To say that the college football season has been different would be an understatement. Along with robbing fans of their usual dose of inter-conference play, the pandemic has also taken away one very important tradition: The Rose Bowl.
The College Football Playoff and the Tournament of Roses announced Saturday that The Rose Bowl will no longer be the site of this season's College Football Playoff semifinals due to California's COVID-19 restrictions. Currently, California is not allowing fans and family to attend sporting events. The Tournament of Roses put in a special request to host the College Playoff game but it revealed to CNN that the state will not make an exception for this event.
"While the Pasadena Tournament of Roses is extremely disappointed that this year’s game will not take place at the iconic Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, the decision to move the game is based on the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Southern California along with the inability to host player and coach guests at any game in California," the Tournament of Roses said in a statement on its website.
The semifinal game will now be played at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It's unclear what the game will be called since the title "The CFP Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One" is co-owned by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses and the City of Pasadena. Yet, the other semifinal game in New Orleans, Louisiana is known as the Sugar Bowl.
The Rose Bowl has been a college football tradition for over 100 years, beginning in 1902. This year will be only the second time the game hasn't been played in Los Angeles Country with the first out of state site taking place in 1942 because of World War II.
