2024 Big Ten Media Days: Notes and Quotes from Commissioner Tony Petitti
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Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Big Ten Media Days kicks off the 2024 football season in Indianapolis on Tuesday. There are major changes coming to the sport and the Big Ten is not immune to those changes. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti addressed the media on the main stage Tuesday to give a State of the Conference update and field questions from the media. Here are some notes and quotes from his availability.
Notes:
The Big Ten Championship Football Game will stay at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis through the 2028 season. It has been held in Indianapolis every year since its inception in 2011.
Apple will be the official sponsor of sideline technology and tablets on the sidelines during the season.
Future roster limits have not been officially agreed upon.
Friday night games are here to stay
The Big Ten will officially welcome Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington on August 2nd
Quotes:
On Additional Expansion:
“To the first question, I would say it's pretty clear when you look at the schedule that we've talked about unveiling here about the strength and depth of what we're doing.
I think the fit of the four is across -- obviously, we're here to talk about football. But when you go beyond that, you know, for our presidents and chancellors, the academic fit is really important, if you look at the strength in all other sports that the four new members bring.
So it's a complete match across many different factors. That's what made the decision to add Oregon, Washington, which was done by my staff, and then the decision that Kevin Warren and his staff did to add USC, UCLA.
I see great strength across matchups, the footprint that we'll have going forward. I think we've got to get a lot of things right, but I feel really good about the way we're positioned for the future in terms of the health and strength of the conference.
With regard to the second part of your question about the future, look, we're focused on the 18 right now. That's what we're focused on. We had to do a lot of work. A lot of work had been done to integrate USC, UCLA. We started that work over immediately when we added Oregon and Washington. I think we're really comfortable where we are.
We've got to get this conference right, and that's what our focus is.”
On Travel inside the Conference:
“First, I think it's important to understand that every sport is different. Every sport has its own regular season format, its own postseason format within the Big Ten. So we start from that place, right?
The process of building a schedule is collaborative. It involves our faculty reps, our administrators, our coaches, all the way across, and ultimately going up to the top of our leadership at the presidential level.
We've taken a lot of care to try to minimize travel where we can. I will tell you that we feel really good about where we've ended up across all of our sports.
Having said that, I really believe that scheduling is something that has to be constantly evaluated by sport, and I anticipate that we'll get hopefully a lot more right these next couple of years with the way we've formatted and scheduled, but it's our responsibility and our job to listen to student-athletes, to listen to coaches to make sure that we're adjusting and making the changes we need.
While we feel really good about the work that we've done this past summer and that our team has led, I would anticipate that over time there will be changes. It just seems like it would be the natural progression.”
On Friday Night Games:
“If you look at our footprint on Saturday, having the three broadcast partners supported by the cable presence and Big Ten Network, I think Friday is an opportunity for national exposure. 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 in matchups. I think for us to have that footprint is really terrific.
I think on the hurdle side, look, there are just 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. That's the way we approach it.
Where are we looking more likely to go, that will change over time. Collectively we understand we're all 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.”
On Roster Limits
“Yeah, look, I'm not going to sort of point to a specific number right now. I think we're close to coming to consensus with all the conferences.
I'm not going to argue. I think we were maybe on the higher end. The reporting has been accurate about that. I think, ultimately, the goal is to come to something.
I think we're doing something for the first time. We're going into a season where the season is going to be longer. The playoff has expanded. There's more games. We're making decisions, and we're sort of going to have to see how it plays out.
I think we've been comfortable with the conversations. I will say in the process, because it's all sports, not just football, there's been a lot of great give-and-take among the commissioners. This is an interesting balance that affects campuses differently. The way we approached it was to try to bring consensus from our coaching groups, our administrators and bring that conversation to our colleagues across the conferences.
I think that room, it's been a really good process actually with my colleagues.”