Rose Bowl parade floats are a traditional way for many to begin the new year. This year, ESPN will have a float in the annual event, and it will carry several popular SEC Network personalities.

Among the household names for SEC fans riding the float will be Laura Rutledge, Tim Tebow, Paul Finebaum, Jordan Rodgers and Roman Harper of SEC Network’s “SEC Nation,” Jess Sims from ESPN’s “College GameDay,” and Marty Smith and Ryan McGee of SEC Network’s Marty & McGee.

ESPN’s float celebrates College Football Playoff semifinalists – Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama.

The float itself tops out at 16 feet tall and will have a huge CFP trophy that is 28 feet long and 17 feet wide.

Nearly 6,000 flowers were used to create ESPN’s float and the construction utilizes sod directly from the Rose Bowl Stadium, as well as a mix of materials ranging from green ground parsley flakes, white fine ground rice, stems of brown coffee, gold flax seed, whole split pea, and more.

ESPN also noted that the annual “Where Flowers Meet Football” handoff during the parade broadcast will be performed by Tebow, who will pass the football to Rece Davis and Desmond Howard of “College GameDay,” and that represents the progression in the day’s events from the Rose Parade to the Rose Bowl Game.

The Tournament of Roses Parade will begin at 11 a.m. ET on ABC, NBC and Univision.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.