The Big Ten hasn't even officially announced it definitely will create a football championship game, but with the league expanding to 12 teams for the 2011 season, it's easy to see why a title game is a near lock.
View full sizeCity officials would love for Cleveland Browns Stadium to host a Big Ten Championship Game.David Gilbert, president of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, can see it.
"We don't go after an event if we don't believe it belongs in Cleveland," Gilbert said this week.
The Big Ten hasn't even officially announced that it definitely will create a football championship game, so the conference certainly hasn't taken formal bids from any potential sites for the game. (Commissioner Jim Delany should update the process at the Big Ten meetings on Aug. 2-3.) But with Nebraska accepted as a new conference member and the league expanding to 12 teams for the 2011 season, it's easy to see why a title game is a near lock and why at least five stadiums have expressed an interest in hosting the game.
The SEC Championship, a reasonable comparison in another football hotbed, made more than $14 million in profit for that conference last season, while the city of Atlanta, which has hosted the game at the Georgia Dome since 1994, reportedly generates $30 million in business from the game.
"It should be a lot like having a bowl game," Gilbert said of the Big Ten Championship. "If it's moved to a city that is in big-time Big Ten country, that game should be a sellout."
The logical leaders to host that sellout are Indianapolis, a convenient and fan-friendly site with a history of hosting major events from the Super Bowl to the Final Four to the Big Ten basketball tournaments; and Chicago, the home of Big Ten headquarters and the most entertaining metropolis in the Big Ten footprint.
"There have been some discussions with the Big Ten to let them know we would really be interested in this," said John Dedman, the director of communications for the Indiana Sports Corporation. "With the basketball tournaments, we have ongoing discussions with them as we plan for them, but by no means are we very far down the road."
Other cities, Cleveland included, also have expressed initial interest to the conference. But Indy vs. Chicago is part of a bigger debate that supersedes location, and gets to the heart of Big Ten football more than the selection of any one city. Should the game be played indoors or outdoors?
Another indoor contender would be Ford Field in Detroit, while Cleveland would join Chicago and the intriguing wild card, Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., as the best outdoor options available. With no future dome planned for Browns Stadium, Gilbert, not surprisingly, comes down on the side of Mother Nature.
"Our feeling is Big Ten football is outdoor football, and weather is part of it," Gilbert said. "That's part of what makes Big Ten football great."
For fans who think warm-weather teams have an edge on the Big Ten in bowl games played indoors or in southern cities, choosing to play in a climate-controlled facility might be a missed opportunity. If the 2014 Super Bowl can go to New York, certainly the Big Ten can handle a little wind chill for its big game in Ohio, Illinois or Wisconsin.
The other decision hinges on whether the Big Ten is looking for a permanent home, as the SEC has found in Atlanta, or whether it would prefer to rotate between cities, as the Big 12 did by going to St. Louis, San Antonio, Kansas City, Mo., the Dallas area and Houston over the past 14 years.
Gilbert believes the Midwest has more options than the SEC, where he sees Atlanta as the center of major sporting events in that area. Big Ten country has several good options. Gilbert is intent on proving Cleveland is one of them.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dlesmerises@plaind.com, 216-999-4479