Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti speaks to the media during the Big Ten Football Media Days in Las Vegas. Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

What Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti Said at Big Ten Football Media Days

Originally posted on Penn State Nittany Lions on SI
By Mark Wogenrich | Last updated Jul 22, 2025 5:35 PM ET

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti delivered his state-of-the-conference address Tuesday at Big Ten Football Media Days in Las Vegas, highlighting the conference's 13 national championships (two by Penn State) its nine other NCAA finalists. He also noted that the Big Ten played in eight of the 11 College Football Playoff games last season.

Petitti also dived into some of the ever-present business aspects of the Big Ten, notably its duels with the SEC over football scheduling and future playoff formats. Here are the highlights from Petitti's Q&A session at Big Ten Football Media Days.

QUESTION: Commissioner, I was just wondering your take on, I think it was last week's issues between the CSC, the guidance they gave about collectives. When is that going to get resolved, and how urgent is it that that issue gets resolved?

TONY PETITTI: I think it's worth sort of talking about the relationship and the ongoing relationship that plaintiff's attorneys have in this process. The CSC is brand new. It's in the process of making rules. We've had an incredible group working on an implementation committee to provide guidance and help with rule-making. Some of that has to be in the process that goes past the plaintiff's lawyers. That's what happened in this case.

I don't think it's unpredictable, but there will be some moments like this where whether it's guidance or interpretation of rules, there's some discrepancy, but I think what's happened over the last few
days, based on talking to our general counsel and others, that they're working together to try to get to the right resolution on this and then to move forward.

I don't think it will be the last time that there's some issue that comes up in the process. Again, I think people have to be patient when it comes to the CSC. The settlement, frankly, came later than we
expected in terms of its approval. We're grateful that Judge Wilkins chose to approve it, but it did compress the time period.

It's a lot to catch up, and there's a lot for coaches and administrators to deal with, but I don't think it's unusual when you have something this different that there's going to be some bumps in the road to get to the right place. I think everybody is committed to get here.

QUESTION: Is it a must in your mind that the power conferences play the same number of conference games, and if the SEC won't go to nine, would the Big Ten ever consider going back to eight?

TONY PETITTI: So, first, it's not a must. Each league will decide what they think the best conference schedule is for them. I think in a system where you have allocated spots, I think in talking to
our athletic directors and coaches, I don't think we really care how many conference games any league is playing because you're qualified off your conference standings. That's up to you to run your own league and decide how you want to do it.

When you get to a system that's increasing the at-larges and the work of a selection committee, that's when you need to understand how we're competing in the regular season. Look, at the end of the day, it's really simple math. With 18 schools and nine conferences , we're losing nine more games to start. At the end of the day, I think it's really relevant.

Will we consider, you know, more at-larges? Right now, I think the first thing is to really understand what everybody is doing in their conference schedule. But there's a second really critical part, which I
mentioned in my remarks, which is what are we doing to get the selection process right? I think those two things go hand in hand. First is how many conference games are we playing? Then, secondly, what's the selection process going to be?

People talked about improving the committee's work. I believe the committee does a great job with what they have. I've yet to hear any member tell me more data will make the job easier. They have a lot of things in front of them. We went through a mock selection. We saw it. I just think those two things have to go hand in hand. First is the conference games, but again, if you go back to an allocated system, then I don't think we really care about how many conference games anybody plays.

“We want to better connect the regular season and the postseason… We want more conference games to matter in November.”

Commissioner Petitti addresses the future of the CFP format. pic.twitter.com/86gItb9z3D
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) July 22, 2025

QUESTION: You've been talking about CFP format. You have a lot of constituents, coaches, ADs and so on. The public, the fans, have indicated overwhelmingly they do not want a system where certain conferences get more bids than others. At what point how much emphasis, if at all, do what the public want come into decisions like this?

TONY PETITTI: Well, first, let's take issue with the way you're phrasing that. I'm not aware of massive studies with real research that have demonstrated that.

QUESTION: It's not a scientific poll, but a poll I put on Twitter this morning. It was 76% for 5+11, 24% for the plan you guys want.

TONY PETITTI: We feel pretty strongly that fans will really gravitate to a play-in weekend. Providing games that are do-or-die on the field will drive fan interest. Whether there's enough information
that fans have in any one poll about a new system will be, I'm not aware of how it was phrased or not.

I just believe, and in talking to our league, the weekend that we're talking about where you would have championship games and across all conferences, meaningful play-in games, I don't see how that's a bad thing for football, and I think fans will gravitate to it.

QUESTION: There's a report out that you wrote a letter to the NCAA about the Michigan sign-stealing scandal. I'm curious whether the letter happened or not. Do you believe that should be put to bed, that the punishment that you issued is strong enough and that the investigation should be closed?

TONY PETITTI: Well, the first part, I'm going to confirm that we did submit a letter. It's not uncommon in proceedings for conference office to weigh in. I'm not going to address what the contents of the
letter we sent are. Because it's an ongoing process, I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment about whether it's enough or not while there are individuals deliberating. I don't think that's the right
thing to do in the process.

Look, I will say, having gone through this, one thing to point out is I think when you think about the CSC and the discipline and what we're trying to build with the new entity, having an enforcement
mechanism that's faster is a priority, one that reacts more quickly.

This is a system we have now. It's been in place for a long time. It functions the way it was built, but I do think there's this consensus among our colleagues that whatever we are building for the enforcement piece that's going to live inside the CSC, that's got to be still there. It's difficult to still be talking about this almost two seasons after. I think everybody agrees that part of the process should change.

QUESTION: Your colleague with the Southeastern Conference has touted his conference as the best in the country and produced materials to suggest their strength of schedule is better than even in some cases a nine-game schedule with the Big Ten. Do you agree with him on that? Do you disagree on that? Also, Indiana was much maligned last year for its schedule. However, the results were the results. What do you say to that, and how do you assess the SEC?

TONY PETITTI: I'll start back and talk about Indiana's schedule. When Indiana's schedule was made, on their schedule were the two teams that played in the championship game the season before. They
played Michigan and Washington, both at home. Won both of those games, but those are the idea. That's part of what this is, right?

That gets back to the value of play-in games. Put that aside, I'm not going to comment on where any one conference is. We just stand by what we do in the Big Ten. I think the national results have shown
that the last couple of seasons. I think when you look at what expansion has meant across the A4 the last couple of years, I'll stand by how much tougher our league has gotten. When you throw in the
travel, how well our schools protect their home fields, all of that, I think that speaks for itself.

I don't ever think there's any value in talking about one versus another. We feel really strongly about what we do in the Big Ten.

This article first appeared on Penn State Nittany Lions on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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