How to watch 2026 Rose Parade: TV, time, weather for 137th annual Pasadena celebration
Before the Rose Bowl gets underway, the 137th Rose Parade highlights the spirit of teamwork, dedication and the start of a new year.
Pasadena starts the year by doing the least practical thing in America: building beauty at scale and putting it on live television. On Jan. 1, the 137th Rose Parade will feature dozens of flower-covered floats along a 5 1/2-mile route, plus 17 equestrian groups and 19 marching bands from across the U.S. and beyond.
There is no practical reason for any of it. The parade is grandeur as a civic service. It’s flowers and engineering and 935 volunteer thumbprints, built to last just one morning. And that’s the point: a public decision to start the year with something made, not just something that happened. Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind tradition. Here’s how to tune in to the two-hour broadcast.
How to watch the 2026 Rose Parade
- Location: Pasadena, Calif.
- Time: 11 a.m. ET, Thursday
- TV: ABC, Fox, NBC, CNN, Great American Family, Telemundo, Univision (national); KTLA (in market)
- Streaming: Fubo Sports Network (Stream Free Now)
ABC, Fox and Great American Family are currently available on Fubo. ABC, Fox and NBC are also available for free over the air.
The Tournament of Roses began as a simple boast. While much of the country was shoveling snow, Californians could throw a flower festival. What started as a flex has become one of the nation’s most enduring New Year’s Day rituals.
This year’s theme is “The Magic in Teamwork,” and the grand marshal is Los Angeles Lakers legend and Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson. He’ll ride down Colorado Boulevard to open 2026, then head to the Rose Bowl for the pregame ceremony once the petals have done their work. From there, it won’t be long before No. 1 Indiana and No. 9 Alabama take the field for their College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Rose Parade likes to sell itself as timeless. However, it has always attracted timely discomfort. It has been paused, protested, boycotted, argued over and often asked to explain itself on live television, usually for acting like a parade can float above politics. This year’s flashpoint was a Sierra Madre Rose Float Association entry honoring firefighters. The community-built float framed first responders in a pancake breakfast motif meant to convey care and gratitude. An audio joke about needing “more syrup” drew criticism in a region still raw from wildfires, where firefighters’ hoses literally ran dry. Organizers removed the spoken line.