Tony Petitti confident in Big Ten raising its profile

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti wants to raise the conference’s profile and he’s confident in his approach.

With a strong media background, Petitti already said his MLB experience would benefit the Big Ten, especially with the historic media deal in place. Arguably, the Big Ten raised its profile better than any other conference recently with the well timed expansion of USC and UCLA coming to join.

It essentially forced Texas and Oklahoma to speed up the process to join the SEC. But it’ll be a continued race to the top.

“Yeah, I think one of the most important things is what you alluded to earlier was the network contracts, having three broadcast partners on Saturday,” Petitti said on Big Noon Conversations with Joel Klatt. “So this is a transition year for CBS. They’ll have some SEC and some Big Ten and the next year, just Big Ten. Mainly at 3:30.

“So when you look at that footprint and what the Big Ten is going to have on a Saturday and the amount of fans are going to reach a national exposure, I think it’s a game changing type of moment.”

The brands of the Big Ten are no smaller than SEC brands for instance. Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are just some examples of widely recognized brands in college athletics.

“I mean, like these are the big teams, powerful brands with great, rich history,” Petitti said. “A lot of the competitive things are cyclical, but in general, I think this new format in the way we’re gonna be programmed across these three really big powerful networks is going to be a huge advantage for us.

“It’s going to help you only do one thing and raise the profile, so I’m really confident that we have the right partners going forward to help do that.”

The Big Ten will be showcased across FOX, CBS and NBC in the new media deal. Once USC and UCLA are in the fold, the conference goes coast-to-coast.

“I think we have great coaches and the student athletes so it’s all going to come together and I’m really excited about seeing that take place,” Petitti said. “This year is kind of a bridge year, right? So you usually don’t come in till the following season. But we’ll get there fully in ‘24 and ‘25. It’ll be the second year, the new configuration on TV and I think if you’re a Big Ten fan, I think you’re gonna love what you see in this new format.”