Football - The Origins of Rose Bowl Game

The first Tournament of Roses was held in 1890 by the member of Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club. These were former residents of the East and Midwest who wanted to proclaim to the world about their new hometown’s mild winter weather. The wanted to let people know that the town was a paradise and did not get buried under snow.

In the next few years, the festival expanded to include marching bands and floats. The games that were included were ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and a race between a camel and an elephant. Stands were built along the Parade route and newspapers across the east started taking notice of this event. In 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed which took charge of the festival.
In 1902, The Tournament of Roses decided to add more excitement to the festival and make up with the idea of hosting the first post season college football game ever. This was done to attract more people to the Tournament.
The undefeated Michigan football team challenged University of California. However, California declined and Stanford stepped in to take its place. Michigan routed Stanford 49-0 in front of a crowd of 8,000 people. This game made a profit but the organizers decided not have it the following year because they were worried that spectators would not turn up on account of the one sided game.
Instead, they introduced chariot racing. This turned out to be rather chaotic since the racers were unprofessional and would often end up running into each other. Soon, organizers brought in professional racers but the spectators assumed that the races were fixed. As a result, football was brought back.
In 1916, the second Tournament of Roses took place with Washington State defeating Brown 14-0. The Rose Bowl game is nicknamed the Granddaddy of Them All because it was the first national, post season collegiate football game.
Since it started, Rose Bowl has come a long way. Today it is part of the Bowl Championship Series and two top college football teams play each other. Majority of the tickets for Rose Bowl go to the two participating universities. However, the game is also televised ensuring that any and everyone can enjoy the Rose Bowl.