INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Indianapolis leaders want to keep the Big Ten football championship game, and they’re making an unprecedented move to boost their case.
The Indiana Sports Corp confirmed to News 8 Wednesday morning it will bid to host the 2025-2028 Big Ten football championship games at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Big Ten has set a deadline of Friday, Sept. 15 for cities to bid to host those games.
Indianapolis has hosted every Big Ten football championship game since its inception in 2011.
“The Big Ten fanbase – and even the athletes – have come to know that Indy is the ultimate goal that first weekend in December, every year,” said Sarah Myer, Chief Marketing Officer for Indiana Sports Corp.
With the conference expansion to include west coast teams, other cities including Las Vegas have publicly confirmed plans to bid on the championship events.
“With this particular bid, we feel we need to do things differently. We need to advocate for ourselves and tell everyone why we think the Big Ten needs to stay here,” Myer said.
News 8 Sports Director Anthony Calhoun called Indianapolis the perfect host city for the Big Ten.
“Nobody hosts big sporting events like our great city, and the Big Ten Football Championship has become the fabric of why the first weekend in December is so special to the Hoosier State,” Calhoun said. “It would be a disappointment to see it depart from a place that many of the Big Ten Schools call their second home.”
The ISC is asking key corporate supporters as well as fans to post selfies and videos to social media with the hashtag #B1GInIndy starting Wednesday morning.
The Big Ten Football Championship brings an estimated economic impact of $22 million to $25 million to Indianapolis each year.
Indianapolis is set to host the Big Ten football championships in 2023 and 2024.
In 2023, the conference moved the women’s basketball tournament to Minneapolis.
The women’s tournament had been held in Indianapolis since 2015.
