| Big Ten Football Championship Game | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Football |
| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| Current stadium | Lucas Oil Stadium (2011) |
| Current location | Indianapolis, Indiana (2011) |
| Last contest | 2011 |
| Current champion | Wisconsin |
| Most championships | Wisconsin: 1 |
| TV partner(s) | FOX Sports (2011–2016) |
| Official website | BigTen.org |
| Sponsors | |
| Dr. Pepper | |
The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game that will be held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The inaugural game was played on December 3, 2011. The games during the next two seasons will be held on December 1, 2012 and December 6, 2013.[1] The championship game will pit the division champions from the conference's Legends and Leaders divisions in a game held after the regular season has been completed.
The winner of this game will earn the Big Ten's automatic berth in the Rose Bowl Game, unless the team finishes in the top two of the final Bowl Championship Series standings. If this is the case, the team will compete in the BCS National Championship Game. The winner of this game will also receive the Stagg Championship Trophy (formerly the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy[2]), and the most valuable player of this game will receive the Grange-Griffin Championship Game Most Valuable Player Trophy.
On June 6, 2011, the conference announced that Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will host the title game beginning in 2011, going through 2015. The Wisconsin Badgers are the inaugural Big Ten Conference Champions, winning the first and only Big Ten Championship game in history.
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Prior to the 2011 college football season, the Big Ten Conference determined its champion through regular season play, and, as there were only 11 member schools, there was no possibility for a conference championship game because the NCAA requires (for holding a conference championship game) that the conference have 12 teams with two divisions.
In 2010, the Big Ten Conference added the University of Nebraska, bringing the membership total to 12 teams. Thus, the conference was able to meet NCAA requirements. On August 5, 2010 Big Ten Conference Commissioner James Delany announced Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis had been chosen as the possible site for the inaugural championship game. The league office began a 30-day period to negotiate a one-year agreement with Indiana Sports Corp and Lucas Oil Stadium to host the game. Delany also announced that once the 2011 agreement was in place, the conference office would conduct a thorough process over the next year to determine the location of the Big Ten Football Championship Game in 2012 and beyond.[3]
On November 17, 2010, the Big Ten Conference announced a media agreement with FOX Sports to serve as the official broadcast partner for the 2011-16 Big Ten Football Championship Games. A source at the time stated that the six-year agreement with FOX Sports would be worth between $20–$25 million per season, making it one of the most valuable conference championship games in college football.[4] In the league's press release, it was confirmed that the 2011 event will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The events will be played in prime time. Because FOX is a minority partner in the Big Ten Network, this may allow for the possibility of more involvement by the Big Ten Network in the event, including the use of Big Ten Network staff in the game coverage.[5]
Commissioner Delany also stated at that time that the Big Ten would strongly consider rotating the site of the game, mentioning other possible host cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.[6]
The Big Ten expanded to 11 schools by adding Penn State in 1990[7], but this did not yet meet the NCAA's requirements for holding a conference championship game (that the conference have 12 teams with two divisions). A few other times during that period, there were talks between the Big Ten and other schools (namely, Kansas, Missouri, and Rutgers[8], and later Notre Dame[9]) which might have led to the possibility of a conference with two divisions of at least six teams and a conference championship, but for various reasons, nothing came to fruition.
It wasn't until December 2009, when Commissioner Delany announced that the league would explore the possibility of adding one or more teams, that the wheels were set in motion that would lead to the Big Ten adding a school for the first time in 20 years. Less than a year later, on June 11, 2010, Nebraska applied for membership and was unanimously accepted by the conference's 11 member schools. Its membership became effective on July 1, 2011.[10]
After the addition of Nebraska to the conference, there was much debate over what would be the best division of the 12 schools. Some felt that it would be best to maintain geographical divisions. Others felt that geography should only be a factor insofar as there was competitive balance between the two divisions. Another very important factor for Big Ten schools was the maintenance of long-standing rivalries that the schools held with each other.
On September 1, 2010, Commissioner Delany revealed the two divisions.[11] They were provisionally called X and O.
Later, on December 13, 2010, Commissioner Delany announced that the two divisions would be called Legends and Leaders.[12] The scheduling arrangement for the schools was that they would face each of the other schools in their division, plus three crossover opponents, one of which would be permanent.
On August 4, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced that there would be a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2017, allowing schools to play four crossover opponents.[13]
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Legends Division |
Leaders Division |
| Year | Leaders Division | Legends Division | Season MVP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Wisconsin | Michigan State | Montee Ball |
| Year | Leaders Division | Legends Division | Site | Attendance | MVP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | #15 Wisconsin | 42 | #13 Michigan State | 39 | Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis | 64,152 | Russell Wilson |
On September 1, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced the divisional tiebreaker procedures that will be used to determine the representatives in the championship game.[14] Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. Teams that are ineligible to play in a postseason bowl game will not be allowed to participate in the Big Ten Football Championship Game. In the event that two teams are tied, the head-to-head results between those two teams determines the tiebreaker.
If only two teams remain after any of the following steps, the tiebreaker will revert to the two-team tiebreaker above.
If one or both of the division champions are ineligible to play in the championship game, the following procedure will be followed:
If the championship game cannot be played for reasons beyond the control of the Big Ten Conference, the two division champions (using the previously stated divisional tie-breakers) will be declared co-champions and the following procedure will determine the Big Ten Conference representative to the Bowl Championship Series:
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