INDIANAPOLIS — Every Big Ten football championship has been played at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis since 2011.
The league’s final championship game will be Dec. 5.
The Big Ten announced it would drop the championship game after the College Football Playoff announced Monday that it would expand. The tournament will include 24 teams beginning with the 2027-28 season.
Officials at Indiana Sports Corp, which co-hosts and helps organize the event, said the game generates about $25 million annually.
Despite the loss, organizers remain hopeful about future opportunities.
“Obviously having the Big Ten football championship every year in December was a moment on our calendar, something everyone looked forward to every year,” President Patrick Talty of Indiana Sports Corp, said. “So obviously it’s a loss; it’s a hole. But it gives us the opportunity to look and see what else is out there.”
Talty pointed to a pipeline of future events, including Monster Jam in February and July, and the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in March at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Indiana Sports Corp was not part of the decision to eliminate the Big Ten Football Championship Game, but Talty and other leaders said they support the change.
Some downtown business operators said the announcement is a major loss.
Tony Cusic, a downtown bartender for more than a decade, works at Tupelo Honey, a Southern kitchen and bar a few blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium. He said losing the game will have an impact.
“I don’t think anybody is excited about it,” Cusic said. “This was something we look forward to yearly. We plan events around the Big Ten championship game, the Big Ten events.”
Cusic said businesses will lose thousands of dollars because the Big Ten event is a staple and irreplaceable.
Some visitors shared that view. Jared Prim and his friend were visiting from Chicago. “It means a lot to this city,” Prim said. “I don’t think the city deserves it. I don’t think it’s fair, but business is business. We’ve seen with the College Football Playoff, they’re going to do what they want. The Big Ten, these conferences, it’s complicated.”
The Big Ten Conference said in a statement that it is finalizing plans for determining the Big Ten football champion in future seasons.
Indiana Sports Corp said it is working to make the final Big Ten Football Championship game memorable.
