College football season is right around the corner and the Principal Financial Group is kicking off a new partnership with the Big Ten Conference. The Principal announces it is an official partner of the Big Ten Conference through the 2014 season.

“Partnering with a premier collegiate conference is an exciting opportunity for The Principal to connect with one of the largest, most passionate and loyal fan bases in the country,” said Mary O’Keefe, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, The Principal.

As part of the new partnership, negotiated by rEvolution, The Principal’s collegiate sports marketing agency of record since 2009, The Principal will have a presence at both the Big Ten Championships in football and basketball, as well as select Olympic sports at the collegiate level. In addition, its digital footprint will expand through the Big Ten Digital Network of sites and a new Big Ten-themed microsite on Principal.com.

Beginning today and throughout the 2012 Big Ten football season, fans can register to win a trip for two to the Big Ten Football Championship. The grand prize winner will receive two tickets to the championship game, a round trip flight, hotel stay for two nights and an exclusive Big Ten gift bag. The Big Ten Football Championship takes place in Indianapolis, Ind. at Lucas Stadium on December 1, 2012.

Complete details on Principal Financial Group and the Big Ten Conference partnership . For more news and insights from The Principal, connect with us on Twitter.

About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group (The Principal)[1] is a global investment management leader including retirement services, insurance solutions and asset management. The Principal offers businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance through its diverse family of financial services companies. Founded in 1879 and a member of the FORTUNE 500, the Principal Financial Group has $367.1 billion in assets under management[2] and serves some 18.2 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

About the Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is an association of 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. The broad-based athletic programs of the 12 Big Ten institutions sponsor 298 teams competing for championships in 25 official conference sports, 12 for men and 13 for women. Big Ten universities provide in excess of $136 million in athletic scholarship aid to nearly 10,000 men and women student-athletes, the most of any conference. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.