As the Big Ten and college football landscape continues to under major changes, the Big Ten has found the person to lead it into this Brave New World.
It appears as though that person is going to be longtime sports executive Tony Petitti, who is reportedly going to be hired on the heels of the ACC signing Jim Phillips to a three-year extension, per Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Petitti, who has been an executive in MLB and with CBS Sports, will inherit a conference that is poised to add UCLA and USC in 2024. It's a pivotal time as the college football landscape continues to rearrange, and the Big Ten tries to increase its footprint in the CFB world.
Previous Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, of course, left for the Chicago Bears in 2023, creating the need to find a new Big Ten honcho.
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Who is Tony Petitti?
Tony Petitti has spent time in numerous executive positions, and he was actually reportedly on the shortlist when Jim Delaney retired in 2019.
Petitti has an extensive past in television networks and league management. He was the Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball once Rob Manfred vacated that role to become commissioner, and he was the president and CEO of MLB Network.
Prior to that, Petitti was the executive vice president for CBS Sports, the senior vice president of negotiations for NBC Sports, and the vice president of programming for ABC Sports.
Petitti's TV background is something the Big Ten will undoubtedly look to tap into, as the conference continues to try to grow the Big Ten Network and gets into its new TV deal.
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What challenges will Big Ten commissioner face?
The biggest thing looming for Petitti is the pending joining of USC and UCLA in 2024.
Those two schools be a huge boon for the Big Ten, but their onboarding is going to be a challenge. They're by far the most geographically distanced schools the conference has ever had to welcome, and that in itself is a big challenge. However, talk of expansion will continue to dominate the college sports conversation, and the question for Petitti will now be does the Big Ten try to expand further? Or does it stand pat?
Petitti is also joining a college sports landscape that is fraught with talk of NIL and the transfer portal. His philosophy on such things, while ultimately irrelevant in the grand scheme of things as it comes down to the schools, will be interesting to see unfold.
Petitti also enters a conference that is in the second year of a seven-year, $7 billion media rights agreement. That deal is with Fox, CBS, and NBC.
