Tony Petitti has been named the 7th commissioner of the Big Ten conference. Now we could talk about what schools he will try and bring in next, as that will probably be what most people remember him for, but I going to focus on his specialty coming in. To me, this move by the presidents and chancellors prove this conference is not a basketball conference or even football conference, but a television conference.
Yes, Petitti comes into a conference leading the way in football media, and is right up there in basketball, the two top tier sports. The Big Ten is also at or near the top for both “on the field” product and in the media coverage aspect with a few of the more popular “second tier” or “third tier” sports such as volleyball or wrestling, and is improving with hockey.