I-70 Football Podcast: The B1G finally has a commissioner

Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s I-70 Podcast. On this show, we talk about all things Big Ten football and basketball. After every week of action, we will catch you up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players you should be paying attention to next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.

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It’s finally here! The Big Ten has officially announced its new commissioner. After arguably the quietest search of all time, the conference announced the hiring of its seventh commissioner Tony Petitti.

The Big Ten was searching for a new commissioner after Kevin Warren accepted the job as President of the Chicago Bears. Warren leaves an interesting legacy, Warren was not always well-liked as commissioner largely due to his cancellation of the football season during the Covid pandemic but he moved the conference forward. Under Warren, the Big Ten added USC and UCLA and signed a seven-year, $7 million deal with CBS, Fox, and NBC.

Despite the mixed feelings surrounding Warren’s tenure, Petitti will have some large shoes to fill, stepping into college football at a time full of change. In this episode, Dante and Jordan discuss Petitti’s extensive resume and what this hire means for the Big Ten.

In the official press release discussing Petitti’s accomplishment the conference wrote:

“A 14-time National Sports Emmy Award winner, Petitti has held senior executive roles at CBS Sports and ABC Sports overseeing rights acquisition deals for a variety of sports leagues and collegiate and professional sports events, including the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, regular season men’s basketball, college football, NFL, PGA Tour, the Masters, U.S. Open Tennis Championships, and the Little League World Series, as well as leading in the creation of the Bowl Championship Series to determine college football’s national champion”.

Petitti, despite not officially working as an administrator in college football, has an extensive track record with college football. He was described as a creative administrator who is a home run hire for the Big Ten.

With the media deal complete, the Big Ten must iron out the details between the three media companies, integrate USC and UCLA into the conference, and help affect change as college football moves towards a 12-team playoff. Petitti will be tasked with managing this and finding a way to make the Big Ten stand out as college football moves towards a more professional model.

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Jordan: @JordanW330

Dante: @DanteM10216