On Sunday, December 6, the College Football Playoff will release its bracket and bowl sites. For the first time, the teams seeded first, second and third will each decide whether their path runs through Pasadena. That leaves the 113th Rose Bowl Game on Friday, January 1, 2027, as an open question until less than four weeks before kickoff. Meanwhile, almost everything else on Pasadena's New Year's calendar already has a date, an address and a ticket price.
That split shapes how a resident can plan the week. The game now depends on choices made by football programs elsewhere. The floats, bands and horses arrive on a schedule the Tournament of Roses published months ago.
How a Team Ends Up in Pasadena This Season
In its July 9, 2026 announcement, the CFP said that "with the removal of conference historic bowl tie-ins from the bowl assignment process beginning in 2026," the top three seeds will pick their bowl path in rank order. The CFP's format page sets out the order:
- The No. 1 seed chooses its quarterfinal bowl and the semifinal it would advance to if it wins.
- The No. 2 seed, then the No. 3 seed, choose from the quarterfinal sites still open.
- The No. 4 seed gets the last remaining quarterfinal site.
- The bracket sets each opponent: No. 1 plays the 8/9 winner, No. 2 the 7/10 winner, No. 3 the 6/11 winner and No. 4 the 5/12 winner.
The Rose Bowl competes for those choices against three other quarterfinal sites. The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl plays Wednesday, December 30, 2026. The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl share New Year's Day with Pasadena. The semifinals follow at the Capital One Orange Bowl on January 14 and the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 15. So a top seed weighing Pasadena is also weighing which semifinal city it would rather travel to next.
The Two Rose Bowls Before This One
The playoff has held quarterfinals in Pasadena twice, and both times the committee made the call. In 2024–25, the committee's first priority when assigning quarterfinal sites was traditional contract-bowl relationships, as long as the bracket allowed it. For 2025–26, the CFP changed seeding so the four highest-ranked teams got the byes, whether or not they had won their conferences. Contract-bowl ties still came first that season, with the committee placing seeds one through three in order and giving seed four the game that was left. Teams did not choose.
Those two seasons produced these games:
| New Year's Day | Matchup | Final |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, January 1, 2025 | No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Oregon | Ohio State 41, Oregon 21 |
| Thursday, January 1, 2026 | No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama | Indiana 38, Alabama 3 |
Last season the top overall seed played in the Rose Bowl because the committee put it there. This season, the same outcome would happen only if the No. 1 seed picked Pasadena.
A Partnership Dating to 1946, Now Fully Replaced
The Pasadena Star-News traced the Tournament's Big Ten–Pac-12 partnership back to 1946, describing a decades-long agreement that supported Pasadena's place on New Year's Day. In that December 2025 report, Tournament CEO David Eads called the changes in college football "cataclysmic." He also said the Tournament was excited to join the playoff and wanted to protect its brands. The same story quoted him describing the old arrangement as a real partnership, with the Tournament and the two conferences sharing input on decisions about the game.
Eads said those things before the CFP's July 2026 announcement, so they are not a response to the seed-choice rule. The research found no public Tournament statement about that rule yet. The official game recap from January 2025 had already called the Rose Bowl's move into the expanded playoff a major format change, since its matchup was no longer tied to the Big Ten and Pac-12. The 2026 rule takes the last step, removing tradition from site assignment altogether.
The Rest of the Week Is Already Set
The game waits on December 6, but the Tournament's ticketed events around it are scheduled, priced and placed in specific Pasadena venues:
| Event | Dates | Venue | General admission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decorating Places | Dec. 28–30, 2026 | Rosemont Pavilion, 700 Seco Street | $26.50 Dec. 28–29; $31.50 Dec. 30 |
| Equestfest | Dec. 29, 2026, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Los Angeles Equestrian Center, Burbank | $26.50; VIP reserved $51.50 |
| Bandfest presented by REMO | Dec. 29 at 2 p.m.; Dec. 30 at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. | Robinson Stadium, Pasadena City College | $26.50 |
| Floatfest: A Rose Parade Showcase | Jan. 1–3, 2027 | Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards, by Pasadena High School | $26.50 |
Children five and under get in free to all four. Equestfest is the only one outside Pasadena, and its horse show runs from noon to 2 p.m. Tickets for all of them are sold through Sharp Seating.
Decorating Places Is the Closest Look You Get
Decorating Places is where floats get their final floral work before the parade. Visitors watch professionals and volunteers apply flowers and natural materials, and can walk through the decorating facilities. The Tournament's page lists these hours, with last entry an hour before closing each day:
- Monday, December 28, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 29, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Wednesday, December 30, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sharp's ticket page lists longer hours for two of those days, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on December 28 and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on December 30. Check both pages again closer to the date. The Wednesday ticket costs $5 more than the first two days.
Parking is free, first come, first served, in lots near Rosemont Pavilion and Jackie Robinson Baseball Field, and other Arroyo Seco Park venues share those lots. Rideshare drop-off and pickup are limited to Lot H, entered at Seco Street and Rosemont Avenue. The Tournament also lists Metro rail, Metro Bus and the Pasadena ARTS bus as ways to get there.
Parade Morning, and What Has Not Been Announced
The 138th Rose Parade begins at 8 a.m. on Friday, January 1, 2027. It follows the same 5.5-mile route as before, starting at Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard, running along Colorado Boulevard and Sierra Madre Boulevard, and ending at Villa Street. Streets close to vehicles from 10 p.m. on December 31 until 2 p.m. on January 1. That closure window covers the morning commute across Colorado Boulevard in every neighborhood along the route.
This year's theme is "Welcome," announced in January by Tournament president Terry Madigan. He has been a Tournament volunteer since 1993, owns the Pasadena-area personal chef service Just No Thyme, and twice drove the City of South Pasadena's float while at South Pasadena High School.
Sharp lists 2027 grandstand seats at $82 to $133 all-in, across five seating areas. Tickets are scheduled to go out by December 1, 2026, and seat assignments can change with notice. The 2026 brochure showed $75 to $125 with service fees added at checkout, so the two ranges aren't a direct price comparison.
Some parade-day details still point back to last year. The Tournament's parade explainer still lists 2026 grand marshal Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Visit Pasadena's parade guide still shows the 2026 curbside rules: campouts could start at noon on December 31, and people moved to the blue honor line at 11 p.m. without crossing it. The guide itself says that information is from 2026 and will be updated.
After the parade, Floatfest keeps the floats on display for three days. Hours are 1:30 to 5 p.m. on January 1. On January 2, 7 to 9 a.m. is reserved for seniors and visitors with disabilities, and general hours run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On January 3, it's open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For most residents, the Saturday morning hours will be the calmest chance to see the floats up close. By then all three New Year's Day quarterfinals, Pasadena's included, will be over, and the winners will be headed toward January's semifinals.
If you'd like to spend part of Rose Parade week near Colorado Boulevard, Shahe Seuylemezian can show you Uptown Luxury Condos at 139 S Oak Knoll Ave. Schedule a private tour for a weekday before the street closures start.
