B1G Championship Game Site Downselect
According to this Adam Rittenberg article, it's likely that one of two candidates will be chosen to be the long term site of the B1G Football Championship Game and the Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments: Chicago/Hoffman Estates and Indianapolis.
The two groups both made detailed presentations Tuesday before Big Ten athletic directors and other officials at the league's spring meetings. Although other cities and facilities have expressed interest in hosting future Big Ten football championship games -- Detroit, Cleveland, Green Bay -- the league is almost certainly going to go with Chicago/Hoffman Estates and/or Indianapolis.
Indianapolis is bidding to host the football championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium and both the men's and women's basketball tournaments at Conseco Fieldhouse. The [Chicago/Hoffman Estates] group would host the football championship at Soldier Field, the men's basketball tournament at the United Center and the women's hoops tournament at Sears Centre in suburban Hoffman Estates.
Could other cities still get involved? A rotation of championship sites remains possible, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said. "[But t]hose are the two cities we're talking to right now. We are where we're going to be. That's who we've spoken with so far. We would send the signal, but for now, these are the two cities we've sent signals to."
The inaugural Big Ten football title game takes place Dec. 3 at Lucas Oil in Indianapolis. Big Ten basketball tournaments have been held at both Conseco Fieldhouse and the United Center, although Indianapolis has hosted the events exclusively since 2008.
Come on green bay...lock it in...the grass at soldier field is shit.
Indianpolis is pretty damn good at hosting events like this. Just my opinion that isn't worth much.
Detroit don't need it, we go that MAC championship game!
/s
Soldier Field better get it. This is Big Ten Football and should be played outdoors.
Outdoors??? I don't understand the emphatuation with outdoor football in the month of December. Almost all of the bowl games are played in warm weather climates or indoors, sheltered from inclimate weather. I'd rather see two football teams duking it out rather than using a simplified playbook in a 6-3 mud bowl in 30 mph wind and 2 feet of snow.
Bro. Infatuation*
It was an emphatic infatuation. He just combined the words. Well played, guy.
Well that's humblarrassing.
Well said. The insistence that the B1G needs to play an outdoor championship game is asinine. We already insisted upon our leadership capabilities and legendary status, insisting that we're so tough because we can handle the cold is just extra stupid.
Disagree. The NFL plays games outside throughout December and January, so we can play an outside game the first week of December.
The reason the bowl games are in warm weather climates are because they are another 4 weeks later and because many of teams participating in these bowls are from warm weather areas and it's just easier to get people to leave the cold in late December and early January than getting southerners to come to the cold. Midwesterners shouldn't have a problem with an outdoor football game.
The weather might totally suck, but it also might be a cool, sunny December day, which would be great for football. If it's a blizzardy day, it'll be a game to remember.
You obviously weren't at the 1995 Michigan vs Purdue classic. 5-0! I think all video has been destroyed to protect children's fragile psyches.
I was there and loved every minute of it. I still don't have any preference of outdoor football (in December), though.
Now that sounds like a game to me.
Go all out with the cold weather theme. Play the game in Iron Mountain.
anybody know how many seats Michigan Tech's stadium is?
There may be enough once you take the logistics of getting up there in December into account.
...and shortsighted. (Although obviously nothing is final till its final).
The Big Ten footprint has the possiblities of using several different NFL venues, such as Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincy, Detroit, GreenBay, Minnesota, and Kansas City (biggest city close to Nebraska??).
Why limit yourself when you could have your game be a mid-western superbowl? It just seems lazy and boring to keep it in one place.
Also could Delany at least show the mildest concern for the economic well being of the rust belt. I mean sure it wouldn't help out Detroit in any way if Michigan or Michigan State was playing in Ford Field for a chance at the title.
You are spot on but since the whole conference shuffle and now conferences getting mega network deals, it's all about whoring your product out for the biggest paycheck possible. Alternating venues would be both exciting and more beneficial to all involved.
Realistically, there are only so many places to play a game in the Big 10 footprint in December. An NFL stadium with grass is probably out because I'd guess no NFL team wants to ruin its field when it may be too late to grow it back. That basically leaves Big 10 stadiums (which is fine by me), Indianapolis, and Detroit. I love Detroit, but people probably don't want to play a game there.
I don't know about football, and of course there was the huge Sparty bonus, but the Final Four seemed to do pretty well. I think all of the B1G schools, sans Iowa and Nebraska, have nearby(ish) NFL teams and stadiums, so rotation seems feasible.
Actually, I think it'd help Detroit more if a team other than Michigan or MSU were playing for the title there. Michigan residents probably wouldn't bother staying at a hotel.
What exactly would be going on in Hoffman Estates? That's my neck of the woods and there certainly can't be much they want to do there. Are they staying in Hoffman before driving down to the game or what?
As the article says, the women's hoops tournament. So nothing really. At least, nothing that would attract a crowd.
Oh okay. I thought the quoted text was it for the article. The Sears Centre probably is a good venue for the WBB tourney.
is the old Rosemont Horizon right? You're in the Chicago suburbs which has lots and lots of shopping for the female types who might be intrigued to go and watch the women's tourney.
It's Centre, and it's pretty new. We had my high school graduation there and it's a nice facility. And yes, it's in Hoffman Estates, about fifteen minutes away from one of the biggest malls in America with all of the shopping and restaurants around it that you could imagine, plus O'Hare.
Also, it seats about 10k, so it's a good deal smaller than either the United Center or Allstate, which might have ended up making attendance look ridiculous.
No, the old Rosemont Horizon is now the Allstate arena. This is about 20 miles or so away from the Sears Center.
Of the choices presented, I'd take Soldier field. It's a historic, tradition laden venue (even though it's been rebuilt) and I hate indoor football. Chicago is easy to get to and a great place to visit and party.
My preference would be for an on campus home game for the team with the better record with half the seats given to the visiting team, but that ain't going to happen.
Indianapolis is just awesome when holding these kind of events. Plus I feel its a privaliage to the players of both teams to play in an indoor facility that happens to be very very nice and get away from the cold.
Can't hate on Indy until you've been to Indy for one of these events. It's a solid A for every event I've attended there. B1G tourneys. Final Four. Conventions. Anything downtown Indy is great because parking is ample and everything is within walking distance.
It would be kind of boring to have the game played every year in Indianapolis!
I think Ford Field, St. Louis, Minneapolis should be included in the rotation of sites to host the B1G championship game. I doubt if outdoor NFL football stadiums would let the B1G tear up their field before a possible Sunday home game. May be if Chicago or Green Bay were on the road the week of the B1G championship game, then it would be possible to use one of those outdoor grass field.
the game being organized at a B10 team stadium every year by rotation.
I don't like the idea of having a specific site have the sole priviledge of getting those rights year after year.
But money talks so I'm okay with it.
If they are going to play it outdoors, why not play in a stadium that seats around 110,000. I know of one that might be available.
Spread the wealth to other cities within B1G nation but only if they bid for rights and ensure a high standard for facilities / venue / accomodations. Doing so would imbue broader fan support for the new B1G. Fans will watch the B1G regardless, but they will be happier about it and names such as Legend & Leaders might become more manageable.
Thanks for updating Us about the B1G Championship Game Site Downselect. It will be really of great use & helps us to get more information about the same.
give me Chicago, anyday. (Personally, I love the idea of a championship game in crazy weather. We ARE the B1G!)
What is there to do in Indianapolis (except circle the city on that maddening ring road) until game time? Possibly lots more central, though. . .
you have never been to the B1G tourney or Final Four in Indy .... because the entire downtown is one huge f'ing party !!! Just finish your last beer, then walk 2 blocks to the stadium. Can't do that in Chicago ... what finish that last beer ... then catch a cab 2 hours before game time to Soldier Field ? and the United Center ??? anybody want to walk 5 blocks away from it ??? No thank you !
Go Blue !
Not even close. I volunteer with the Indiana Sports Corporation and have an inside look at what goes into putting these events on. Probably the best such organization in the country. Look at the results - men's and women's Final Fours, men's and women's Big Ten basketball tournaments, Super Bowl coming next year. Everything within walking distance, great restaurants and bars. Just wait until December 3. It will be evident that Lucas Oil Stadium is the ideal location for the football championship game.
and I really like everything that the city has done with these big events. Traffic is never a big issue, lots to do downtown, and it has a great small town feel for a big city. Although I love Indy, I would like to see the location switch from year to year. Chicago would be great if they had a decent field, and Soldier field is meh as a venue. Detroit, Green Bay, Philly or Pittsburgh would be great to see a title game .
Indy is great place to host all these championships.
It's within driving distance for every school, the facilities are as good as any city in the midwest, the downtown is designed to host B1G events (couldn't help myself), great hotels, restaurants and bars. FYI during the B1G basketball tourney each and every school gets a designated bar downtown for each school's fans. All these bars have live bands and they even close some of the smaller streets to let the crowds party outside.
The only other possible contender would be Chicago ... and frankly, their facilities simply are not as good as Indy's. Plus the cost to attend the championships in Chicago would be much higher. You cannot walk to a single one of Chicago's venues - but in Indy everything is just blocks away from all the downtown hotels.
This is a no brainer. Go Blue !
totally forgot about that option. How's that bus ride after the game gonna be ???
Go Blue !
I vote Chicago, just on the grounds that it's really mean to have the Championship in Indiana when IU will never make it there...