Tony Petitti: Friday games are 'national exposure' opportunity for Big Ten

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti and the conference’s decision-makers have come up with an idea to give some added national exposure their members throughout the 2024 college football season.

Instead of focusing all their attention on Saturdays each weekend, the Big Ten has singled out one game a week that’ll be played on Friday night, allowing the full resources of the conference to be put behind a team or matchup that wouldn’t normally receive it.

For example, the Washington Huskies will take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. in Piscataway, and that game has taken on a life of it’s own, instead of just being your normal Saturday showdown. Additionally, a game like Iowa traveling to take on UCLA on Nov. 8 will get the standalone treatment, as well.

It’s a fascinating idea, and one that’s polarized many college football fans. At Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday afternoon, Petitti took some time to explain the reasoning, and where the idea could go in the future.

“I think part of it — if you look at our footprint on Saturday, having three broadcast partners, supported by the cable presence and Big Ten Network, I think Friday’s an opportunity for national exposure,” Petitti said while at the podium. “I think you’re going to see some programs there really embrace the opportunity to play on Friday. Of course, we don’t want to burden any one institution. We care about what happens at the stadium, as well, and what happens on campus. But if you look at it, it’s an opportunity to get programs, to showcase them as they build, and matchups. So, I think for us, to have that footprint, is really terrific.

“I think, on the hurdle side, look, there’s traditional places that want to play more on Saturday. We understand and respect that. It’s a league discussion, that involves all 18, about the best way to format our schedule, where coaches are embracing opportunities to have that exposure on Friday night. We try to lean into that. So, that’s the way we approach it. Where are we more likely to go? That’ll change over time, but I think, collectively, we all understand that we’re doing this together, and we’ve got to make every telecast opportunity work, for the conference to be as strong and healthy as we can.”

While the Big Ten will always prop up teams like Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and new members like Oregon and USC, Friday games allow programs like Rutgers, Illinois and Maryland to get some added shine. Hopefully the product on the field matches the hype behind each game in 2024.