July 7, 2008

The Big Ten Conference announced today that ABC and ESPN host and play-by-play commentator Brent Musburger will emcee the 37th Annual Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon. The largest and most exciting preseason celebration of college football in the country will take place Friday, July 25, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Festivities are set to begin at 10 a.m. CT with the annual players and coaches autograph and photo session for fans attending the luncheon. The luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. CT.

One of the most recognized and prominent voices in sports television, Musburger joined ABC in May of 1990 after spending 15 years with CBS Sports. With ABC and ESPN, Musburger has hosted or called play-by-play for the NBA, college football and basketball, golf, IRL races and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also hosted Super Bowl XXV's pre-game and halftime shows as well as the 1991 Pan-Am Games from Cuba. In 2007, Musburger began hosting Nextel Cup races in addition to select Busch Series events. He has called Saturday Night College Football on ABC, broadcast television's first weekly college football primetime series, since its debut in 2006.

Along with Musburger, each of the 11 Big Ten head football coaches and more than 30 of the conference's top returning players will be featured at the Kickoff Luncheon. The complete list of players will be announced later this week.

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 in the last 37 years - Archie Griffin, Desmond Howard, Eddie George, Charles Woodson, Ron Dayne and the conference's most recent winner, Troy Smith. In all, almost 700 of the conference's finest players, more than 50 head coaches and nearly 40,000 supporters have made the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon a yearly stop in their preseason college football schedules.