INDIANAPOLIS - On Tuesday morning, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti took to the stage inside of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to kick off Big Ten Football Media Days ahead of the upcoming 2024 season.
Some of the highlights from Petitti's time on the podium included his confirmation that the Big Ten football championship game would remain in Indianapolis through 2028, as well discussion on further expansion of the conference and travel following the offseason addition of four schools from the west coast.
Below is a breakdown of the most important items from Petitti's media availability on day one of the 2024 Big Ten Football Media Days.
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP LOCATIONS
Perhaps the biggest piece of information revealed by Petitti on Tuesday morning was that the Big Ten Football Championship Game will remain at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis through 2028.
The championship game, which has been held in Indianapolis every season since 2011, is staying in Indy for at least four more years.
"We're really comfortable with the decision to stay with football here in Indianapolis in the next four seasons," Petitti said. "We think it's the right thing to do."
"Having said that, I think you'll begin to see us expand," Petitti continued. "I think it's important to make sure that markets around the country get to experience Big Ten championships. It's a really good way to connect the conference. I think over time you'll start to see the geographic footprint expand, keeping in mind competitive issues. I think you can fully expect that over time you'll see the footprint of how we host championships change and grow."
With the championship game officially staying in Indianapolis through the 2028 season, eyes will now shift to what the conference will do beyond that point with the addition of four teams on the west coast.
Could Las Vegas or Los Angeles be the next host city for the Big Ten championship? Perhaps the site of the game will rotate through cities year-to-year.
At this point, what happens beyond the 2028 season remains a question mark. However, for the next four years, Indianapolis will remain the home for the Big Ten football championship game.
TRAVEL WITHIN THE CONFERENCE
With the additions of UCLA, Oregon, USC and Washington -- whose official welcoming to the Big Ten comes on Aug. 2 -- questions of how the conference will sort out coast-to-coast travel have been persistent.
While Petitti portrayed confidence in how the conference has handled the scheduling process following the west coast additions, the Big Ten commissioner admitted that the process is ever-changing.
"We've taken a lot of care to try to minimize travel where we can," remarked. "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," Petitti explained. "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."
Petitti also noted the important differences between each sport as far as scheduling is concerned. He understands that the same scheduling principles the league uses to build the football schedule won't work for every sport.
"I think it's important to understand that every sport is different," Petitti said. "Every sport has its own regular season format and its own postseason format within the Big Ten. 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."
FUTURE EXPANSION OF THE BIG TEN
The 2024 season will be the first year with UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten.
Even though none of the new additions have been formally introduced into the conference yet, the topic of further expansion is still prevalent given the current climate of college sports.
"We're focused on the 18 right now," Petitti said firmly. "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."
Additionally, Petitti discussed a quasi-checklist he and his staff utilize when the topic of expansion is brought up.
Petitti noted the importance of "academic fit" and the strength a prospective newcomer has in "all other sports," not just football.
As it stands right now, the Big Ten appears set to move forward with the current 18 programs in the conference.
However, given how quickly things can change with conference realignment in college sports, the door is never fully shut on additional expansion for the Big Ten.
ROSTER LIMITS
One of the many important byproducts of the recent settlement agreements in a handful of federal antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA, is rosters sizes around college football potentially taking a massive hit.
Over the past couple of weeks there's been growing discussion on the potential for football rosters to go from upwards of 140 players down to around 100 players around the country.
When asked about any new potential roster limits being discussed between power conference, Petitti revealed relatively little.
"I'm not going to sort of point to a specific number right now," Petitti said candidly. "I think we're close to coming to consensus with all the conferences."
"I think we were maybe on the higher end," Petitti went on. "The reporting has been accurate about that. I think we've been comfortable with the conversations. 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."
FRIDAY NIGHT GAMES
In the past, college football has tended to steer clear of playing games on Friday, ceding those nights to the high school game.
Playing games underneath the Friday night lights was something former Indiana head coach Tom Allen -- a former high school coach himself -- was vehemently against.
The Hoosiers have one game scheduled for Friday night in 2024 in Indiana's week two contest against Western Illinois.
As Petitti alluded to on Tuesday in Indianapolis, Friday night games could become a key part of the college football schedule in the not-too-distant future.
I think Friday is an opportunity for national exposure," Petitti said. "I think you're going to see some programs there really embrace the opportunity to play on Friday. 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," Petitti continued. "We understand and respect that. It's a league discussion that involves all 18 (teams) 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."
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