Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament Is Moving From Chicago To Indianapolis

The winner of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament will lift the trophy in Indianapolis instead of Chicago.

Sources told Indianapolis media on Thursday the tournament will now be held at Lucas Oil Stadium from March 10 to March 14.

The women's basketball tournament will also be held in Indy at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse from March 9 to March 13 as originally scheduled.

With Indianapolis preparing to host the entire March Madness men's tournament this year, it was widely rumored for months that the conference tournament would relocate.

“I think it does make sense if that were to happen," Indiana coach Archie Miller said in a press conference earlier this week.

"It protects the teams that are in the tournament with less travel. I think the city of Chicago is pretty difficult to navigate right now with the hotels, with social distancing protocols and eating. A lot of things that people aren’t thinking about when you go to a city for multiple days and be together. It just isn’t doable.”

Asides from cutting down on travel for teams headed to the Big Dance, moving the conference tournament will "allow the Big Ten to use a centralized testing location for both tournaments, pooling resources and streamlining procedures," according to the Indy Star.

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