The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2 (14 times now). The Rose Bowl is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All" because it is the oldest bowl game. It was first played in 1902, and has been played annually since 1916. Since 1945, it has been the highest attended college football bowl game. It is a part of the Tournament of Roses "America's New Year Celebration", which also includes the historic Tournament of Roses Parade. Beginning with the 2015 game, the official name for sponsorship is the "Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual". Vizio was the previous sponsor, since 2012; prior sponsors included AT&T, Sony, and Citi. In 2015, the game will also be officially known as the "College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual".

The Rose Bowl Game has traditionally hosted the conference champions from the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences (or their predecessors), but due to its past and present membership in several consortiums that seek to determine a national champion in Division I FBS, in 2002, the Rose Bowl began to infrequently deviate from its traditional match-up in order to facilitate championship games. In 2002 and 2006 (2001 and 2005 football seasons), under the Bowl Championship Series system, the Rose Bowl was designated as its championship game, and hosted the top two teams determined by the BCS system. Beginning in 2015, the Rose Bowl is part of theCollege Football Playoff system, and will host one of its semi-final games every three years. During non-Playoff years, the Rose Bowl will revert to a Pac-12/Big Ten matchup.