This story appeared in the 2021 College Football Playoff at the 86th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Official Game Program

Kevin Ash was more than familiar with the sterling reputation of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and had seen games at state-of-the-art AT&T Stadium.

The Rose Bowl Game's Chief Administrative Officer never thought he would be sharing staff and a facility trying to pull off a College Football Playoff Semifinal against the backdrop of a global pandemic.

Even now, 12 months afterwards, Ash looks back with a little bit of wonder at what happened. On Dec. 30, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic hosted Oklahoma's 55-20 win over Florida. Then things immediately shifted to the relocated Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One, an eventual 31-14 Alabama win over Notre Dame in a CFP Semifinal on Jan. 1.

"In ways it seems like it was a long time ago. And in ways, it seems like it was just yesterday," Ash said in a phone interview. "Yeah, it was surreal. There was so much going on with COVID in California at the time.

"We were just so wrapped up in trying to pull off a game and it was very challenging with the restrictions we had in California to the number of ICU beds we had occupied throughout southern California. It was pretty challenging for us. It was pretty crazy times, that's for sure."

Paying It Forward
The way Cotton Bowl Athletic Association President/Chief Executive Officer Rick Baker traces the family tree, his game is one of the Rose Bowl Game's many descendants.

"We wouldn't exist without the Rose Bowl," Baker said.

Back in 1936, oilman and sports promoter J. Curtis Sanford journeyed to the West Coast to watch SMU play Stanford in the Rose Bowl and wondered why Dallas couldn't have a game like that. A year later, through Sanford's determination and despite considerable skepticism, the Cotton Bowl debuted.

Then the Classic and AT&T Stadium, along with the College Football Playoff, became part of the plan to help the COVID-19-displaced Rose Bowl Game.

"Just paying it forward," Baker said.

Said CBAA Chairman Bry Patton at the time: "Our intent is to be just as supportive as we can be."

Within a week, two major bowls, four quality teams, hundreds of staff and volunteers and one impromptu hotel bubble helped the postseason safely navigate the COVID-19 landscape.

"First of all, we've known the Cotton Bowl staff for many years and they're a great group of people," Ash said. "Just everybody I've met there are very nice, very gracious, always willing to help. They're just really good at what they do. It was really a great fit. It was a lot of fun to do that game. It was something new and exciting, and it was a challenge."
 
Ash credited Baker with making the Rose Bowl Game feel at home, indoors and more than 1,300 miles from Pasadena and the San Gabriel Mountains.

"We were allowed to piggyback in the infrastructure on what we're doing," Ash said. "There was a balancing act in what we were doing, trying to help us and yet allow us to be who we were.

"Not only were the Cotton Bowl staff nice and gracious and helpful, so were AT&T Stadium staff. They were for us at every turn. The big video board, it was fun to see it and play a game there and see what we could do on that."

Planning Ahead
After decades running events ranging from March Madness to the CFP, Executive Director Bill Hancock realizes the importance of a backup plan.

"I always like to have something in my back pocket," Hancock said.

Early in December 2020, Hancock approached Baker with a concern.
COVID-19 cases were on the rise in California along with a diminishing supply of hospital beds.

"I just said, 'Would you be available?' not thinking it would ever happen but wanting to have a plan," Hancock said.

Like Hancock, Baker understood the situation but didn't expect it to reach that point. He made a few phone calls to the right people with the Cowboys, with the CBAA leadership and with AT&T Stadium and said everybody would be willing to help out.

"Right from the beginning, we were willing to help, hoping they wouldn't need us and hoping it would stay in Pasadena," Baker said. "But we were certainly ready, willing and able if called upon."

Because the Cotton Bowl Classic was on a Wednesday, that provided a tight but doable one-day window before the Rose Bowl Game. Plus, the Classic is part of the New Year's Six bowls, and AT&T Stadium hosted the first CFP National Championship in January 2015.

"We of course have a great deal of respect for the Cotton Bowl staff, and the stadium is terrific and the city is centrally located in the country," Hancock said. "They know how the CFP prefers games to be administered. And our office is in Irving. So all of the above."

Everything came to a head in the first half of December.

Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame — the top three teams in the CFP rankings at the time — began questioning the wisdom of flying teams to play on the West Coast during a pandemic. And a ban on fans became a sticking point, with the schools wanting a small number of parents and friends to be able to watch the game at the cavernous Rose Bowl. California officials declined to grant a waiver.

Baker got the news Dec. 19 that the Rose Bowl wouldn't be able to host.

Patton was at AT&T Stadium watching the Big 12 championship game when he got the call from Baker.

"It's happening," Baker told him.

Rose Bowl Game officials were still in charge of the Jan. 1 game.

"I was heartbroken for the Rose Bowl," Baker said. "It would have been devastating for us. I can't imagine how it would have been for the Rose Bowl staff."

The CFP selection committee made the decision to put No. 1 Alabama in the semifinal in Arlington instead of New Orleans, committee chairman Gary Barta said, because AT&T Stadium had about 16,000 seats available as opposed to 3,000 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

"The collaboration among the Tournament of Roses, the Cotton Bowl and AT&T Stadium was remarkable," Hancock said. "When COVID-19 cases increased in Southern California in December, everyone rolled up their sleeves and went to work to make it happen. 

"You know, the year 2020 was all about flexibility and adaptation for everyone in the world. There's no finer example than the spirit that was exemplified here and in Pasadena."
 
Bowl Bubble
An informal "war room" discussion was held Dec. 20 to walk through all the contingencies.

Patton said he has gained a new admiration for the CBAA staff.

"What professionals, to be jumping in and figuring out how things were going to happen, with all the logistics associated with it," he said.

One key point was how to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak. Both the CFP and the Cotton Bowl Classic had looked at the experiences of the NBA and NHL "bubbles" this year, as well as the World Series in Arlington.

The Classic also had closely monitored how the Cowboys handled games at AT&T Stadium.

Marty MacInnis, the CBAA's Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer, suggested a bubble concept for the Cotton and Rose.

"Our staff took it and ran with it," Baker said. "One of the responsibilities in all this was to try to keep everyone as safe as we possibly could and put them in an environment of coming in, playing the game and leaving with as little risk as possible."

The CBAA approached Robert Watson, the general manager of the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, about a bubble concept. Normally, the Cotton Bowl Classic splits teams between the Anatole and the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine.

Watson agreed to host the teams for both the Cotton and Rose as well as bowl staff, with no other guests permitted, even on New Year's Eve. Security will be stationed around the hotel, and drivers and runners designated for unforeseen circumstances, like the need to fill a prescription.

The teams left the hotel only for the walk-through at the stadium, with the traditional Cotton hospitality on hiatus. Oklahoma and Florida checked out at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with Alabama and Notre Dame checking into different rooms a little after 5 p.m.

Florida coach Dan Mullen was familiar with the Anatole from the numerous times it has hosted coaching conventions.

He called it "a pretty smart idea."

Ash agreed, noting how good the Cotton Bowl Classic is on many organizational and planning levels.

"Their operations are fantastic," Ash said. "When we saw that and what they were doing, it was excellent. It worked like a charm. It kept people out of the hotel. It kept the team separate. It kept them in the bubble.

"It was very smart what they did and worked fantastic."

Reaction
Between CFP games and regular-season neutral-site contests, Alabama and head coach Nick Saban were no stranger to AT&T Stadium.

"We've played here before," Saban said after the victory over Notre Dame. "I think this is one of the finest venues in college football. I don't think that there's anything quite like the Rose Bowl, the tradition, the setting, the mountains. It's just a phenomenal experience to play in the Rose Bowl.

"I wish our players would have gotten that opportunity, but at the same time these people did a phenomenal job of the transition from the Rose Bowl to here. … It was pretty seamless for our players. They enjoyed the opportunity to be able to play in the Rose Bowl, even though they had to play here in Dallas, which is really a great experience for players as well."

For Ash and the Rose Bowl, what happened late in 2020 remains a key moment for his game's history and the bowl industry.

The Rose Bowl had been played outside of Pasadena once before, when the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to the United States' entry into World War II. The Rose Bowl was moved to Durham, N.C. for 1942.

"On behalf of the Rose Bowl game and the Tournament of Roses, we just want to say thanks to the Cotton Bowl family and our friends and tell them how important they are to us and … how they were there at a time we needed them," Ash said. "They had our backs. They were our friends, and they would have done anything for us. We just want them to know how much that meant to us."
 
Laying a Foundation
In the years since AT&T Stadium hosted the first CFP championship, the game has been moved around the country to different sites as part of a strategy on selling the playoff.

Hancock wouldn't comment on a return to Arlington or if a successful double hosting in this unusual year would help.

"I don't want to speculate about what might happen in the future," Hancock said, "but I do I want to say we greatly appreciate the Cotton Bowl and AT&T Stadium being available for this."

Patton admitted that this sort of on-the-fly adjustment was not what he expected when he became CBAA Chairman in April 2020.

"What's been so impressive to me is how adaptable the Cotton Bowl staff is," Patton said. "I remember Jerry Jones giving a speech to the energy business, shoot, 25 years ago. And he's a great speaker.
"One of his main points that I remember was that you have to have a tolerance for ambiguity. Oh my goodness, is this the year you have to have a tolerance for ambiguity."