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Tony Petitti hints at future B1G Championships hosted outside the Midwest
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Tony Petitti is presiding over an iconic era as commissioner of the Big Ten with the league entering its first season with 18 programs. The geographic landscape of the conference takes on an entirely new look this year, and that raises the question of how the league will handle future championship events.
Since its inception back in 2011, the B1G Championship Game in football has been played every year at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Under the 14-team format, that host site has been geographically positioned almost in the dead center of the B1G’s landscape.
On the basketball side of things, the men’s tournament has been hosted throughout the Midwest with stops in Indianapolis, Chicago and Minneapolis. The league has made trips more to the East Coast with Washington, D.C. hosting in 2017 and Madison Square Garden in New York City hosting in 2018.
With 4 teams squarely on the West Coast now involved, Petitti was asked about the potential for league championships outside of the traditional footprint. The commissioner acknowledged that the football championship will remain in Indianapolis for 4 years but also predicted the formula for future host sites will evolve.
“Given the footprint of the conference, the cities that are interested in hosting B1G Championships has really expanded. We feel very comfortable about the decision to stay here for the next 4 seasons, I think that’s the right thing to do. Having said that, I think you’re going to see us start to expand,” Petitti predicted. “I think it’s really important to make sure that markets around the country have a chance to experience Big Ten Championships.”
Competitive issues, particularly for the NCAA Tournament in basketball, will be considered, but Petitti said fans can “fully expect” the B1G’s footprint of hosting championships to change and grow.
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Some of the first markets likely to be considered would undoubtedly be sites in California or Las Vegas. Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas hosted the Pac-12 Championship in football from 2021-23 and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara hosted that event from 2014-19.
For now, fans can remain comfortable with the confines of Lucas Oil Stadium, but it will be interesting to see where that game winds up in future seasons.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.