[DC 86]

They lobbied to be part of the playoff rotation (and agreed to change from their traditional New Year's Day date when necessary) and if they had been offered the chance to host the championship game every year they would have jumped at the opportunity..

Never heard this before. Source?

Do you mean the second part or the first? the second part is my own speculation (sorry if that wasn't clear) but the first part is well documented. Going back to the BCS era the Rose Bowl made sure not to be left out of the rotation. Pre-playoff the Rose Bowl was paid $30 million per year for TV rights; as part of the playoff the payout increased to $80 million per year. One can assume that the delta in the next contract between a Pac-12/Big-X game and a playoff game will be even more massive. My statement about being the sole host of the final game is purely hypothetical but given the financial implications I find it hard to believe that loyalty to the two conferences would prevail. Beyond the financial issues if the Rose Bowl isn't part of the playoff it slides into irrelevance, and if it hosted the championship every season it would truly cement itself as the "granddaddy of them all". You are free to disagree, I am not a cynic but I am realist.

[DC 86]

They lobbied to be part of the playoff rotation (and agreed to change from their traditional New Year's Day date when necessary) and if they had been offered the chance to host the championship game every year they would have jumped at the opportunity..

Never heard this before. Source?

Do you mean the second part or the first? the second part is my own speculation (sorry if that wasn't clear) but the first part is well documented. Going back to the BCS era the Rose Bowl made sure not to be left out of the rotation. Pre-playoff the Rose Bowl was paid $30 million per year for TV rights; as part of the playoff the payout increased to $80 million per year. One can assume that the delta in the next contract between a Pac-12/Big-X game and a playoff game will be even more massive. My statement about being the sole host of the final game is purely hypothetical but given the financial implications I find it hard to believe that loyalty to the two conferences would prevail. Beyond the financial issues if the Rose Bowl isn't part of the playoff it slides into irrelevance, and if it hosted the championship every season it would truly cement itself as the "granddaddy of them all". You are free to disagree, I am not a cynic but I am realist.