PARK RIDGE, Ill. (Sports Network) - The Big Ten Conference announced Thursday that Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has been chosen as the proposed site for the inaugural football championship game in 2011.
The conference office will begin a 30-day window to negotiate a one-year
agreement with Indiana Sports Corp and the stadium to host the title game.
"We are excited to work with Indiana Sports Corp and Lucas Oil Stadium to
finalize an agreement to hold the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game
in the city of Indianapolis," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said. "We felt
at this time it was important to identify a site for the first championship
game and then spend more time with other cities and venues with respect to
both our basketball tournaments and the football championship in the future."
The Big Ten was among the many conferences that recently helped change the
landscape of collegiate athletics, adding perennial power Nebraska to the fold
back in June, the first new member since Penn State joined 20 years ago. The
move comes into effect on July 1, 2011.
The 115th season of Big Ten football kicks off on Thursday, September 2 as
Indiana hosts Towson, Minnesota plays at Middle Tennessee State and Ohio State
hosts Marshall.