The Rose Bowl's old sunset certainty has become inventory, with Sports Media Watch reporting that none of the three New Year's Day College Football Playoff bowls will be assigned to a television window until Selection Sunday on December 6. [1]

That means the Rose Bowl could remain in the 4 p.m. Eastern window it occupied last season or move into an 8 p.m. ESPN window, while the noon slot is effectively off the table for the Rose and Fiesta bowls because of local time. [1]

Tradition will pretend the clock belongs to memory, but ABC, ESPN, TNT sublicensing, playoff inventory and overlapping NFL windows now decide how much of the ritual survives as ritual and how much becomes programming math. [1]

Sports Media Watch also notes that if the Rose remains in the 4 p.m. Eastern window, it would air on ABC for the first time since 2010, while the 8 p.m. window is set for ESPN, making the same bowl a different television product by moving four hours. [1]

There was no verified X status URL from the search pass, which leaves the documentable story in the schedule architecture: the Rose Bowl still has its name, but its window is now assigned by a playoff television system. [1]

-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos