Is Northwestern Mutual the New Presenting Sponsor for the Rose Bowl Game?

Northwestern Mutual will be the new presenting sponsor of the Rose Bowl in 2015, according to an unnamed industry source in a media report published this morning.

Michael Smith of Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal reports that Northwestern Mutual has landed a Rose Bowl deal that could be  to be worth $25 million a year over six years.

Smith wrote that “ESPN, the rights holder for the College Football Playoff as part of its 12-year, $5.64 billion deal, sold the sponsorship to Northwestern Mutual.”

If true, the sponsorship catapults Northwestern Mutual to a major stakeholder in the new college football playoff structure.

Next January 1 the Rose Bowl game will serve as one of the semifinal games in the inaugural College Football Playoffs. In other years, when the Rose Bowl is not a semifinal match, the game will continue as its traditional New Year’s Day Big Ten-Pac-12 matchup.