Lucas Oil Stadium to Host Big Ten Championship Game

The Big Ten Conference championship game can’t be held anywhere else. And even Detroit is a bit of a stretch because of the condition of that city. Yeah Green Bay sounds like a nice idea if Wisconsin is involved in the Championship game. Heinz field is a great idea is Penn State is playing in the game. But what if the two teams playing are Iowa and Michigan? How many Iowa and Michigan fans are going to make the trek to Pittsburgh to see their teams. How many people in Pittsburgh are going to give two craps about seeing the Buckeyes and Wolverines play?

Face it, the game needs to be played in a centrally located place on the Big Ten map. The only three cities with large stadiums and large enough to host a large event are Indianapolis, Detroit and Chicago. And personally having been to all three cities, I would say Indy and Chicago are the only two real options.

I am all for rotating the game for the sole reason that I think it would be a lot of fun to visit different stadiums and cities.

Also, I just checked flights from NYC to Indy for what would be the weekend of the game this year if it was being held. $165!!! Now that definitely makes Indy a bit more appealing.

In all honesty, I think some of you are taking an unfairly dim view of Indianapolis. I lived there for five years, and while I’m not here to tout it as a city on par with Chicago, the old “India-no-place” joke simply isn’t apt any more, and hasn’t been for a while.

The problem is Indianapolis is an exceptionally spread out city. In some ways this is appealing, as you don’t feel overwhelemd and crowded in as you do in other places, but it’s a long way from downtown to other areas one might go to eat/drink/carouse. And public transportation there was lousy (thought perhaps in the ten years I’ve been gone that’s improved).

Again, I don’t propose that Indianapolis is going to offer all the excitement and cultural opportunities of many other cities — and, yes, much of the downtown suffers from a very anonymous, chain-laden feel (but, um, hey, poke around off the beaten path a bit).

But it’s an exceptionally well equipped city for major athletic events, for logistical reasons people have already touched on. This won’t be a summer vacation, but a late November/early December trek to watch a football game; it’s not like you’re going to be strolling along the river or spending an afternoon in an art museum if it’s in Chicago.

If your objection is the dome, I’ll join you. If your measuring stick for a city’s appeal is Chicago, then Indy will always fall short. To characterize it as a “larger Des Moines,” however, is lazy and misinformed.

… that after careful consideration, involving extensive on-site observation by Big Ten officials of multiple sites, the Big Ten will decide to sign a long-term deal to play the game in Indy. At the end of the day, there’s a new NFL dome there, it’s centrally located, and no one likely to be in the game has de facto home field advantage there.

Indianapolis is not New York or Chicago but you do not have to move here (which I would advise against). It is a lame town when you are stuck here all year BUT downtown has gone through huge changes in the last 10 years. Downtown has a decent variety of nightspots (including pubs, sports bars, martini lounges, and nightclubs) tons of great restaurants (both local and national chains) and downtown is safe for walking (even at night). The Midwest, in general, is a crummy place. Look at the old factory towns of Detroit and Cleveland as examples.

For all those people who have commented there is nothing to do, I have a couple ideas: you have not been to Indy for years, you were too cheap to stay downtown or you were too lazy to ask your hotel for suggestions.

Rock on Indy – Nice score. Let’s add this to the long list of events: Indianapolis 500 (world’s largest single day sporting event for 90+ years), Super Bowl 2012, NCAA Men’s Final Four 2010, NCAA Women’s Final Four 2011, Men’s/Women’s Big Ten Basketball 2011 (just to name a few). Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, or any other Midwestern city cannot even compare to this impressive collection of sporting events.