The booking window a planner is sourcing
The Big Ten Conference dates the 2026 Fan Fest to Friday 4 December and Saturday 5 December at the Indiana Convention Center, with more than 200,000 square feet given to interactive games, entertainment, Big Ten merchandise, giveaways, food and beverages. The venue's own 2026 event page gives 5 and 6 December for the same festival at a 70,000 forecast. Two publishers, two date ranges for one event.
The title game is the fixed point. The conference dates it to Saturday 5 December at Lucas Oil Stadium, sets the kickoff at 8:00 p.m. ET and puts the broadcast on FOX.
What the group occupies
The 200,000 square feet the conference assigns to the festival is the floor a planner works to. The venue publishes the forecast and the dates, and publishes no hall assignment for the Fan Fest. The set comes from the floor plan.
The rooms the weekend draws on
The venue's footer block gives 7,100 hotel rooms in downtown Indianapolis. It gives 4,700 of those as connected to the Center by skywalk. The 70,000 forecast equals 9.86 attendees per downtown room.
Visit Indy publishes the connected package property by property. Its roster names twelve properties and 5,200 rooms connected, Signia included. JW Marriott Indianapolis carries 1,005 rooms and 104,482 square feet of meeting space. Signia Hilton Indianapolis carries 803 rooms and 235,000 square feet with a 50,000-square-foot ballroom. Indy Marriott carries 650 rooms and 42,000 square feet. The Westin Indianapolis carries 575 rooms and 42,500 square feet. Hyatt Regency Indianapolis carries 499 rooms and 35,000 square feet. Embassy Suites Indianapolis Downtown carries 360 rooms and 24,200 square feet. Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Union Station carries 273 rooms and 52,107 square feet. Conrad Indianapolis carries 247 rooms and 15,000 square feet. Courtyard, SpringHill Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites carry 621 rooms combined. Le Meridien Indianapolis carries 100 rooms and 2,668 square feet.
Signia reservations open for stays from February 2027, and Visit Indy targets a December 2026 opening for the convention centre expansion. A planner sourcing the first weekend of December holds both dates from the same publisher.
Feeding and moving the group
The venue's footer block gives 200 downtown restaurants within walking distance. Visit Indy runs a group dining directory and a private dining list beside its meetings RFP route.
The conference's own parking line gives more than 73,000 downtown parking spaces. That count equals 1.04 spaces per attendee at the 70,000 forecast.
What the planner can book, and what is unpublished
Visit Indy runs the group route through a meeting RFP form and an RFP upload, with a supplier directory beside it. The conference's Fan Fest release publishes no group sales contact and no room block.
The 2025 edition carried Fan Fest hours of 3 to 9 p.m. on the Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the Saturday, with admission complimentary with a game ticket. The 2026 hours and admission terms are unpublished.
The calendar around the weekend
The Performance Racing Industry Show runs at the Center from 10 to 12 December at a 67,500 forecast, five days after the title weekend.
A planner sourcing this weekend works from a 70,000 forecast, a two-day festival two publishers date two ways, and a district that publishes its room, dining and parking counts.