Why Tony Petitti is the perfect fit for Big Ten commissioner from those who know him best

The Big Ten does not know what it is entering. That’s mainly the conclusion that is been drawn from those who know Tony Petitti best. That’s additionally a just right factor.

If previous is prologue, the veteran TV govt named Big Ten commissioner Wednesday is about to spring concepts on faculty athletics that the trade hasn’t regarded as but.

“Don’t be surprised if Tony comes up with new events, new approaches, new schedules, just as he did when he joined me in 1997,” stated CBS Sports president Sean McManus. “He’s going to dive into this. Nobody will ever outwork him or have more of a commitment.”

Pettiti’s profession arc spans 3 many years as an TV govt at CBS, ABC and Major League Baseball. Don’t recall to mind him as the newest nontraditional commissioner rent. Given the place faculty athletics is headed, it can be time to retire that perception. Petitti is the fourth consecutive Power Five commissioner employed with out prior faculty administrative enjoy. Get used to it. Conferences are striking their cash the place stability sheets are.

“Obviously, [the Big Ten’s] biggest investment is television, and he knows it better than any of the other commissioners,” stated former Big Eight/Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas, who labored with Petitti 30 years in the past as head of the College Football Association. “Look at his background.”

As an ABC govt, Petitti helped release the BCS, together with the first nationwide championship sport in the historical past of primary faculty soccer. At CBS, he used to be integral in the community reacquiring the NFL in 1998.

Petitti helped release the MLB Network as commissioner Rob Manfred’s COO, developing the Field of Dreams Game alongside the means. He’s additionally an underdog — and now not simply in relation to the Big Ten seek. His identify wasn’t one among those that emerged to start with when the process got here open in January.

“Tony is the proud son of a New York city policeman who ended up going to Harvard Law School,” McManus added. “He has an uncanny level of first-rate education. Also, some amazing street smarts. A lot of it he learned from his dad.”

In many ways, get in a position for radical trade. While to start with blush the Big Ten’s greatest problems are settled — the addition of USC and UCLA, plus its new TV deal — faculty athletics will glance to Petitti and his new convention for concepts, innovation and management. 

“I do think the college sports people make a little too much of the athletic director [background for commissioners],” stated Patrick Crakes, a media advisor and previous Fox Sports senior vice chairman. “As somebody who managed relationships at Fox … I can tell you college campuses can have a provincial kind of view.”

That provincial view has led presidents to every so often now not seeing past the wooden paneling of their workplaces. Former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren used to be a self-described disruptor. For all the complaint Warren persevered in getting the new media rights deal carried out, the Big Ten hasn’t ever been richer. It outdistances even the SEC in earnings as what subsequent 12 months might be the first Power Five coast-to-coast convention. 

Now, it is Petitti’s flip to run the Big Ten. He does not robotically turn into the maximum robust guy in faculty sports activities however indisputably one thing with reference to it. He now occupies a chair as soon as occupied via Jim Delany.

What follows is an overview of the rent from those who know extrapolating that wisdom to probabilities for the Big Ten.

McManus: “I spent probably 12 hours a day with him, every day, trying to figure out how to bring the NFL back to CBS and how to really make CBS Sports the best in terms of production and rights acquisition. He became, and still is, my best friend in many ways. … I think the Big Ten will really flourish under his leadership. He will be creative. He will be totally inclusive and collaborative with everyone from presidents to chancellors to coaches. That’s the kind of person he is. He builds consensus.”

Crakes: “[Expansion is] over. Calm the hell down. It’s coming, but it’s a couple of years down the line. A lot of this has to do with managing what you have and getting ready for a couple of years in the future. It’s time to digest some of this stuff and operate properly. I think he’s got the experience and strategic vision for the future. This is about, right now, an operations execution story. After he’s been running this for a while and he gets it under his belt, he’ll be able to figure out strategy for the next phase, which is a couple of years away.”

Tim Brando, Fox broadcaster and previous CBS Sports studio host: “I do assume this [hiring] is the wave of the long term, and I believe it must be. As Beano Cook used to mention, ‘The something everybody has in not unusual is the insatiable want for more cash.’ Tony can stand pat with that and sit down and wait and make allowance the playing cards to fall alternatively they’ll fall in the Pac-12.

“Tony’s hiring, in my estimation, is a home run. No, we don’t have a [college football] commissioner, yet. But here’s what I’d hope to see: I would like to see that happen within the construct of Division I where we get rid of Power [Five] and Group [of Five] and we have [a commissioner]. … Let’s rotate it. Let’s have one voice be the spokesperson.”

Brando, persisted: “In Tony’s case, so much is taken care of [in the Big Ten], what does he have to do? He’s got plenty to do when you think about schedule changes. He’s got plenty to do with the NIL situation. College football is in dire need of unification in almost every imaginable way. I used to talk all the time about how college football needs a czar. I don’t think we’ll actually have that, but I do think with a guy like Petitti alongside a guy like [SEC commissioner Greg] Sankey, who have to be considered the two most powerful guys in the room … [it’s possible]. … This is where a guy with a Harvard law degree can really be beneficial. If the next step of revenue beyond the NIL is a piece of the TV pie when we have a new TV contract, you need that kind of expertise as well.”

Chris Bevilacqua, sports activities media advisor and previous head of CSTV, which become CBS Sports Network: “He’s got a lot of operating experience. He really knows marketing. He’ll be fixated on stuff like that, I’m sure. … They need people in the whole industry thinking a little bit differently than has been the last 20-30 years. It’s now time to rearchitect how all this works.”

Mike Aresco, AAC commissioner: “Even though the Big Ten deal is done, there is a lot to sort out when you do a deal like that. Three major [TV] partners. You gotta keep them all happy. Scheduling issues. Tony will have significant challenges in that area. Big Ten Network, too. He has oversight as commissioner. It’s a media driven world, as you know. I think it’s a really outstanding hire for them. …He’s unpretentious. He’s direct. He’ll have a vision. He’s personable.”