Canzano: Big questions for Big Ten

Time for a sit-down with Tony Petitti

LAS VEGAS — Time for another sit down, yeah?

I’m in Las Vegas and have a one-on-one scheduled on Tuesday afternoon at Mandalay Bay Convention Center with Big Ten Conference Commissioner Tony Petitti.

The conference’s coaches and players will be conducting interviews in the Big Ten’s three-day football media extravaganza. I’ve got Oregon coach Dan Lanning and multiple UO players booked for Wednesday. I’ll talk with the ADs at several schools in the next 72 hours, including Washington’s Pat Chun and Oregon’s Rob Mullens, but it’s Petitti I’m most interested in speaking with.

Last year at this preseason event in Indianapolis, I was ushered down a hallway at Lucas Oil Stadium by Petitti’s handlers. I found the commissioner sitting on a leather sofa in one of the lower-level rooms at the stadium. He was new on the job. He had four new teams coming into his conference. We mostly talked about his vision, whether there was still room for holistic thinking in college athletics, and his father, a New York City cop.

A year later, Petitti is in a rare position. Has any commissioner, in any sport, possessed more power to shape the future of an entire sport ecosystem than Petitti and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey right now?