Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti eager for College Football Playoff expansion
New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti can’t wait for the College Football Playoff expansion to 12 teams for the 2024-25 season.
As the postseason goes from four to 12 teams, it could bring new excitement to the regular season. Petitti was on the BCS committee once-upon-a-time and said he wanted to maintain the importance of the regular season while adding more playoff teams.
He said that goal won’t change.
“I think the playoffs (are) a great opportunity for college football,” Petitti said on Big Ten Radio on Sirius XM. “I think what I’ve always thought about, I learned this from working with the commissioners back in the day when we were doing the BCS was that, you know, protecting the regular season was really important. So imagine an environment where the BCS, where if you lose, it’s only two teams advancing. So one loss in September could be critical. So every game was so big, and it really made the regular season even better. And Commissioner Kramer who I worked with on that, he said, you know, he even admitted like, hey, we didn’t necessarily see that coming.
“But one of the best things that happened was we made the regular season better while we were trying to fix the postseason. And so I think the same thing here. I think that’s the goal.”
Petitti lamented the sporting event itself. The College Football Playoff is just three total games at the moment.
But with games on campus in the earlier rounds before bowl sites, it could be epic.
“We’re fortunate it’s a great sporting event,” Petitti said. “If you go back and look at the last few years and try to figure out who the 12 teams would be if you did like a little regression like who would be hosting, who’d be on the road. And you start seeing these matchups and what these stadiums are going to look like. And then as they advance, it’s pretty incredible.
“Like it’s going to be a great sporting event. I know I felt that excitement for being in the CFP meetings with the fellow commissioners and just listening and trying to learn as fast as I could. I could feel that they understand this because as big as it’s been, because it’s been great, you know, it’s going to be at another level which I’m really excited about.”