Big Ten Football Championship Game

For the Big Ten men's basketball championship, see Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

Big Ten Football Championship Game
Sport	Football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Current stadium	Lucas Oil Stadium (2011)
Current location	Indianapolis, Indiana (2011)
TV partner(s)	FOX Sports (2011–2016)
Official website	BigTen.org

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 will be held on December 3, 2011. The games during the next two seasons will be held on December 7, 2012 and December 6, 2013. 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-Paterno Championship Trophy, 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 also host the title game in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

History

See also: 2010–11 NCAA conference realignment: Big Ten

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. In 2010, the Big Ten Conference added the University of Nebraska, bringing the membership total to 12 teams. Thus, with the creation of two six-team divisions, the conference was able to create a football championship game. It was announced by the Big Ten Conference Commissioner James Delany on August 5, 2010 that the Big Ten Conference had chosen Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as the proposed site for the inaugural Big Ten Football 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.

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. 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. The Big Ten Football Championship Game will be FOX's first non-Cotton Bowl Classic game covered since the 2010 Orange Bowl, as FOX lost the rights to the Bowl Championship Series to ESPN starting in 2010.

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.

Conference expansion

The Big Ten expanded to 11 schools by adding Penn State in 1990, 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, and later Notre Dame) 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.

Team selection

Big Ten conference divisions, starting in the 2011-2012 season.

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. 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. 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.

Divisions

Legends Division

• Iowa Hawkeyes
• Michigan Wolverines
• Michigan State Spartans
• Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Nebraska Cornhuskers
• Northwestern Wildcats

Leaders Division

• Illinois Fighting Illini
• Indiana Hoosiers
• Ohio State Buckeyes
• Penn State Nittany Lions
• Purdue Boilermakers
• Wisconsin Badgers

==Selection criteria==.

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.

Three or more-team procedure

If only two teams remain after any of the following steps, the tiebreaker will revert to the two-team tiebreaker above.

1. The records of the three tied teams will be compared against each other.
2. The records of the three tied teams will be compared within their division.
3. The records of the three tied teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5, and 6).
4. The records of the three tied teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
5. The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series following the completion of the Big Ten regular season conference play will be the representative in the Big Ten Football Championship Game, unless the two highest ranked tied teams are within one place of another. Should this happen, the head-to-head results of the top two tied teams will determine the representative in the Big Ten Championship Game.
6. The team with the best overall winning percentage (excluding exempted games) will be the representative.
7. The representative will be chosen by random draw.

If one or both of the division champions are ineligible to play in the championship game, the following procedure will be followed:

1. If the ineligible team is tied with an eligible team, the eligible team will be the championship game representative.
2. If two or more teams are tied with an ineligible team, then the ineligible team is removed and the remaining teams revert to the tie-break procedure.
3. The division runner-up shall be the championship game representative.
4. If there is a division runner-up tie, then the tied teams will revert to the tie-break procedure.

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:

1. Teams ranked either first or second in the final Bowl Championship Series standings will be placed in the BCS National Championship Game.
2. If the two division champions met previously in the regular season and neither is ranked first or second in the final BCS standings, the team ranked highest in the final BCS standings will be the representative to the BCS, unless the other team is ranked within five or fewer places of the higher ranked team. In this case, the head-to-head results of the two teams will determine the Big Ten's BCS representative.
3. If the two division champions did not meet previously in the regular season, the team ranked highest in the final BCS standings will be the BCS representative.
4. If the two teams are tied in the final BCS standings, the team with the best overall Big Ten record shall be the BCS representative.
5. If the two teams remain tied after (4), the team with the best combined record of the tied teams against all common Big Ten opponents each team played that season shall be the BCS representative.
6. If the two teams remain tied after (5), the BCS representative will be the team with the best overall winning percentage.
7. If the two teams remain tied after (6), the BCS representative will be the team furthest removed from BCS participation.
8. If the two teams remain tied after (7), the BCS representative will be determined by a random draw.

See also

• List of Big Ten Conference football champions