Big Ten Network and ESPNEWS to Air Coverage of 2009 Big Ten Football Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon - BIG TEN CONFERENCE Official Athletic Site

Big Ten Network and ESPNEWS to Air Coverage of 2009 Big Ten Football Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon

	Penn State's Joe Paterno will be one of 11 coaches featured live on the Big Ten Network and ESPNEWS on Monday, July 27.

July 21, 2009

The Big Ten Conference announced today that the Big Ten Network and ESPNEWS will air live coverage of the 2009 Big Ten Football Media Days on Monday, July 27. The Big Ten Network will also record the 38th Kickoff Luncheon on Tuesday, July 28, and will air a Kickoff Luncheon special at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday, Aug. 1. The media days and luncheon will take place at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The Big Ten Network will provide four hours of live coverage on Monday, including the full press conferences for all 11 head coaches and Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. The network’s coverage begins at 10 a.m. CT with studio hosts Mike Hall and Chris Martin. Monday’s live coverage will extend to www.BigTenNetwork.com, where video of the press conference for every coach and Delany will be posted as the day unfolds. Also, the website will feature live chats, photo galleries, blog updates, frequent video reports and interviews as well as Twitter and Facebook updates.

For the fourth consecutive year, the opening session of the Big Ten Football Media Days will appear on an ESPN Network. Coverage by ESPNEWS will begin on Monday at 10 a.m. CT, and will feature all 11 head coaches either live or tape-delayed as they address the assembled media. In addition, Big Ten coaches and players may be interviewed on ESPN’s “College Football Live” by Erik Kuselias from 2:30-3 p.m. CT or on ESPNEWS by Kevin Connors, from 1-4 p.m. CT, or Dari Nowkhah and Linda Cohn, from 4-7 p.m. CT.

The Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon is annually the largest and most exciting celebration of college football in the country. The 2009 Kickoff Luncheon will take place Tuesday, July 28, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago with the annual players and coaches autograph and photo session set to begin at 10 a.m. CT, followed by the luncheon at 11:30 a.m. CT. The Big Ten Network’s Dave Revsine will serve as the event’s master of ceremonies.

The Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon annually draws some of the most interesting and talented names in college sports. The list of former Kickoff Luncheon attendees includes coaching legends like Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes, along with each of the Big Ten's Heisman Trophy winners since 1970 - Archie Griffin, Desmond Howard, Eddie George, Charles Woodson, Ron Dayne and Troy Smith. In all, over 700 of the conference's finest players, more than 50 head coaches and nearly 42,000 supporters have made the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon a yearly stop in their preseason college football schedules.

This year's Kickoff Luncheon is officially sold out with more than 1,700 college football fans scheduled to attend.