Tony Petitti is an American sports executive who is the 7th commissioner of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

in collegiate sports, holding the position since May 15, 2023. He was formerly the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. He succeeded Rob Manfred in the position on January 25, 2015, after Manfred became Commissioner of Baseball. He previously served as the president and chief executive officer of

MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...

, where he oversaw all of the network's day-to-day operations, and was the former president of sports and entertainment of

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

Early life and education

Petitti grew up in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, the son of an

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

officer. Petitti became the first person in his family to attend college, attending

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

, where he majored in economics and earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1983. He then earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1986.

Career

Early career

Petitti worked for two years at the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft before joining ABC Sports in 1988 as general attorney. In 1994, he was named vice president of programming, where he was responsible for acquiring and scheduling ABC Sports programming, and served in that role through 1996.

CBS (1997–2008)

Petitti was hired by CBS in 1997 as senior vice president of business affairs and programming. In December 2005, Pettiti was named executive vice president, CBS Sports, "responsible for all day-to-day operations of CBS Sports," where he was largely responsible for the network's NFL coverage. "Basically, I’m responsible for everything you see on Sunday." It was announced on January 3, 2008, that Petitti would be placed in charge of day-to-day operations of

CSTV CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

, the college sports network that was absorbed into CBS Sports, effectively replacing network co-founder

Brian Bedol Brian Bedol is an American television executive, entrepreneur, and founder of the sports television channels Classic Sports Network and College Sports Television. Bedol owned CSN from 1995 to 1997 and CSTV from 2003 to 2006. Bedol has since sold ...

, who had been serving as president of CSTV since the network was purchased by

CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...

in 2005. CSTV was renamed the CBS College Sports Network on March 16, 2008, and eventually evolved to become

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

MLB (2008–2020)

In April 2008 Pettiti left CBS to become the head of

, which launched in January 2009.

Activision Blizzard (2020–2021)

Petitti left MLB after more than a decade to take a job as president of sports and entertainment at gaming giant Activison Blizzard in the Sports and Entertainment Sector. He left Activision Blizzard in mid-2021 after less than a year in the role.

The 33rd Team (2022–2023)

Petitti in 2022 joined the football analysis company The 33rd Team.

Big Ten (2023–present)

Petitti was named the Big Ten Conference's seventh commissioner in April 2023. He began work on May 15, 2023. During his tenure, he continued the expansion begun by his predecessor, Kevin Warren, by adding Washington and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

to the conference, beginning with the 2024 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petitti, Tony Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American lawyers American chief operating officers American television executives American Broadcasting Company executives Big Ten Conference commissioners CBS executives Harvard Law School alumni Haverford College alumni Major League Baseball executives People associated with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft