| Media notes |
| » The Penn State-Indiana game last Saturday at Fed Ex Field drew a crowd of nearly 79,000. There were 12 players on Penn State from the Maryland area. |
| » Indiana picked up a check for $3 million for selling their home game to FedEx Field. Had the game been played on campus in Bloomington, it likely would have drawn fewer than 50,000 fans. So Indiana, for playing one game off campus, got paid more money than it would have received for playing in any non-BCS bowl game with the exception of the Chick-fil-A Bowl ($5.8 million), the Outback Bowl ($3.1 million) and the Capital One Bowl ($4.2 million). |
The first Big Ten Championship football game will take place about a year from now on Dec. 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Fox inked a deal with the Big Ten last week giving the network the broadcast rights until 2016.
Ratings for the Big Ten Championship game are likely to be bigger than both the SEC and Big 12 title games. There is no other conference with a larger alumni base than the Big Ten.
I spoke to Fox Sports president Eric Shanks and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany about the deal and some other key college sports related topics.
Shanks on the deal to air the game » This is about the big event, and being the home for the first ever Big Ten Championship game is a huge event. We feel that there is no doubt that from day one the Big Ten Championship game will rival the SEC and Big 12 as the premier conference title game.
Delany on the deal » Fox will make a great partner and they are known for carrying the biggest sporting events in the country and are a leader in the acquisition, creative production and cutting-edge promotion of national events.
Shanks on losing the BCS to ESPN » It is not something we wanted to do. We enjoyed being the home of the BCS. However, as you have seen with the recent CBS/Turner Sports deal for the NCAA basketball tournament, it is almost impossible for broadcast television to compete with cable for the rights to major events. We are pleased we have the Big Ten Championship game. We will treat it with every bit of respect we would an NFL championship game.
Delany on moving the game to other cities » We will start things off in Indianapolis but I can see Detroit, Chicago and other cities in the Big Ten. As for other cities outside the conference, that may happen down the line but no time soon. Our short term goal is to keep things within the conference.
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
