Big Ten rewards Petitti with five-year extension

August 26, 2026 No Comments

Big Ten rewards commissioner Tony Petitti with five-year extensionJake TrotterAug 26, 2026, 04:36 PM ETClose

Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He’s a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at jake.trotter@espn.com and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.

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The Big Ten and commissioner Tony Petitti agreed to a five-year contract extension that will keep him with the conference through the summer of 2033, the league declared Wednesday.

“Tony has provided outstanding vision for the Conference through extremely turbulent times,” Big Ten council of presidents and chancellors chair and Indiana president Pamela Whitten reported in a statement. “We’re thankful for his leadership and appreciate his spirit of innovation and collaboration as we continue to navigate the changing landscape of college sports.”

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Petitti became the Big Ten’s seventh commissioner in 2023.

With Petitti as commissioner, the Big Ten has won the last three football national championships (Michigan in 2023, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana in 2025).

The Big Ten is also coming off titles in men’s (Michigan) and women’s basketball (UCLA).

Under Petitti, the Big Ten expanded its membership to 18, as Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA joined the league.

The Big Ten declared that approval of the extension was unanimous among league members.