Ad Disclosure
Tony Petitti releases statement on end of Big Ten Championship Game with CFP expansion
Published:
Tony Petitti digested the massive change in the entire future of college football that took hold on Monday afternoon and responded in kind to how the move from a 12-team College Football Playoff to a 24-teatm format would affect the Big Ten.
Specifically, the Big Ten Conference commissioner made a statement about the Playoff expansion putting an end to a brief but endearing tradition that took hold with the start of the Big Ten Championship Game.
That tradition will be gone as of next season, when the move to a 24-team Playoff goes into effect. Conference championship games are going by the wayside in 2027 with more time needed on the calendar in December for those extra Playoff games, and that means there will be no more room for any more editions of the Big Ten Championship Game after this season’s battle.
The 16th edition of the Big Ten title game will be the final one, and it’ll take place on Dec. 5 in primetime, with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff on FOX from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
With Playoff expansion clogging the calendar in the month of December, the Big Ten formally announced on Monday the end of the annual Big Ten title game, and Petitti put out a statement on the sudden end to the Big Ten’s budding early December tradition.
Here is Petitti’s full statement:
As we look ahead to a new College Football Playoff format, the Big Ten Conference is deeply grateful to the City of Indianapolis, the Indiana Sports Corp, Lucas Oil Stadium and the hundreds of thousands of fans who helped make the Big Ten Football Championship Game a marquee event each season since its inception in 2011. We look forward to our final Discover Big Ten Football Championship Game on Dec. 5 and maintaining our strong relationship with Indianapolis as we host future Big Ten championships across our sports portfolio in the city.
With no more Big Ten title games to come starting in 2027, the Big Ten and its member schools are already finalizing plans that will help work out how future Big Ten champions are determined.