Indianapolis to host Big Ten football championship game until 2015; Indy and Chicago will share basketball title games
You won’t need cold-weather gear to watch the Big Ten Conference football championship game.
The game will be played indoors for its first five seasons.
The league announced Sunday afternoon Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will continue to host the Big Ten championship game through 2015 — a four-year deal on top of the initial one-year agreement made for the first Big Ten title game to be played Dec. 3 in prime time on FOX.
Indianapolis and Chicago bid for the game at last month’s Big Ten spring meetings. On Sunday, the presidents and chancellors of the conference unanimously voted to hold the game in Indianapolis.
Weather was a major factor in the decision.
Weather has always been the knock on playing a title game outside — and coincidentally also been an issue used in recruiting by warm-weather schools against the Big Ten and Notre Dame.
Playing inside does have advantages. It allows for a level playing field when determining the league’s BCS team and, because the game will be played at night, guarantees it won’t be played in below-freezing conditions.
“I think the idea was that you can get consistency of planning for both teams if you knew the environment and weather was going to be pretty consistent,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said. “I would say as a fan aspect as well as a player aspect. We play in tough weather in November but we play in great weather in September, October and we always play in Florida, Texas and California in December and January, and it’s always beautiful.
“So maybe we’re just getting ready to play bowl games, I don’t know.”
He also said FOX, which didn’t have a say in the final decision, indicated the production of the game would be better indoors versus outdoors.
The league had briefly discussed rotating the game, but decided to stay in one spot — Indy.
“What we felt we needed to do since it is our first effort in the championship game is to get it off to a stable start,” Delany said. “Build a great foundation and try to launch from there.”
Indianapolis also won out due to familiarity and the way the city hosts big events like Final Fours and its plans for the 2012 Super Bowl. In the bid and planning process, the entire downtown becomes involved. Even during the Big Ten basketball tournaments the city becomes a major Big Ten venue, with logos everywhere and each Big Ten team having a temporary street named after it.
Indianapolis also has a lot of affordable hotel rooms in its downtown area. Plus, their presentation in Chicago, which featured Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, CBS broadcaster Clark Kellogg and Indianapolis Colts vice chairman Bill Polian, did a good job.
"I know their presentation at our meetings in Chicago a few weeks ago was very impressive," Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said by email Sunday. "So, I was not surprised to hear that the Presidents approved Indianapolis as the site of our Championship Football Game for the next few years."
The compact nature of the city, where everything — hotels to the arena to nightlife — is within walking distance, helped as well.
“The major factor was getting off to what I describe a fair-weather start in this championship game,” Delany said. “Getting it out there in a way that was predictable.
“… Anybody who has been around the Final Four, anybody who has been around the Super Bowl, anybody who has been around amateur or pro sports, you can’t help but look at the integrated nature of the Indianapolis bid process throughout sports.”
Delany said he wants to continue working with Chicago on putting together a more integrated bid in the future as he considers it the best sports city in America.
Just not enough, right now, for his league’s title game.
“We have (300,000) or 400,000 alums here, so I want them to succeed, and I think they can succeed,” Delany said. “But the key element in Indianapolis was not the presentation, although you can’t help but notice how integrated (Indianapolis) is, but it was really the fact that we were going to have this event in the confines of an enclosed stadium in the early years.”
The Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will rotate between Indianapolis and Chicago/Hoffman Estates, Ill., beginning next season after the existing league contract with Indianapolis runs out after this year. Conseco Fieldhouse will have the men’s and women’s title games in 2014 and 2016.
The United Center, which only bid on the men’s tournament, will host in 2013 and 2015. The Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates will get the women’s tournament in 2014 and 2016. Delany said when the tournaments are in Chicago, the league might discuss having the men’s and women’s tournaments run simultaneously instead of the current setup, which has the women’s tournament being played the week before the men’s tournament.
“It is sort of subject to continuing internal discussion with the coaches and administrators,” Delany said. “We’re really going to have to put some elbow grease and really work with Hoffman Estates to sort of maximize the value of the demographic advantage that we have here.”
The Big Ten, though, hasn’t ruled out re-opening discussions on future title game locations. League officials looked at a rotating proposal for football as well as basketball but wanted to be situated in the same city early on for continuity. They looked primarily at three- or four-year plans and will do so down the road as well.
But for now, the game is indoors.
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by email at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein
Comments
treetowncartel
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 8:44 p.m.
Soldier field makes the most sense. Outdoors, centrally located. I really think it should rotate around the conference though, maybe not in the teams stadium but near by. It would really help the conference recruit in all their sports.
81wolverine
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 5:37 p.m.
Although Indy is a very good place to have a championship game (dynamic downtown, lots of restaurants, hotels, things to see), I don't agree with locking it in for 5 years. There are other potential indoor sites like Detroit Ford Field and the planned stadiium in Minneapolis.
RWBill
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 5:10 p.m.
Indoor football championship, more evidence those in charge have little appreciation of tradition and fan desires.
David Vande Bunte
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 4:45 p.m.
"Playing inside does have advantages. It allows for a level playing field when determining the league's BCS team and, because the game will be played at night, guarantees it won't be played in below-freezing conditions." How? How exactly does playing indoors make it a level playing field? If it snows, does it not snow on both teams equally? If it is freezing, aren't both teams cold? Claiming that playing indoors levels the playing field is a bogus argument, because no matter what the conditions outside, both teams are affected by them equally. You play all games to get to the B1G championship game outdoors, where weather is a factor. If it is SO important that games must be played indoors to assure "fairness" then all teams should play indoors, all the time. That is the logic. Its week 12, two teams are playing each other for the right to go to the B1G championship game. The winner gets the bid, period, there are no possible tied outcomes after this game is played. So, this is a very important game. But, its being played outdoors in November, with snow and blustery winds. Does the loser get to complain that the weather caused them to lose? No. Of course not. The game is the game is the game. This is the Big Ten, for crying out loud. We play football in the northern midwest. It's who we freaking are. We aren't the SEC, where teams can't play in anything south of 60 degree weather, we play in the sun, the rain and the snow, sometimes even in the same game. Big Ten fans know how to dress for poor weather games, it isn't like we haven't been there, done that. MAN UP.
golfer
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 9:52 a.m.
i like it. it will help the big ten to get some guys who know if they win they will play indoors. good plan, really do not care where it is just as long as it is indoors. a football field is a football field. the game is what counts.
Tru2Blu76
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 6:19 a.m.
"... and each Big Ten team having a temporary street named after it." --- Uh, you mean they're going to build temporary streets in Indianapolis and name them after the Big 10-11-12 teams? Well, if they build really good temporary streets, maybe the can sell them to Michigan after the championship game is played in Indy. We could use a few good roads here, now that $nyder has gutted Michigan's public services budget.
Michael Rothstein
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 10:23 a.m.
Ugh. That's my bad. Should have been street named after it temporarily. Apologies.
treetowncartel
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 2:18 a.m.
Lame, share the wealth.
DonAZ
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 1:23 a.m.
Perfectly reasonable decision. Midwestern weather is dicey in the late November / early December time frame. Plus, Big Ten teams going on to major bowls don't need to worry about playing in cold freezing weather. Better to get the championship game in under the dome in preparation for Florida or New Orleans or Southern California. Indianapolis is totally neutral ... after all, do we still see Purdue and Indiana and Big Ten teams? :-) JUST KIDDING!!!
johnnya2
Sun, Jun 5, 2011 : 10:04 p.m.
I have no problem with this being on a neutral field, but I think all the championships should be rotated to those places that can host one of the tournaments. Football could go to Detroit, Indy, Minnesota (all have indoor facilities in Big Ten states and have handled large events. Basketball could go to Chicago, Indianapolis, The Palace, Quicken Arena in Cleveland, the arena where the Pitt Penguins play, the Target center, and an arena in Iowa and or Nebraska that is not the schools home arena.
Frank Taylor
Sun, Jun 5, 2011 : 9:31 p.m.
How boring and terrible! The game should be played on the home field of one of the two schools
SonnyDog09
Sun, Jun 5, 2011 : 9:19 p.m.
I don't know why they are not playing the championship game in a big ten stadium. Why should the revenue from a championship game go to a non-big10 city and stadium?
Mick52
Mon, Jun 6, 2011 : 2:36 p.m.
I'm with you. I don't get this. The game should rotate in Big Ten stadiums or at least those that hold he most fans. Why not benefit the schools and cities where they are located? And it should be outside. I usually argue against folks to complain about the commercialization of college sports and always glad we don't see ads all over Michigan Stadium, but it appears the Big Ten is going in that direction.
Mick
Sun, Jun 5, 2011 : 8:57 p.m.
I'm happy with the game being indoors, I believe lesser talented teams are helped by bad weather more. The better teams are not able to always utilize their talent in potentially bad weather. If U-M is in the game, with the way Hoke is recruiting and our team will be better coached, I don't want weather to be a factor, giving a lesser talented team a better chance than not. Feel free to disagree of course. As far as the city of venue, why isn't Detroit being considered more seriously, it has a nice downtown, has hosted big time events, the city could use the money, what's up with that?
Hailmary
Sun, Jun 5, 2011 : 8:57 p.m.
This is a good story, upbeat and a positive note about the future of the Big Ten. It's time to put Jim Tressel to rest.
tater
Sun, Jun 5, 2011 : 8:51 p.m.
Delaney finally did something intelligent. It doesn't make up for his defense of and stumping for TSIO before the Sugar Bowl, but he did at least do something right for a change. Congratulations are in order, I guess.