The Big Ten tournament is in Indianapolis this weekend, a departure from the conference’s unofficial capital of Chicago.
The city is more than happy to welcome the thousands of tourist dollars, as well as advance Indianapolis’ reputation as a prime spot for big-time sporting events and conventions.
For the last four years, the tournament has been played at Chicago’s United Center, just a few miles from the Big Ten headquarters in Park Ridge, Ill. Initially, the event was to rotate among the eight states containing Big Ten schools, but Indianapolis — which will play host again next year — is the tournament’s first stop outside Illinois.
At the intersection of seven major highways, they call it the “Crossroads of America,” and Indianapolis is doing its best to present well to the conference and visitors.
City groups have many plans, including temporarily renaming downtown streets for each of the school mascots. Commuters accustomed to driving down Final Four St., located between the RCA Dome and the NCAA Hall of Champions, need not worry, however — the Big Ten street names will be centered around Conseco Fieldhouse on the other side of the Indiana Convention Center.
The arena, home to the NBA’s Pacers, is several thousand seats smaller than the United Center, which drew over 110,000 fans to Chicago last year. Though attendance was low during the women’s tournament that ended Monday, the city’s restaurants, bars and vendors expect a large turnout this weekend.
“To me, it’s like a mini-Final Four,” a spokesman for Indiana Sports Corporation (which helps host the tournaments) told the Indianapolis Star. “You don’t have the huge number of people, but certainly you’ve got that festive kind of atmosphere.”
Badger fans may remember Indianapolis as the destination of Wisconsin’s improbable Final Four run two years ago, but the architecturally planned “Circle City” has a rich tradition of NCAA tournaments and professional athletic events. Along with the Indianapolis 500, American auto racing’s premier event, the city has been home to numerous Olympic trials and college championships thanks to the efforts of the ISC, which has overseen the attraction and administration of such events since 1979.
The organization’s website credits the 1987 Pan-American Games for really putting Indianapolis on the sporting map.
But basketball has always been Indiana’s first love. Certainly, the droves of fans enjoying the weekend’s festivities at Bob’s Tiki Bar or on Monument Circle will understand the myriad banners and signs decorating Indianapolis’ storefronts and overpasses that read, “Big Ten . . . Big Times.”
