The entire offseason has basically been an SEC infomercial.
That’s not by accident, either. The SEC spring meetings turned into a weeklong media tour, while the Big Ten’s version, held the week prior, barely registered. It was a savvy move by the SEC, which was in turn praised by industry insiders, especially after a year in which the on-field product was somewhat lackluster.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten has gone quiet. Too quiet.
As college sports get torn down and rebuilt in real time, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has been noticeably silent. You haven’t heard a word from him about the House settlement. He hasn’t offered clarity on what’s next. While Greg Sankey is seemingly in front of a microphone every other day, and Brett Yormark and even Jim Phillips pop up regularly, Petitti might as well be in witness protection.
ESPN’s Dan Wetzel has noticed, too. He was on The Paul Finebaum Show this week and, like everyone else, still doesn’t know what to make of Petitti’s no-show act.
“Well, I don’t know why Tony Petitti doesn’t talk,” Wetzel told Finebaum. “You’d have to ask the Big Ten that or Tony Petitti, if you do get them to talk. He speaks occasionally. Again, I don’t know what he’s thinking or what he’s planning. This isn’t a negative. I just think that this is not a traditional business. And I don’t even know that it’s the NFL, where you hear pretty regularly from Roger Goodell… Look, you take the NFL or the NBA, I feel real confident that the Green Bay Packers are always going to be in it. I feel pretty good that whatever we’re coming up with in the NFL or the NBA is gonna include all the teams, and there’ll still be a draft.
“In college sports, we have no such guarantees. No one knows what’s going on. And so, I think when you’re one of the two most powerful people, and you’re running a league that, more than anyone, with their conference realignment, has destabilized the entire sport, all of college athletics, by both going east and destabilizing the ACC. And then, going west and destabilizing the Pac-12 — eliminating the Pac-12 — you should be talking to the media. I think you should be talking to the fans… I do think that’s important.”
Wetzel isn’t accusing Tony Petitti of wrongdoing, but he is baffled by his approach. In a time of chaos, the leader of one of the most powerful entities in college athletics is barely speaking publicly. That silence, intentional or not, has created a vacuum.
That’s a problem. Not because fans need constant media access but because they expect some transparency when their sport is being reshaped from the ground up.
“It’s not all the time that I think everyone listens,” Wetzel continued. “They don’t sit there and say, ‘I really agree with everything Greg Sankey says or Jim Phillips of the ACC says or Brett Yormark of the Big 12.’ Sometimes, you disagree. But at least they’re out there talking to the people. Because, again, this isn’t just a business.
“This is really a huge part of so many lives. The idea of college athletics being altered or not mattering or this or that, it’s an emotional connection that drives this. The passion that drives this is beyond a typical business.”
Wetzel’s not wrong. This isn’t just about realignment maps or legal settlements. College sports are messy and emotional, and for many people, they’re deeply personal. It’s not unreasonable to expect the leaders making massive, sport-altering decisions to explain themselves, or at least show up.
Greg Sankey gets that. Brett Yormark certainly does. Even Jim Phillips tries.
But Tony Petitti is still MIA.
And when you’ve helped blow up the sport’s old structure, the least you can do is say something about what comes next.