The 16th title game lands on 5 December
The Big Ten Conference set the 16th annual Big Ten Football Championship Game for Saturday, December 5, 2026 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Kickoff is 8 p.m. ET on FOX. The winner earns the Amos Alonzo Stagg Championship Trophy and a chance to play in the College Football Playoff.
The conference release places the Big Ten Fan Fest presented by Dr Pepper at the Indiana Convention Center on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5. More than 200,000 square feet go to interactive games, entertainment, Big Ten merchandise, giveaways, food and beverages. The venue event page forecasts 70,000 attendees.
The venue publishes a second date window
The Center's event page reads December 5-6, 2026 in its title line, its description fields and its event date spans. Its body copy dates the festival 5-6 December and places it directly ahead of the Discover Big Ten Football Championship Game at adjacent Lucas Oil Stadium.
The conference release reads Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5. The venue's live calendar posts the festival as 2026-12-05 to 2026-12-06.
200,000 square feet against 566,600
The Center's one-page overview gives 566,600 square feet of contiguous exhibit space across 11 halls. Halls run from 36,300 to 88,900 square feet. The same sheet gives 71 meeting rooms, 49 loading docks and three ballrooms. The ballrooms total 62,173 square feet.
The festival's 200,000 square feet is 35.3 percent of the contiguous total.
7,100 rooms downtown, 4,700 on the skywalks
The Center's site footer gives 7,100 hotel rooms in downtown Indianapolis and 4,700 rooms connected by skywalk. Its hotels page puts more than half of the 7,100 rooms within blocks of the Center and the stadium.
Visit Indy's connected-hotels page gives 12 hotels and 5,200 rooms once the Signia expansion lands. The per-property list: JW Marriott Indianapolis 1,005 rooms, Signia Hilton Indianapolis 803, Indy Marriott 650, The Westin Indianapolis 575, Hyatt Regency Indianapolis 499, Embassy Suites Indianapolis Downtown 360, Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Union Station 273, Conrad Indianapolis 247, a combined 621 across the Courtyard, SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites, and Le Méridien Indianapolis 100.
Those ten entries total 5,133 rooms against the page's 5,200 headline.
The supply item on the calendar
The Center's expansion page gives the Signia by Hilton Indianapolis 803 rooms, a skybridge connection, 90,000 square feet of meeting space, a 50,455-square-foot Grand Ballroom, a 15,668-square-foot Junior Ballroom and 70 suites from 450 to 1,900 square feet. It targets December 2026.
The Center's news item dated April 21, 2026 gives the same building 800 rooms and states that reservations are open for stays beginning February 1, 2027. Two counts and two dates sit on one publisher's site.
A second booking on the Saturday
The Center's published calendar carries the 38th Combat Aviation Brigade Ball on December 5 alongside the festival. The Economic Club of Indiana Luncheon sits on December 2. The Performance Racing Industry Show runs December 10-12. The IU School of Nursing Graduation follows on December 16.
The published gameday terms
Visit Indy's championship page still carries the 2025 edition. It dates the 2025 game Saturday, December 6 and pairs Ohio State with Indiana. It opens the South Lot at 8 a.m. and requires a parking pass. It opens the main gates at 6 p.m. Its Fan Fest hours run Friday 3-9 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Its admission terms gave free entry with a game ticket, with Fan Fest passes sold at Ticketmaster.
The conference's 2026 ticket terms admit children aged 24 months and younger without a ticket, on an adult's lap and in no seat of their own. All other individuals need a ticket for entry.
The stadium enforces a clear bag policy. Clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bags max out at 12 by 6 by 12 inches. Non-clear bags max out at 4.5 by 6.5 inches and travel with one clear bag. Medical items pass inspection at the Northwest and Southeast corners.
Neither the venue nor the conference publishes 2026 festival hours or admission terms for the current edition.