Packers offer Lambeau Field as site for Big Ten title game

[HarveyWallbangers]

That would be pretty sweet.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/98575229.html

Packers offer Lambeau Field as site for Big Ten title game

The Green Bay Packers are interested in hosting a potential Big Ten conference championship game at Lambeau Field.

Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said the team has made preliminary contact with Big Ten officials to request information on hosting a new conference championship game, which will become possible after Nebraska leaves the Big 12 for the Big Ten in 2011.

Murphy indicated the team's interest in hosting the Big Ten title game in an interview with ESPN.com Thursday.

Facing a recent dip in locally generated revenue, the Packers are looking for more ways to increase business.

[Lurker64]

Well, where else would you put it? You want to have the title game in Big Ten country but you want to have it on a neutral field so that nobody gets an outrageous home field advantage. Lambeau Field is the second biggest stadium in a Big Ten state that's not affiliated with a Big Ten college (Cleveland Stadium, where the Browns play is bigger by about 300 seats). But Green Bay is smack dab in the middle of Big Ten Country: east of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Illinois; west of Purdue, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State; and Cleveland is on the far eastern edge of the Big Ten (east of everything except Penn State).

If you want a big stadium that's conveniently located for virtually all of the Big Ten fans, Lambeau is pretty much your best choice. Cleveland is an 850 mile drive from Lincoln, NE, while Green Bay is within 500 miles of all but three Big Ten Schools.

Plus, considering the aura of Lambeau Field and the quality of the stadium amenities, I couldn't think of a better place to hold it.

[Gunakor]

Well, where else would you put it? You want to have the title game in Big Ten country but you want to have it on a neutral field so that nobody gets an outrageous home field advantage.

If Bucky is playing in that game, I'd imagine Wisconsin would have a pretty outrageous home field advantage anyhow. It would be as if they were playing at Camp Randall. It would be like Michigan and OSU playing for the B10 title at Ford Field. It's not in Ann Arbor, but Michigan still has home field advantage.

To get a truly neutral field, you'd have to go to a state that doesn't have a B10 school and whose fans have no specific loyalty to a particular B10 school.

[Lurker64]

Well, where else would you put it? You want to have the title game in Big Ten country but you want to have it on a neutral field so that nobody gets an outrageous home field advantage.

If Bucky is playing in that game, I'd imagine Wisconsin would have a pretty outrageous home field advantage anyhow. It would be as if they were playing at Camp Randall. It would be like Michigan and OSU playing for the B10 title at Ford Field. It's not in Ann Arbor, but Michigan still has home field advantage.

To get a truly neutral field, you'd have to go to a state that doesn't have a B10 school and whose fans have no specific loyalty to a particular B10 school.

I'm not sure that you really need to get out of the state to get a neutral field. They play the Big 12 Championship game in Jerry Jones's Football Cathedral in Dallas, they play the SEC championship game in the Georgia Dome, they play the ACC Championship game in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

All of those are stadiums in a state with at least one team in that conference in that state and there's no real controversy about lack of neutrality.

The important things to have neutrality for the championship game is that an equal number of tickets are available to each team's fans, and that neither team gets to stay at home or play on the field that they normally play on. That it's closer to one school or another seems less important than choosing a good stadium in a place that's not too inconvenient for any one team's fans.

[Gunakor]

If they could make the tickets evenly distributed it would work. But I have a hard time imagining a scenario where Wisconsin is playing for a B10 Championship @ Lambeau Field and the stands aren't filled with Badger fans.

[mraynrand]

The pro football stadium site makes a lot of sense. So if you want to avoid homefield advantage in a championship game, you either have it in Soldier Field or whatever the hell they call the place where the Colts play. NU, IL, IN, and PU are unlikely to be there anyway.

[Lurker64]

The pro football stadium site makes a lot of sense. So if you want to avoid homefield advantage in a championship game, you either have it in Soldier Field or whatever the hell they call the place where the Colts play. NU, IL, IN, and PU are unlikely to be there anyway.

Well, the problem is that Soldier Field and Lucas Oil Stadium are a whole lot smaller than Lambeau (61,500, vs. 63,000 vs. 72,928). I don't think that the Big Ten, considering the number of truly enormous stadiums they have, would really want to give up 10,000 seats in the championship game so that Bucky doesn't have a slight advantage in case they make it to the championship game. Remember that there's a lot of Big Ten schools that travel really well. If the Big Ten Championship were, say, Iowa vs. Wisconsin I wouldn't be at all surprised if the number of Hawkeyes in the stands was about the same as the number of Badgers in the stands.

[mngolf19]

Well, where else would you put it? You want to have the title game in Big Ten country but you want to have it on a neutral field so that nobody gets an outrageous home field advantage. Lambeau Field is the second biggest stadium in a Big Ten state that's not affiliated with a Big Ten college (Cleveland Stadium, where the Browns play is bigger by about 300 seats). But Green Bay is smack dab in the middle of Big Ten Country: east of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Illinois; west of Purdue, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State; and Cleveland is on the far eastern edge of the Big Ten (east of everything except Penn State).

If you want a big stadium that's conveniently located for virtually all of the Big Ten fans, Lambeau is pretty much your best choice. Cleveland is an 850 mile drive from Lincoln, NE, while Green Bay is within 500 miles of all but three Big Ten Schools.

Plus, considering the aura of Lambeau Field and the quality of the stadium amenities, I couldn't think of a better place to hold it.

They'll accept less seats for better tv and weather. Lucas Oil Stadium. I think that, Ford Field and possibly Soldier are the most likely.

[Zool]

They'll accept less seats for better tv and weather. Lucas Oil Stadium. I think that, Ford Field and possibly Soldier are the most likely.

Maybe they would do a year to year rotation of the pro stadiums in the north. Could just hold it at the new Gophers stadium. They're not getting to the championship game anyways.

[Lurker64]

They'll accept less seats for better tv and weather. Lucas Oil Stadium. I think that, Ford Field and possibly Soldier are the most likely.

The Big Ten Championship game has to be outside. National media be damned, the Big Ten Title game should be for fans of Big Ten Football. Every single Big Ten team plays all of their home games outdoors, in the weather. As an alumnus of a Big Ten institution (not Wisconsin), I would be incensed if the Big Ten title game were played indoors. Lucas Oil and Ford Field shouldn't be considered at all.

Sure, Soldier Field may be an option since Chicago is a much bigger city than Green Bay. But remember that a college football game is not the super bowl, it doesn't have a week long media event around it. It's first and foremost about football and the area around Green Bay has both a collegiate atmosphere and can support a full stadium worth of folks. Not only that, but since the championship game will be played in the first week of December, it's much more likely that you'll get weather that will negatively affect the game in Chicago than you will in Green Bay. In Green Bay on December 5th, it'll be a little cold and it might even snow a bit. But in Chicago, you've got about a 50/50 slot at getting some crazy wind off the lake. But regardless, we shouldn't care about the weather. This is Big Ten football, and unless there's lightning, they should play in it. Plus, remember, that most of the money is in TV and bad weather football games get great ratings.

In the interest of the Big Ten Fans, I would very much hope that the conference would not go with Soldier Field, since that's 13,000 fewer tickets than there would be in Green Bay or Cleveland, and I would probably want to attend this game some years. Cleveland would be acceptable (but it's a pit of a city), but I would prefer Green Bay.

[DonHutson]

It's like the Super Bowl, the money made from tickets is a drop in the bucket. However, if putting a game in Lambeau stirs up extra attention and some higher tv ratings, they'll do it. I wouldn't be surprised if they put the first one in Green Bay, then move it around.

I'm sure they'll also want to use this as an opportunity to drum up excitement in all the big midwestern cities. Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Indy, maybe Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh might all get a shot on a rotating basis.

[mngolf19]

It's like the Super Bowl, the money made from tickets is a drop in the bucket. However, if putting a game in Lambeau stirs up extra attention and some higher tv ratings, they'll do it. I wouldn't be surprised if they put the first one in Green Bay, then move it around.

I'm sure they'll also want to use this as an opportunity to drum up excitement in all the big midwestern cities. Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Indy, maybe Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh might all get a shot on a rotating basis.

I'd like a rotating site but I'll use the basketball tourney as an example. I think they only have it at Indy now.

[sharpe1027]

They'll accept less seats for better tv and weather. Lucas Oil Stadium. I think that, Ford Field and possibly Soldier are the most likely.

Better TV would be the deciding factor, IMHO. That's were most of the money comes from. Maybe if one of the options was Florida or Hawaii, then you might see more favoritism for weather.

My question is, does the TV audience really change that much based on location? It seems to me that the most important thing is what teams are playing and what they are playing for. I don't think I have ever decided to watch a game on television just because I heard that it was going to be played near me.

[The Leaper]

I think the location is more about the events and activities that can take place around the tournament. Lambeau is a great stadium. Green Bay as a city has basically nothing to offer beyond that...at least compared to a city like Chicago or Indianapolis. Professional football fans may be interested in the Packer HOF and stuff like that. Not sure college football fans will be as interested in that.

Soldier Field actually makes the most sense to me...Chicago is a great metropolis with tons to do, it is very centrally located among the Big Ten universities, and it is an outdoor venue.

[retailguy]

I think the location is more about the events and activities that can take place around the tournament. Lambeau is a great stadium. Green Bay as a city has basically nothing to offer beyond that...at least compared to a city like Chicago or Indianapolis. Professional football fans may be interested in the Packer HOF and stuff like that. Not sure college football fans will be as interested in that.

Soldier Field actually makes the most sense to me...Chicago is a great metropolis with tons to do, it is very centrally located among the Big Ten universities, and it is an outdoor venue.

You G-D traitor!

How dare you point out the obvious?

You cannot get good cheese curds in Chicago. You cannot stay at the Rodeway inn in Chicago. There is no Brett Favre Steakhouse in Chicago. You have dozens of Applebee's just waiting for big dinner reservations in Green Bay. You can't find an Applebee's in downtown Chicago. Hell, you can even still get a Gilbert Burger in Green Bay. You can't get that in Chicago big fella!

You can tour Nick Barnett's closed nightclub in Green Bay. You can attend the Farmers Market in Green Bay. You can shop at Fleet Farm in Green Bay. You can get a great Friday night Fish Fry in Green Bay! Just try to do that in Chicago. All you can get is some crummy pizza!