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Tony Petitti confirms Big Ten has had 'no discussions' about further expansion

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby:Kaiden Smith•10/03/24•

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Nick King (Lansing State Journal) / USA TODAY NETWORK

The new era of the Big Ten Conference is just a few months underway following the league’s West Coast expansion that began this summer. Officially adding USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington to the conference in a monumental move that pushed the limits of geographical borders.

But that has not stopped conversations from sparking about who will join the Big Ten next and if the conference will continue to expand moving forward. Which Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti addressed on Thursday during Big Ten Basketball Media Days in Illinois.

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“I mean right now I can tell you there’s no discussions about it at all,” Petitti said. “I think we feel really good about where we are.”

Football and basketball are the biggest revenue generating collegiate sports that have undoubtedly dictated not just the Big Ten’s latest conference realignment moves, but those of other leagues across the country. But despite those sports being the headliners, Petitti shared that the league will focus its attention on advancements with other sports and current Big Ten programs versus adding new ones to the fold.

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“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get it right because, as you know, it’s not just getting it right for football, and men’s basketball, and women’s basketball. It’s everything else that we do in the crossing of 28 championships that we’re staging,” Petitti explained. “So we need to make sure we’re getting that right, so I think that’s where the focus has been.”

Conference realignment and the expanded 12-team College Playoff has already generated plenty of excitement surrounding the sport of football. With Big Ten teams participating in two of the three most watched college football games of the season and plenty of other exciting matchups coming down the pipeline.

But the Big Ten now has 18 programs stretching across the nation and several timezones along with 28 different sports that have varying schedules and travel accommodations. Which presents a slew of unprecedented challenges that the league will have to continue to overcome, figure out, and ultimately thrive in to maintain the standard they’ve set.

Which according to Petitti takes priority over expanding even more for the time being.