Big Ten Title Game Outdoors Please
I know this has been discussed previously, but here is a good article by Dan Wetzel explaining why the Big Ten Title game should be played outdoors, and I totally agree. Right now Indy is slotted to host the first game, but the conference only has Indy and Chicago in the running to host it annually. I dont like the idea of Indy hosting it b/c its a dome, and Chicago would be cool, but its actually a small venue (62k) considering other conference venues...so you can imagine the cost for tickets would get outrageous. Other possibilities stated in the article include...
"Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Bettendorf, Kalamazoo, Steubenville, Thief River Falls, Sheboygan, Cheboygan"
I personally like the idea of Lambeau Field hosting the event.....its outdoors, and its a bigger venue (73k) plus the mysic of the stadium woud add to the game/atmosphere.
I thought Dan made a great point with...
"Besides, some of the greatest games ever have seen snowflakes dance in the air, a cinematographic treasure. This is just one way the Big Ten can differentiate itself on the crowded conference championship weekend.
Outdoors says the league is proud of what it is – a conference built on Woody and Bo, Butkus and Bubba and generations of players and fans who grew up behind auto factories and on family farms and in towns that never make those “cool cities” lists.
And they’re long past tired of apologizing for it."
make sense to hold it outdoors in a smaller NFL stadium. If its going to be outside might as well play it at Camp Randall, Michigan, Ohio, Memorial or Beaver Stadiums. Even if there are empty seats.
I'm okay with pro-venues. Its not like the Alabama game where we never get to play the team at either home, all of these teams get a lot of chances to play in each other's stadium. There are enough pro-stadiums in the footprint that if they don't stay permantly in Chicago, where B10 and the B10 network is headquartered, they could have a nice rotation.
Why not have it at a different member school's stadium each year? Make it a neutral site for the two teams and by moving it each year add some additional money into the economy of a different member school's city every year.
I don't know if you can have a neutral site every year since it should rotate evenly throughout all the conference teams, but I would throw out a MLB tactic and have the winning division have a team host it the next year.
I've warmed to the thought of playing the game at Soldier Field because I'd get regularly attend the blue title games... I do think it would be better if it was played outdoors whether or not its an NFL stadium.
I like the idea of having it played inside. For the Big Ten to have the best chance to win their bowl game it should be held inside in a controlled enviroment.
An outdoor championship game may appeal to die hard college football fans, but I sense the NCAA and B1G would succumb to the pressure of the almighty dollar. And that pressure says nice, cozy indoor stadium.
I think with Chicago and its massive an rabid B10 fan presence from every school, they wouldn't mind doing it outside knowing the stadium will fill anyway.
I'm sure everyone knows money will determine where it goes. I would prefer outdoors in Chicago. If they are going to take the slot the Big 12 had and play at night, the conference leaders have to change their feelings about late games after October. I would guess the ratings are higher and that the networks pay more for a night game and it ends up in Indy.
edit: Wow, I type slow. The same $ point made while I was writing this.
works for me. Sure, there are less seats than many other B1G venues but isn't this game all about TV exposure anyway?? And as far as rotating through conference stadiums, I think the conference has to at least try to make this game look as non-partisan as possible. Could you imagine the homerism that could go on during a championship game broadcast just to play up to a particular fan base... Shudder at the thought.
Soldier, or as someone said earlier, Lambeau. These are neutral sites, but they still essentially have a Big Ten feel.
I would prefer they spread the event around to other cities. Cleveland, Detroit, even Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. Contrary to the bias toward "safe" cities, all of these can handle the crowds with hotel rooms, restaurants, bars, etc.
On the other hand, the Big Ten might want to stick with Chicago and Indy because they have a good chance of being neutral sites.
Where in the hell would it be played in Kalamazoo?
Than either of the cheboygans or those other two places.
Angel Field at Kalamazoo College. After the expansion I think it will hold 4,800.
you forgot the standing room only and sideline passes. That easily pushes it to in excess of 4,850.
That gets to sit in the press box.
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<br>I agree, but let's not get all hopeful for a throwback game when what we are inevitably going to get is some corporate sponsored, primetime, celebrity anthem singing, black eyed peas halftime performing, marching bandless, confetti dropping nightmare that lasts well over 4.5 hours because of all the sideline interviews with the CEO of dr pepper talking about how the big ten has many unique flavors, just like dr. Pepper.
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<br>Truth/Rant concluded
would certainly be unique and nostalgic, but it would not be good for the conference. In many of the locations your talking about, late November-early December is cold, really cold. I understand that the NFL is outdoors in late January, which is even worse, but it is part of the NFL game even when their at the Championship stage. In college, after conference play, it is best v. best in warm weather, with very very few exceptions. For the conference, if Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State etc. has a dominant football team with the very real capability of winning the whole damn thing, is would not be the best interest of the conference for that team to get fluked out of a shot in a snow mud fest while Bama or Texas is cruising to victory in the cozy confines of an indoor stadium. The outdoor idea is a tough, throwback-big-ten idea, but I think the possible downsides are too glaring.
I'm sorry but you're wrong regarding it being "cold, really cold" in Chicago in early December. Temeratures that time of year are usually in the upper 20s to upper 30s during the day. Now, perhaps you consider that to be "cold" or "really cold". However people that live in Chicago do not consider that to be either, given the time fame. That's perfect weather for an outdoor championship game. Is it possible the weather would suck (rain/snow)? Sure but other games are played in similar circumstances and no one seems to mind.
When it's played in Indy, I would hope they have the windows open in "the Luke".
Yeah sure, we're all tough midwesterners who don't have indoor plumbing, central heating and air, and we LOVE to play outside when it's below zero. Right.
Let's maybe eschew the idea that we all pick food out of our beards to snack on while we're out in our snowshoes hunting moose and bear for food and clothing.
Put the game indoors where there are a lot of hotels, centrally located, where the Big Ten can showcase it's new event and market this thing for a week of CIVILIZED fun and we won't have to worry if there's gonna be 40 inches of snow to shovel off the Big Ten logo at the 50 yard line.
not a dome stadium. It has a retractable roof, so the game could be played outdoors if the Big Ten wanted. I am sure it would not have the same feel as Soldier Field, but I like the option to close the roof if the weather is to bad.
Then there would be ads at the big house
I saw last night that ESPN only had the Hoosier (RCA) Dome or Soldier Filed as choices for the next B1G championship game.
I live in the Chicago area and though I would love the game to be in Soldier Filed, I was disappointed to see that Ford Field was not a choice for covered stadiums.
Ford Field has a larger capacity than the Hoosier Dome (65,000 v. 58,000). A retractable roof!
There's plenty of hotels in the area and a larger airport hub than Indy.
I've been to both city's and their respective stadiums and I really don't get what all the attraction is to Indy.
you have not been to Indy in awhile. The RCA dome has been domilished and Lucas Oil Stadium fits 63,000 and can be expanded to fit 70,000. It's even big enough to hold a Super Bowl (this year if there is a season!).
I guess my whole Indy experience left such a big impression on me that I got confused with the name of the new venue.
I mean no disrespect to the city of Indianapolis, I merely tried to compare it to Detroit's Ford Field (which I believe its capacity is also expandable) and other host of amenities that Detroit has over Indy.
Thanks for the correction.
with what you are saying about Detroit and Ford Field. The Super Bowl there seemed like it was a pretty big success, so it seems a Conference Title game could be played there with no problem filling seats, getting hotels, etc. While I think Indiapolis is a great city for both the football and basketball tournaments, I don't see why Detroit and other cities should not have a chance.
Which is why I think a rotation between Indy, Detroit, Chicago, Green Bay, Cleveland, Pittsburgh would be ideal. The Tournament would be spread throughout the Big 10 footprint, and there would be a mix of indoor and outdoor games.
The Big 12 has rotated between Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and San Antonio the past 10 years.
But it sure seems like William Clay Ford, Sr. made an incredibly short-sighted decision in building a stadium without a retractable roof. As a destination venue for major events going forward, Ford Field has been completely displaced by Lucas Oil. Nobody should be surprised though ... WCF and short-sightedness tend to go hand-in-hand.
The Big Ten has one full NC that TSIO cheated to get with Maurice Clarett and one split NC by Michigan since 1970. The SEC has five in a row. I mention this to point out that it is paramount that the Big Ten start winning National Championships once in awhile. The NC game is not played in the cold; it is played at a warm-weather site.
The only reason for playing the game outdoors is to fulfill some frozen tundra fantasies about "how Big Ten football SHOULD be played." It is a crock of horse-pucky. You want the best Big Ten football team to get to a BCS bowl, not the team that survived the cold in a boring game. Allowing crappy weather to ruin a showcase game for the sake of a pseudo-macho perception of Big Ten football is counterproductive at best, and sheer idiocy in a worst-case scenario.
They need to play the game indoors.
I vote Chicago, but thats mostly so I could take a quick trip down LSD and watch us beat OSU in a rematch every year.
You need to be in an altered state to watch OSU?
LSD is NOT a quick trip
It would be awesome to see the game in Green Bay. That stadium gets so loud with such a moderate amount of people (compared to Big House). It's a very fun place to see a game.
As cool as it would be to have the champsionship game at Lambeau, does Green Bay work from a logistical standpoint? Where's the nearest airport? Do they have enough hotels?
This all sounds great until it actually happens. Some 8-4 team will win a turnover-filled slog through the snow over a 12-0 team, and the rest of the country will laugh at how ridiculously backward our league is.
But I've always been in favor of the BCS title games being in cold weather venues. The game of Football changes drastically in the cold and snow, as we in this region of the country well know.