In a show of force and unity, the two most powerful leaders in college athletics sat side-by-side and made clear to the rest of the ecosystem that any major change will run through the Big Ten and SEC moving forward.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey answered a litany of questions during a 45-minute media session following the historic meeting between the two conferences. The two native New Yorkers have built a strong rapport since Petitti stepped in as the Big Ten’s commissioner in 2023 and that was on full display Thursday in how they described the meeting’s purpose.
But two shrewd leaders like Petitti and Sankey aren’t going to reveal everything about their grand plan to a bunch of reporters. You have to read between-the-lines, combined with talking to other informed sources, to ascertain what it all means.
With that in mind, we’re breaking down some key quotes and what they really mean following Thursday’s Big Ten and SEC powwow in Nashville.
What they said: “I have yet to see a single thing in any plan that I’ve learned details about that contains things that we couldn’t do ourselves and do with other colleagues,” Petitti said. “I don’t see anything that’s proprietary that anybody holds, that we would need, that someone else controls to do what they’re talking about.
“It’s basically schedule more good games, and reorganize the way you play those games, like in terms of just tiering or going across and redoing divisions. Some say conferences can survive. Some say you don’t need conferences. At the end of the day, I think there’s a strong commitment that we have the ability to do all of this ourselves.”
What it means: Back off, private equity. Petitti and Sankey were very forceful in their comments that there is zero need to cede power to outside entities that have garnered attention in recent weeks like “Project Rudy.” While there is interest in those…
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