Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Sign up with TheHoosier.com here.
The Big Ten's leading man is vaulting himself into a new role.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Chicago Bears are expected to name Kevin Warren as their newest and fifth-ever president and CEO. Warren previously spent 14 years in the NFL as the Chief Operating Officer of the Minnesota Vikings, four years in various roles with the St. Louis Rams, and three seasons with the Detroit Lions.
In 2020, Warren became the seventh effective commissioner of the Big Ten following the tenure of Jim Delany. It was a historic move, becoming the first African-American commissioner of a major American collegiate sports conference.
Warren's short tenure as commissioner of the conference will be remembered by major decisions that had landscape-altering effects on not only the Big Ten, but the rest of the entire conference. Under his watch, he was tasked with developing a response to a COVID-19 pandemic that had unprecedented consequences and outcomes, expanded the conference from the midwest to a nationwide entity by adding two national brands in USC and UCLA, and broadened media horizons by incorporating a large collection of outlets that carry the flag for coverage of Big Ten athletics.
That's not to mention the massive steps he took to establish equality for women's sports and black athletes, create financial liberties and profits unforeseen by nearly all of the universities that call the Big Ten their own and in a sense, "professionalize" the conference holistically.
Yet, it's hard to deny the steepness and difficulty in challenges the conference's eighth commissioner will inevitably inherit. Navigating conference expansion will be the tallest and most immediate task, with USC and UCLA joining the conference starting in 2024. It's quite an immediate measuring stick for a new hire.
"One of our key focus points this year is to make sure that we flawlessly integrate both UCLA and USC into the Big Ten Conference," Warren said at Big Ten Basketball Media Days back in mid-October of 2022. "Our student-athletes have been our number one priority, and during this integration period, they will continue to be our number one priority. You'll be able to see it in how we schedule, how we handle multi-team events, the experiences they will be able to have by now being able to travel to play different institutions across the country.
"We have a lot of work to do. It's one thing to negotiate contracts, to make an announcement, but it's another thing to actually get the work done. That's what we're focused on right now."
The focus a move of this magnitude requires is one thing on its own. To keep up the momentum and security of the move through a leadership change of one of the main entities is a completely different challenge in itself.
It's a move that has been heavily publicized, a theme that will be common amongst the new media rights deal that Warren and the conference finalized for the upcoming 2023-24 athletic calendar. By expanding the conference from coast to coast, the Big Ten's footprint is now prevalent in the country's three largest media markets in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and directly rivals the SEC for the title of America's largest and most prestigious conference.
As the decision-maker and new face of the conference, there will be the largest-ever number of eyeballs on everything that happens within the Big Ten.
"Our world-class media partners will be able to provide a platform for our student-athletes to display their skills, for our fans to be able to consume content around the world in any form or fashion they so desire via the Big Ten Network, BTN Plus, FOX, FS1, NBC, CBS, and NBC Peacock," Warren said. "We have strong linear network partners, and we also have a strong direct-to-consumer partner. We want to make sure that we provide the flexibility to our fans to be able to consume content in the manner in which they desire.
"Our new media rights agreements are the most complex and comprehensive set of media rights agreements in all of college athletics. It will further strengthen the tradition of the Big Ten Conference."
Under new management, the conference will enter their brand new era with a clean slate. Despite the polarizing nature of his decisions and comments, he leaves big shoes for the next hire to fulfill. The job search will be one to watch with intrigue, what priorities emerge as important and who rises to the top of the shortlist.
Warren is a powerful businessman who brought a strong background in economics, law, sports agency and player career management to the conference. Only time will tell if his successor is exempt from that criteria.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.
