Rose Peddling?

Is the Rose Bowl by any other name still the Rose Bowl?

Up until Jan. 7, the big change on the horizon at Arroyo Seco was the end of an exclusive arrangement that brought Pacific 10 and Big 10 teams to town on New Year’s Day. Bowladministrators shook longtime fans with a plan to generate millions of dollars in added revenue by commercializing the game. The 1999 game will still be the Rose Bowl, but it will be “presented by” an as-yet unidentified corporation.

Bowl officials say the deal won’t be a sponsorship--nothing as blatant as the FedEx Orange Bowl or the Nokia Sugar Bowl. But did the Rose Bowl go too far in the pursuit of money? Or did bowl stewards simply bow to modern marketing pressures?

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