Greg Sankey on new Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti: Look forward to our future together

The Big Ten and SEC have separated themselves from other conferences with the revenue that they are bringing in.

Yes, they are two different leagues with different TV deals, but they will also work together in an effort to make college athletics better moving forward.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who has held his position since 2015, spoke with ESPN’s Tom Hart, Chris Burke and Kyle Peterson during the championship game of the SEC Baseball Tournament on Sunday. Sankey was asked about his relationship with new Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who was hired in April.

“He’s got a great background,” Sankey said. “I’ve enjoyed being in some meetings with him and having to talk through common issues; so look forward to our future together.”

Even though the SEC and Big Ten just recently truly separated themselves from other leagues financially, the two conferences still tried to work together in the past.

With the way college athletics is changing with realignment, it’s perhaps even more important moving forward that they have a good working relationship.

Sankey and Petitti have known each other for a long time and Sankey expects that familiarity to help.

“I think we always felt it’s important. Tony, fortunately for us, is someone who worked with the SEC back when our football championship game was initiated on ABC, and we worked with Tony when he was at CBS,” Sankey said. “And then my first real experience with Tony was when he was with Rob Manfred’s office with Major League Baseball.”

As Sankey referenced, Petitti has an impressive resume that includes excelling in several different roles. It will be interesting to see how Petitti, Sankey and other conference commissioners work together moving forward.

Big Ten, SEC topped $800 million in revenue in 2022

Every Power 5 conference is trying to keep up with the SEC and Big Ten in terms of revenue. We now know just how much more money those leagues brought in than their competitors in 2022.

According to a report from USA Today, Power 5 conferences had a combined revenue of more than $3.3 billion in the fiscal year 2022.

USA Today was able to obtain tax records for all five Power 5 conferences. They show that the Big Ten led the way, bringing in $845.6 million last year. Big Ten schools received an average of about $58.8 million in payouts, although Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers received several million less “because of distribution of revenue from the Big Ten Network that was earned before they became entitled to full shares,” according to USA Today.

The SEC wasn’t far behind the Big Ten, bringing in $802 million, for an average of $49.9 million per school. The SEC and Big Ten have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. The ACC had the third-highest revenue among Power 5 schools, bringing in $617 million in 2022.