Oct. 28, 2009

The Big Ten Network will once again provide coverage of all three Big Ten fall championships, including live broadcasts during the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament and Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament and delayed coverage of the Big Ten Cross Country Championships.

The Big Ten Network will be in East Lansing for the semifinals and final of the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament. The games will air live at 12 PM and 2 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 6, as will the final on Sunday, Nov. 8, at Noon ET. Four Big Ten teams appear in national polls, including No. 8 Michigan State, which just clinched its first outright Big Ten Championship, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 18 Indiana and No. 20 Northwestern. Iowa has won the last three Big Ten Field Hockey Tournaments despite not holding the top seed in any of those events.

The Big Ten Network also will televise live the semifinals and finals of the Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament, hosted by Indiana University. Semifinal coverage will air live at 2 PM and 4:30 PM ET on Friday, Nov. 13. The final will be carried live at 2 PM ET on Sunday, Nov. 15. Northwestern currently leads all Big Ten teams at No. 12 nationally, while Michigan State will be out to defend its 2008 title.

In addition, the network will offer delayed coverage at 1 PM ET on Sunday, Nov. 15, of the Big Ten Cross Country Championships, which take place on Sunday, Nov. 1, and will be hosted by Penn State University. The Big Ten has two men's teams ranked in the top 20, No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 18 Indiana. On the women's side, five Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 25, paced by No. 13 Illinois. The Badgers will be looking for their 11th straight conference title on the men's side, while the Golden Gophers will be aiming for their third straight conference crown on the women's side.

Entering this week's action, the Big Ten has multiple teams ranked among the top 20 nationally in fall sports, including in men's cross country (No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 18 Indiana), women's cross country (No. 13 Illinois, No. 15 Minnesota, No. 18 Penn State), field hockey (No. 8 Michigan State, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 18 Indiana and No. 20 Northwestern), football (No. 4 Iowa, No. 12 Penn State and No. 17 Ohio State), men's soccer (No. 12 Northwestern), women's soccer (No. 15 Ohio State) and volleyball (No. 1 Penn State, No. 6 Illinois, No. 7 Minnesota and No. 13 Michigan).

Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament
Friday, Nov. 6   at Michigan State   12:00pm ET    Semifinal #1 (LIVE)
Friday, Nov. 6   at Michigan State   2:00pm ET    Semifinal #2 (LIVE)
Sunday, Nov. 8    at Michigan State   12:00pm ET   Championship Game (LIVE)

Big Ten Men's Soccer Championship
Friday, Nov. 13    at Indiana    2:00pm ET    Semifinal #1 (LIVE)
Friday, Nov. 13    at Indiana    4:30pm ET    Semifinal #2 (LIVE)
Sunday, Nov. 15    at Indiana    2:00pm ET    Championship Game (LIVE)

Big Ten Cross Country Championship
Sunday, Nov. 1    at Penn State    10:45am ET    Championship (Delay: 11/15, 1 PM ET)

About the Big Ten Conference:
The Big Ten Conference is an association of 11 world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes' lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. Big Ten universities provide in excess of $100 million in athletic scholarship aid to more than 8,500 men and women student-athletes who compete for 25 championships, 12 for men and 13 for women. Conference institutions sponsor broad-based athletic programs with more than 270 teams. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.

About the Big Ten Network:
The Big Ten Network is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With approximately 350 live events, and nearly all of them in HD, the network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. The network operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, showcasing a wide array of classic-to-current sports and televising more Olympic sporting events and women's sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation's finest universities. Each year, the network offers between 35 and 40 football games, 105 regular season men's basketball games; 55 women's basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; Big Ten Tonight, a nightly studio show; coaches' shows; and classic games. Available to all cable and satellite providers nationwide and in Canada, the network currently has agreements with more than 300 affiliates, including AT&T U-Verse, Atlantic Broadband, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox (Cleveland, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Omaha), DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Rogers Cable (Canada), Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct (Canada), Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. For updated information on the Big Ten Network, go to www.BigTenNetwork.com.