Amid Pac-12 media deal dilemma, Big Ten's Tony Petitti strikes optimistic tone on their media partnerships: "We are really just getting started"

While the Pac-12 has struggled to land a long-term media rights deal, the same is not the case for the Big Ten. The conference, which brought in an NCAA-high $845.6 million in 2022, is set to have its new deal, which reportedly totals over $8 billion, kick in next year.

Furthermore, the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans will join the conference on July 1, 2024.

Commissioner Tony Petitti expressed optimism while discussing the media rights deal at the 2023 Big Ten Media Days:

"I'm excited about our future. With committed leadership from our COPC [council of presidents and chancellors] and ADs, an energized conference staff, the addition of USC and UCLA, new and exciting media partners and expanded platforms, support from our coaches with the goal of winning national championships in all sports and a strong belief in the academic-athletic model, I believe that we are really just getting started." [h/t CBS Sports]

Petitti added:

"When the new deal is fully implemented in 2024, we are projecting 45 broadcast TV games each season. Big Ten fans will move seamlessly from Fox to CBS to NBC."

The 14 schools reportedly earned $58.8 million during the 2022 year, the largest of any conference. That figure is expected to rise significantly under the new media rights deal that will kick in next year.

Is the Big Ten considering further expansion?

While the Big Ten was able to snatch the Los Angeles media market from the Pac-12 by adding the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans, commissioner Tony Petitti does not believe the conference will expand further:

"All the direction I'm getting from leadership – our presidents and chancellors and our athletic directors – is to focus on USC and UCLA," he said. "We have a lot of work to do there.

"I'm proud of the scheduling format we created in football. I think it touches on all the right things. But we have significant work to do in scheduling for our other sports, especially our Olympic sports, to come up with the best solutions.

"We have a good plan in motion. I think we'll learn from it. Like anything, there'll be tweaks and changes. But overall, that's really where we are. I'm not getting direction to do anything else other than that in terms of what the conference looks like right now."

While the conference has been linked to the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies, among others, it appears that no further expansion will take place anytime soon. That could, however, change depending on how things work out with the Bruins and Trojans.