Dear Chicago

This is the Craig's List ad that has kicked off another round of beating up on the Big Ten.

Here's text from the ad:

"Saturday night event in downtown Indianapolis needs seat-fillers. Total number of seat-fillers needed will vary based on crowd. Must tolerate loud noise and crowds. Must have red or dark green casual clothing to wear. Event will last all evening on Saturday night. All ages, sexes, races, etc. Please use contact e-mail. Event planner will follow-up with exact details on location for staging of seat-fillers (additional information and instruction provided there)."

The Big Ten quickly countered on its Twitter account.

"Fans, please be aware, regarding the Big Ten Football Championship Game, the Big Ten is NOT paying fans to attend. #B1GFCG"

Notice, the Big Ten isn't. Is it the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce or whatever they call it? [EDIT: Or is it, and this is most likely, a PO'd fan from another Big Ten school who lost some coin and was angry when his team didn't make it? In fact, I think this is it. Either way, read on to the Stubhub.com portion.]

If you get a call from Lucas Oil Stadium asking you when you can be there, the time you tell it is the time the game will start.

As of 11:47 this morning, there were 8,858 tickets to the Big Ten title game left on StubHub.com. Here's a link. The price range was $7.99 for a single on the terrace sideline to $19,413 for a suite (must've been an entire suite).

When Big Ten title game tickets went on sale in July, they sold out within two hours. Of course, the market then was the entire Big Ten. I've seen a few Huskers fans trying to unload tickets on Twitter.

In the race between Michigan State and Wisconsin, the Badgers are having trouble unloading the school's tickets on a fanbase that is probably saving money for what could possibly be a second straight very, very expensive trip to the Rose Bowl. Each school was giving 15,000 tickets.

If the Big Ten plays a Pac-12 school in the Rose Bowl, it's on the hook for 25,138 tickets. So, finances have to be weighing on Wisconsin, a state that has seen a lot of strife in the last year between government and unions. Not a pretty picture.

The Big Ten and Lucas Oil Stadium, which seats 63,000, have a five-year deal, by the way.

Chicago and Soldier Field, an outdoor venue, yes, might be looking better and better.