SCHUBERT : Big 12 Championship Game location should vary

Mack Brownd has openly stated that he feels it would be best for the Big 12 Conference to have its championship game in a permanent location, preferably in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini had a pretty good answer to Brown's proposal.

"Mack would say that because he's from Texas," Pelini said. "I'm not for that. (It still needs to be held) somewhere up in the north – somewhere where it's closer for our fans to get to the game. I mean, I'm sure this stadium is a nice venue, but it's not the only stadium ever built either."

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe seems to think differently. The issue of making Dallas the permanent site for the Big 12 Championship Game arose before the 2009 season started at the conference media days.

The commissioner praised the stadium in which he spoke by saying that the conference's board of directors would want to vote on it, but "they haven't seen this."

"It's going to be the best facility, in my understanding, in the world," Beebe said of the new Cowboys Stadium. "To be in that facility is tremendous. It's a very exciting opportunity for us."

To put it lightly, Beebe's on board for eliminating any northern host sites for future conference title games. Brown said he's aware that his support of this idea looks biased considering he's the coach of Texas, but he said there are many more factors affecting the decision.

"People will think that the Texas coach wanting it in Dallas is self-serving," Brown said. "But I think an indoor arena at this time of year – to make sure that the weather isn't a factor – (the) change is something I would be 100 percent for."

I'm sure five other coaches are in agreement with the UT coach as well.

It's understandable that people want to play in better conditions than the north offers this time of year, but last time I checked, the sport they are playing is still football.

Unless it's a complete blizzard, I don't think cold air is going to change how your team plays so much to where you lose a game because of it.

The south has been able to overcome the unbearable odds of a chilly day quite often. Since the Big 12's inception in 1996, the north has won a whopping one game at a north host site. The other six have gone to the south division champs.

As far as playing the game at a south host site, the north has fared a little better going 3-3. If anybody should be lobbying to play in the south it should be the north division, but that would just be ludicrous.

If Dallas does become a permanent site for the Big 12, the conference would join the Southeastern Conference and Mid-American Conference as the only conferences that have a permanent site for their championship game.

Currently, the Big 12 is similar to the Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference USA, which alternate where the championship game is played every year, and it needs to stay that way.

In Conference USA, the championship game is at or near one of the team's home fields, which shouldn't, and won't, happen in the Big 12. The ACC, however, is nearly identical to the Big 12 in the fact that it alternates its location.

The only difference is they alternate every two years. After playing the first five ACC championship games in Florida, the conference will be moving it to North Carolina for 2010 and 2011.

Doing so accommodates all the teams in the conference and, more importantly, all the fan bases. Nebraska defensive tackle Jared Crick said playing in a controlled climate would be nice, but it would be hard to go away from the alternating style considering fans.

"I guess as far as fan support, you'd almost have to alternate," Crick said. "Most schools from the south like Oklahoma and Texas will travel because they are great programs, and we will travel because we're a great program. But for other programs, a permanent location might be more difficult to handle."

Fellow teammate Ndamukong Suh said since it's his last year it won't really bother him, but he did agree that it is a tough decision to make. Beebe and the rest of the Big 12 officials have a lot to think about as Texas and Nebraska get ready to clash in the new Cowboys Stadium Saturday night.

Right now it seems like a complete toss-up to where the 2010 Big 12 Championship will take place. If it is in Dallas permanently, I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before Texas and Oklahoma start lobbying to paint the stadium in burnt orange or maroon.

spencer schubert is a senior broadcasting and news-editorial major. reach him at spencerschubert@dailynebraskan.com.