Sometimes nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All", the Rose Bowl is the oldest bowl game and part of the annual Tournament of Roses event. For years the game bucked tradition by going without a sponsor, but in 1998, the game began being known as The Rose Bowl Game presented by AT&T and in 2002 as The Rose Bowl Game presented by PlayStation 2. Since 2005, when the agreement with Sony expired, the game has been presented by Citi.

The game was first played in 1902, pitting Michigan against Stanford, but after Michigan's 49-0 win over Stanford, Tournament of Roses officials did not stage another game until 1916. The Tournament also includes the Tournament of Roses Parade featuring floats covered with flowers and plants.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 1942 game was moved to Duke University's Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina due to World War II security threats, as officials were wary of allowing such a large crowd to congregate anywhere on the West Coast and risking another Japanese attack. With only 18 days to prepare, borrowed bleachers from the University of North Carolina and NC State boosted stadium capacity from 35,000 to 55,000 spectators. A flood of East Coast sportswriters descended upon Durham for their first Rose Bowl while only a single writer came from southern California. The heavily favored Duke team lost on a cold, rainy day to an underrated, defensive-minded Oregon State team that successfully protected an early lead.

During the 1961 game several students from nearby Caltech pulled a prank on the cheerleaders from Washington, widely known as "The Great Rose Bowl Hoax" due to its televised audience of nearly 10 million. The prank involved hijacking a flip-card show during the halftime break. The Caltech students managed to substitute the instructions for creating the flip-card images. The resulting changes included: the Caltech Beaver in place of the Washington Husky, the team name "HUSKIES" was inverted to "SEIKSUH", these was then followed with the name "CALTECH" in large letters as seen at the Museum of Hoaxes.