Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti Wants 'True NIL,' Concerned It's Now a Pay-For-Play System

Tony Petitti is the new commissioner of the Big Ten, and at the conference's annual media days on Wednesday, he addressed concerns over the current structure of NIL in college athletics and how he wishes to create sturdier guidelines.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Tony Petitti took over as Big Ten commissioner during a state of change in college athletics, engulfed by topics like conference expansion, the transfer portal and players profiting off their name, image and likeness.

Petitti replaces former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, who was hired as team president and chief executive officer for the Chicago Bears in January. During his time with ABC, Petitti helped create the Bowl Championship Series, and he worked with the NCAA Tournament and NFL in his role at CBS.

Prior to his role as the Big Ten commissioner, Petitti was the co-CEO of the 33rd Team, a football think tank and media organization founded by former NFL executive and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum. Petitti graduated from Haverford in 1983 and Harvard Law School in 1986.

And 87 days into his new job, Petitti stood behind the podium at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday in Indianapolis to discuss the fast-changing state of the Big Ten. The conference will welcome USC and UCLA for 2024 college football season, and the last few seasons have been heavily impacted by NIL, and in turn, the transfer portal.

Since taking over, Petitti said he's learned a lot about what NIL is – and what it's not. 

"What it is, is a great mechanism for student athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness through real marketing opportunities," Petitti said. "And we as a conference not only support, but celebrate a student athlete's ability to generate unlimited benefits from true NIL."

Petitti went on to define the phrase "true NIL" as the ability of a student athlete to take advantage of their marketing rights from either local or national companies – like the Malik Reneau Burger at Big Woods Restaurant in Bloomington, Ind., named after the Indiana basketball player, with a portion of proceeds going to Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana. 

Petitti said the level of profitability from player to player can depend on ability, exposure and social media. He believes NIL opportunities through those avenues should be unlimited.

Where the issue with NIL lies, from Petitti's perspective, is when it lures players into the transfer portal when they otherwise would have stayed at their original school. It's become a factor in high school recruiting, too. 

"Much of what is happening now under the guise of NIL is not true NIL, but rather a move to a pay-for-play system that is driving recruitment and the transfer portal," Petitti said. "This system operates away from and without institutional control, nor is it required to comply with Title IX. As a voluntary membership organization, the NCAA needs to be able to enforce its longstanding rules, prohibiting inducements and pay for play."

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti speaks to the media during Big 10 football media days at Lucas Oil Stadium / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Petitti mentioned the Booker-Moran-Blumenthal bill, which establish a set of rules for athletes’ short- and long-term health care, their safety and their educational choice. It would also create the “College Athletics Corporation" and a formal certification process for people seeking to represent athletes in name, image and likeness deals.

"Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. and meet with members of congress to discuss a fair and true NIL framework and discuss other issues facing student athletes and college athletics," Petitti said. "Members of congress and their staffs are engaged, and there's real momentum for bipartisan legislation that benefits student athletes, protects the academic model and recognizes that a national competitive landscape needs national rules that can be enforced. We are pleased that congress is seeking to ensure the critical student athlete welfare benefits like continuing healthcare, lifelong learning and mental health resources are broadly provided."

"And I think when I talk to our leadership, what I get is a real deep concern about what's going to happen with graduation as students move at the levels that we're seeing today, moving credits and major changes, all of those things are important, and I think we're going to see the results of that pretty shortly with the data that comes out from this flood. But I think the first thing, the idea is like, 'What can you do around the incentives?' I think we really need to spend a lot of time on that, and I think that's what our focus is, and that's why I talk about the difference between true NIL and the NIL that really isn't NIL. We've got to do a better job of explaining what each thing is, and they're two very different things."

Petitti also mentioned the Tuberville-Manchin bill, which would require athletes to disclose how much they money make from name, image and likeness deals, regulate collectives and put restrictions on when players can transfer.

"One of the things that we're most focused on is just the incentives that are being created for students to consider leaving," Petitti said. "Right, so when you have a system that's providing potential benefits for entering portal – and a lot of athletes unfortunately aren't realizing those benefits when they enter the portal, so there's a little bit of 'grass is greener on the other side.' When I spend time with our coaches, the portal is an absolute priority. I think the combination of what's happening in terms of the benefits that are being provided, with the freedom to move, that combination really came together at the same time. And so you're seeing the system now operate together, and it's creating all kinds of different incentives that are fueling lots more kids to get there."

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