Big Ten's Jim Delany: Weather was a factor in picking Indy for football

IOWA CITY - The Big Ten will anchor its football championship in Indianapolis and split its men's basketball tournament between Chicago and Indianapolis through the next half-decade.

Indianapolis outbid Chicago to claim the Big Ten football championship from 2012 through 2015. The Big Ten's inaugural football championship game in 2011 already was set for Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium on December 3 pitting champions from the Legends and Leaders divisions.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said Sunday weather played a factor in selecting Indianapolis as the primary football site. Lucas Oil Stadium has a retractable roof, while Chicago has an outdoor venue in Soldier Field.

"You have to make decisions about are you going to settle into one place and build? Do you want to start alternating?" Delany asked. "I think what we felt what we needed to do was since it's our first effort in the championship game is to get off to a stable start, build a  great foundation and try to launch from there."

Fox Sports will air all of the football championship games in primetime. The league's media agreements prevent outdoor football games in November, but Delany said an outdoor championship game would have been played in primetime. Fox Sports, which owns 49 percent of the league's Big Ten Network (BTN), served an advisory role in the discussions and preferred an indoor site, Delany said. Indianapolis also can provide a more fan-friendly environment around the Lucas Oil Stadium, he added.

"I don't think that we have made an unequivocal statement forever about outdoor football," Delany said, "Because, as you know, all 12 institutions will be playing outdoor football the preceding week. But we also felt like, in order to establish ourselves, build a foundation it was a good idea to be indoors for a period of time, see what we have and go from there."

Delany said the league discussed several options for football and basketball, including rotations. The league's presidents, which voted unanimously to select the sites, preferred a four-year contract to allow football and basketball sites to sync bidding years.

As for basketball, the Chicago area will host the men's and women's basketball tournaments in 2013 and 2015, while Indianapolis will host the tournaments in 2014 and 2016. Indianapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse also will host the men's and women's basketball tournaments in 2012.

Chicago's United Center will host the men's basketball tournament, while suburb Hoffman Estates will hold the women's basketball tournaments at Sears Centre Arena.

Chicago and Indianapolis each has held the men's basketball tournament seven times. In the tournament's 14-year history, Chicago's average attendance of 20,196 per session is 4,380 fans more than Indianapolis' per session average.

"I wouldn't argue that attendance would be the No. 1 thing that we're looking at," Delany said. "But I think the other things that we're also looking at are the ease for our fans. I would tell you that Indianapolis's Conseco shows not as big of a stadium as the United Center but it is one of the best stadiums in the country. The sight lines are a little bit smaller and I'd also say that the proximity issues between restaurants and hotels and venue are very attractive."