good, but I'm going

#2
#3
#1

I'm going
#2
#1
#3

3
2
1

2
3
1

I like

Logo 2
Logo 1
Logo 3

Logo 2
Logo 1
Logo 3

Number 3
Number 2
Number 1

Number 3
Number 1
Number 2

Current tallies as of right now are:
#1 - 18
#2 - 27
#3 - 20

I'll let the voting run through the end of this coming week, with the winning logo announced Friday. With the number of votes in, and the remaining votes that could come in, I think #2 just about has this locked up at this point, but I'll still give the extra time for votes.

#3, #2, #1
all Are good though

Reminder that voting will end here after tonight, and I'll announce the winning logo tomorrow.

Current tallies are:
#1 - 19
#2 - 29
#3 - 23

Alright, looks like #2 is the winning annual logo.

Which means we have an official field design for our first Rose Bowl Kickoff

I was thiniking the RB Field was missing something!



John
(Sorry I could not resist!)

Late to the party, but I like #2 the best as well. Very nice