Brett Yormark takes shot at Rose Bowl, weighs in on early CFP expansion

As the College Football Playoff committee looked to expand before the original contract ended in 2026, the Rose Bowl proved to be the biggest hurdle because it wanted to keep its time slot without competition. Ultimately, the Rose Bowl committee backed down — but Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark had some thoughts on the situation.

Yormark addressed the CFP’s decision to expand to 12 teams for the 2024-25 season and took a shot at the Rose Bowl in the process. The game has long been played in the 5 p.m. ET time slot on New Year’s Day, and officials wanted to stay there without another bowl game potentially occurring at the same time.

That didn’t sit well with Yormark, as he showed Wednesday at the SBJ Forum in Las Vegas.

“I was put off candidly by the Rose Bowl,” Yormark said, via Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger. “I don’t believe in anyone putting themselves ahead of the sport.”

All other bowl games came to an agreement with the CFP before the Rose Bowl, meaning it could have held up CFP expansion until the contract with ESPN ended in 2026. Ultimately, the committee came to an agreement that allowed the Playoff to expand, and the announcement came the next morning.

Yormark has been an outspoken supporter of the expanded CFP, saying so at his first Big 12 Media Days over the summer.

“I would like to see an expanded Playoff,” Yormark said at the time. “What the structure of that and what that looks like is certainly something that we all need to discuss. I’m looking forward to having meaningful conversations with my other Power Five commissioners.

“Obviously, I’m seeing [College Football Playoff Executive Director] Bill Hancock in a couple of weeks to learn a little bit more about CFP, and all the moving parts. But generally speaking, I’d like to see expansion.”