TV Sports Executive Tony Petitti To Be Named Big Ten Commissioner

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TV sports veteran ran MLB Network

Tony Petitti
Tony Petitti at the 2019 MLB All-Star Game. (Image credit: Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Longtime television sports  executive Tony Petitti is expected to be named commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, according to numerous published reports.

Petitti is currently co-CEO of 33d Team. Previously he was chief operating officer of Major League Baseball and CEO of MLB Network. Earlier in his career he was executive VP at CBS Sports, heading the network’s coverage of the Natioanal Football League, and executive VP of programming for ABC Sports.

He replaces Kevin Warren, who was hired as president and CEO of the Chicago Bears earlier this year. Warren expanded the college sports conference by adding USC and UCLA and negotiated one of college sports’ most-lucrative television packages, with Fox, CBS and NBC paying a combined $1 billion a year.

The new agreement goes into effect this fall.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.