The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The game, held after the regular season has been completed, currently matches the top two teams in the conference standings. It is typically held the first Saturday of December, although in 2020 it was played on the third Saturday of December due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana has been the site of the championship game since its inception in 2011 and is scheduled to host through 2028. Since 2017, the game's official title has been the Big Ten College Football Championship Game Presented by Discover Card following a sponsorship deal with Discover Financial.
The winner of this game is the Big Ten Champion. The winning team also receives the Stagg Championship Trophy, while the most valuable player of the game receives the Grange–Griffin Championship Game Most Valuable Player Trophy. Through the 2024 game, Wisconsin and Ohio State have the most appearances in the game with six, while Ohio State has the most wins with five.
History
Prior to the 2011 college football season, the Big Ten Conference determined its conference representative through regular season play, and, as there were only 11 member schools, there was no possibility for a conference championship game because, at the time, the NCAA required that a conference have 12 teams with two divisions in order to hold a conference championship game.
In 2010, the Big Ten Conference added the University of Nebraska, bringing the membership total to 12 teams. Thus, the conference was able to meet NCAA requirements. On August 5, 2010, Big Ten Conference Commissioner James Delany announced that Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana had been chosen as the possible site for the inaugural championship game. The league office began a 30-day period to negotiate a one-year agreement with Indiana Sports Corp and Lucas Oil Stadium to host the game. Delany also announced that once the 2011 agreement was in place, the conference office would conduct a thorough process over the next year to determine the location of the Big Ten Football Championship Game in 2012 and beyond.
On November 17, 2010, the Big Ten Conference announced a media agreement with Fox Sports to serve as the official broadcast partner for the 2011–2016 Big Ten Football Championship Games. A source at the time stated that the six-year agreement with Fox Sports would be worth between $20–$25 million per season, making it one of the most valuable conference championship games in college football. In the league's press release, it was confirmed that the 2011 event would take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in prime time. Because Fox is a majority partner in the Big Ten Network, this may allow for the possibility of more involvement by the Big Ten Network in the event, including the use of Big Ten Network staff in the game coverage. Commissioner Delany also stated at that time that the Big Ten would strongly consider rotating the site of the game, mentioning other possible host cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Green Bay, and Cleveland.
On June 5, 2014, the Big Ten Conference announced via press release that the Big Ten Football Championship game would continue to be held at Lucas Oil Stadium through the 2024 season.
Conference expansion
The Big Ten expanded to 11 schools by adding Penn State in 1990, but this did not yet meet the NCAA's requirements for holding a conference championship game (that the conference have 12 teams with two divisions). A few other times during that period, there were talks between the Big Ten and other schools (namely, Kansas, Missouri, and Rutgers, and later Notre Dame) which might have led to the possibility of a conference with two divisions of at least six teams and a conference championship, but for various reasons, nothing came to fruition.
It was not until December 2009, when Commissioner Delany announced that the league would explore the possibility of adding one or more institutions, that the wheels were set in motion that would lead to the Big Ten adding a school for the first time in 20 years. Less than a year later, on June 11, 2010, Nebraska applied for membership and was unanimously accepted by the conference's 11 member schools. Its membership became effective on July 1, 2011.
In November 2012, the Big Ten announced that Maryland and Rutgers would join the conference in 2014, which brought conference membership up to 14 schools.
The Big Ten expanded further in 2024, first announcing in 2022 that UCLA and USC would join in 2024 and then announcing the next year that Oregon and Washington would join alongside UCLA and USC.
Team selection
Through the 2023 edition, the participating teams in the game were the first place teams from each of the conference's two divisions. Starting in 2024, the game featured the top two teams in the conference standings.
After the addition of Nebraska to the conference, there was much debate over what would be the best division of the 12 schools. Some felt that it would be best to maintain geographical divisions. Others felt that geography should only be a factor insofar as there was competitive balance between the two divisions. Another very important factor for Big Ten schools was the maintenance of long-standing rivalries that the schools held with each other.
On September 1, 2010, Commissioner Delany revealed how the teams would be placed into the two divisions. On December 13, Commissioner Delany announced that the two divisions would be called Legends and Leaders. The scheduling arrangement for the schools was that they would face each of the other schools in their division, plus three crossover opponents, one of which would be permanent. The permanent crossover opponent would be used to ensure that long standing historical rivalries would continue.
On August 4, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced that there would be a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2017, allowing schools to play four crossover opponents. However, the Big Ten and Pac-12 later announced a multi-sport scheduling agreement that provides for each member school to play one non-conference football game per year against an opponent from the other conference, and with this announcement, the Big Ten backed away from the nine-game conference schedule proposal.
Following the 2014 entry of Maryland and Rutgers, the "Leaders" and "Legends" divisions were set aside and replaced by geographic divisions, with the schools in the Central Time Zone plus Purdue forming the new West Division, and the remaining members forming the East Division. In addition, the conference adopted a nine-game schedule beginning in 2016.
In December 2020, the Big Ten Conference waived the six-game minimum requirement for a team to participate in the championship game; Ohio State, which had a 5–0 record after playing a limited schedule impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, would otherwise have been ineligible to participate. The Big Ten stated, "The decision was based on a competitive analysis which determined that Ohio State would have advanced to the Big Ten Football Championship Game based on its undefeated record and head-to-head victory over Indiana regardless of a win or loss against Michigan."
With the conference expanding to 18 teams in 2024 with the arrival of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, the divisions were eliminated effective at that time.
Results
Legends DivisionLeaders Division Site Attendance Network Viewers(millions) TV ratingMVP 2011 Michigan State 39 Wisconsin 42Lucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, IN 64,152Fox 7.8 4.6QB Russell Wilson, Wisconsin 2012 Nebraska 31 Wisconsin 70 41,260 4.9 3.0RB Montee Ball, Wisconsin 2013 Michigan State 34 Ohio State 24 66,002 13.9 7.9QB Connor Cook, Michigan StateEast DivisionWest Division Site Attendance Network Viewers(millions) TV ratingMVP 2014 Ohio State 59 Wisconsin 0Lucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, IN60,229Fox 6.1 3.5QB Cardale Jones, Ohio State 2015 Michigan State 16 Iowa 13 68,228 9.8 5.7QB Connor Cook, Michigan State 2016 Penn State 38 Wisconsin 31 65,018 9.2 5.2QB Trace McSorley, Penn State 2017 Ohio State 27 Wisconsin 21 65,886 12.9 7.3RB J. K. Dobbins, Ohio State 2018 Ohio State 45 Northwestern 24 66,375 8.7 5.0QB Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State 2019 Ohio State 34 Wisconsin 21 66,649 13.6 3.6QB Justin Fields, Ohio State 2020 Ohio State 22 Northwestern 10 3,178 8.0 4.7RB Trey Sermon, Ohio State 2021 Michigan 42 Iowa 3 67,183 11.7 6.2DE Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan 2022 Michigan 43 Purdue 22 67,107 10.7 5.5RB Donovan Edwards, Michigan 2023 Michigan 26 Iowa 0 67,842 10.0 5.1DB Mike Sainristil, MichiganNo. 1 seedNo. 2 seed Site Attendance Network Viewers(millions) TV ratingMVP 2024 Oregon 45 Penn State 37Lucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, IN 67,469CBS 10.5 5.2WR, Tez Johnson, Oregon 2025 Ohio State 10 Indiana 1368,214Fox18.38.6QB, Fernando Mendoza, Indiana
Results by team AppearancesTeamWinsLossesYear(s) wonYear(s) lost 7 Ohio State 5 2 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 2013, 2025 6 Wisconsin 2 4 2011, 2012 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 3 Michigan 3 0 2021, 2022, 2023 3 Michigan State 2 1 2013, 2015 2011 3 Iowa 0 3 2015, 2021, 2023 2 Penn State 1 1 2016 2024 2 Northwestern 0 2 2018, 2020 1 Oregon 1 0 2024 1 Indiana 1 0 2025 1 Nebraska 0 1 2012 1 Purdue 0 1 2022 0 Illinois 0 0 0 Maryland 0 0 0 Minnesota 0 0 0 Rutgers 0 0 0 UCLA 0 0 0 USC 0 0 0 Washington 0 0
Rematches The Big Ten Football Championship game has featured a rematch of a regular-season game a total of three times (2011, 2012, 2019). The team which won the regular-season game is 1–2 in the rematches, losing in 2011 and 2012 but winning in 2019.
No results by team Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, and Washington have yet to make an appearance in a Big Ten Football Championship Game.
Common matchups Matchups that have occurred more than once: 3Ohio State vs. WisconsinOhio State, 3–02014, 2017, 20192Ohio State vs. NorthwesternOhio State, 2–02018, 20202Michigan vs. IowaMichigan, 2–02021, 2023
Media coverage
Television Year Network Play-by-play Color commentator(s) Sideline reporter(s) 2011 Fox Gus Johnson Charles Davis Tim Brewster and Dhani Jones 2012 Julie Alexandria 2013 Erin Andrews and Kristina Pink 2014 Molly McGrath 2015 Joel Klatt 2016 Shannon Spake 2017 Jenny Taft 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Allison Williams 2023 Jenny Taft 2024 CBSBrad NesslerGary DanielsonJenny Dell2025FoxGus JohnsonJoel KlattJenny Taft and Tom Rinaldi
Radio Year Network Play-by-play Color commentator(s) 2013 Compass Media Networks Gregg Daniels Dale Hellestrae 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Chad Brown 2025
Game records