As it stands, this is plenty. Shuffling between meetings to go over the mundane (NCAA regulations), the pressing (issues around the College Sports Commission) and the most newsworthy (CFP expansion), there is a constant reminder of the bar for success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s good to be king<\/a>, and now it\u2019s even better to let everybody know about it. In sharp contrast to past years, the Big Ten is finally doing so\u2014puffing the conference\u2019s chest out as humbly as its Midwestern roots will allow.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Indiana football team celebrates after winning the national championship. | Erick W. Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really proud. Name a better brand? I mean, Indiana, Michigan, us, TV revenue, parity, 13 teams in the NCAA tournament for women\u2019s basketball. I just think it is the brand,\u201d Bruins women\u2019s basketball coach Cori Close says. \u201cIt is the trendsetting, leading brand of excellence. That\u2019s what I want to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a swagger, a confidence and an upbeat mood around the Big Ten. The power players appear much more comfortable with their place in the broader college athletics landscape. Not only do they have a say in where the enterprise is going, they are able to dictate the direction of travel and the timeline.<\/p>\n It shows.<\/p>\n For the first time in memory, the league office invited the media to this annual meeting. Commissioner Tony Petitti\u2014closer to a recluse than a national spokesman since he took office\u2014doesn\u2019t flee from the sight of reporters anymore, but is rather at ease smiling and shaking hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n The positivity is noteworthy, but it remains to be seen if the conference can channel the good vibes\u2014and seat at the head of the table\u2014into actual productivity on the handful of issues that it is debating this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSolving problems?\u201d joked one tired administrator. \u201cWe\u2019re just learning about the new ones.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That much was clear on Monday following more than eight hours of meetings with only incremental progress. As the sun began to set, some were still inquisitive over a revamped football calendar and the implementation of forthcoming changes to NCAA eligibility<\/a> that will have a wide-ranging impact on their rosters. Basketball coaches pondered NCAA tournament expansion\u2019s practical impact<\/a> on next season. Athletic directors filled any silence with talk about more revenue generation.\u00a0<\/p>\n UCLA won its first NCAA Division I women\u2019s basketball title this year. | Jordan Naholowaa Murph\/Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in this league a long time,\u201d Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, the dean of Big Ten coaches, says with a smile. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to figure out what it\u2019s all going to look like in a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a $1 billion question. The rest of college sports would surely like to know what they come up with.<\/p>\n Whatever it winds up being figures to be divisive for some outsiders either way. The Big Ten stands at loggerheads with the SEC on how big the playoff should be and has been far more antagonistic with the CSC over NIL payments for athletes. It recently saw a notable change surrounding tampering pass within the NCAA governance apparatus, but wants much more reform that caters to a membership which has less and less in common with some of their Power 4 peers as the conference grows richer and more powerful.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now those in the Big Ten are speaking louder about what they want and doing so in front of a pretty big trophy case that carries weight they never had.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hell of a league. I mean, it\u2019s been the best performing league in college football for the last several years now,\u201d says USC football coach Lincoln Riley. \u201cThe league is really good and that carries a lot of power right now.\u201d<\/p>\n That such tangible power is also being wielded proactively comes in sharp contrast to the modus operandi of the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Michigan men\u2019s team capped off a Big Ten sweep of the Division I basketball titles in April. | Erick W. Rasco \/ Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n The Big Ten is throwing open the doors to one of their annual retreats to more than just the usual assortment of television executives, knowing it can help set the agenda and drive the national conversation ahead of the typically buzzy set of festivities the SEC holds in Destin, Fla., right after Memorial Day.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all have individual conversations, though I think there\u2019s a lot of alignment there. But they\u2019re in one league, we\u2019re in another. You\u2019ve got to be careful, you know, legally with what that looks like,\u201d Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork says. \u201cI think the market forces in our two leagues have led us to where we are\u2014where we see things the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n That apparently does not include the size of the playoff\u2014a topic which threatens to soak up oxygen until a December deadline\u2014but is increasingly a possibility on issues such as federal legislation and how to get a grip on spiraling expenses at all of their schools.<\/p>\n While there tends to be much external doom and gloom about the state of college sports, the Big Ten finds itself with a far different outlook. That\u2019s not just the result of plenty of warm California sunshine this week, but has much more to do with the hardware the league walks past constantly.<\/p>\n More College Football From Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n Listen to SI\u2019s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple<\/a> and Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on SI\u2019s College YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Indiana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01kfgr5fek5p5rg0tj3t.jpg\" "\\"Indiana")
<\/p>\n![\"UCLA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01knhgrx0372a4gy6fd0.jpg\" "\\"UCLA")
<\/p>\n![\"Michigan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01knk9fbqb7y4z29ms6h.jpg\" "\\"Michigan")
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