This June, as the Cruz‑Cantwell bill took shape, the Big Ten and SEC quickly aligned against it, issuing a joint statement on its flaws. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey called a breakaway “real” if the Protect College Sports Act fails to bring stability. At Big Ten Media Days, Tony Petitti offered a different take, one focused less on separation and more on the next workable path for the sport.

Clarifying his stance on a potential breakaway, Petitti said at Big Ten Media Days his first focus is getting the bipartisan bill right. Though he didn’t hold back in expressing his frustration, saying, “It’s taking up a tremendous amount of time,” he also mentioned that if changes do not happen with other conferences, including the SEC, they will go for a House settlement, according to Adam Rittenberg.

Behind the bill talk are coaches hiring staff, athletic directors balancing budgets, and student‑athletes planning their seasons around rules that keep changing. For them, a clear national framework or a workable conference plan is not politics. It is the difference between knowing what to expect and guessing every month.

There’s a solid chance the B1G parts ways with the NCAA and looks at the conference-based rule if the PCSA won’t change its rules, especially regarding congressional overreach and media rights. However, Petitti makes one thing clear: that’s an afterthought.

He knows a breakaway could create big problems, even with the Big Ten’s money and TV deals. It could complicate national TV contracts and scheduling with conferences like the Big 12 and ACC, which in turn could affect playoff access. Running non‑revenue sports would get harder. An independent path could also push schools closer to treating athletes as employees and invite fresh legal fights.

“They’ll have a hard time running national championships if they do that because everybody won’t have the same rules,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker in July, referring to the SEC’s proposal of a breakaway.

The main reason these two major conferences opposed it was PCSA’s media rights pool, which would allow small conferences and programs to jointly negotiate like the NFL revenue model. That can disrupt the Big Ten’s and SEC’s huge revenue generation through long-term TV deals with CBS, ESPN, and more.

Though these two conferences showed agreement on issues like player eligibility and portal moves that the bill is tackling, without amendment, there’s no chance the Big Ten would change its side from opposition.

The Big Ten clearly disagrees with the bill’s current form, and the conference issued a statement to lawmakers, outlining 10 points. Those include protection of the house settlement, not reducing players’ NIL, not freezing conference realignments, clear antitrust protection, fixing media rights, uniform national rules, and more.

The Big Ten commissioner gives an update

The Big Ten commissioner stated that amended language from PCSA could be seen by all conferences soon. If that aligns with the Big Ten’s demands, there’s a chance of support; otherwise, a future break-up.

“It is imperative that we see the amended bill language. We cannot change our opposition until we see the amended bill and have an opportunity to share it with our leadership,” said Petitti, as reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

The Big Ten commissioner was vocal about why it won’t support the Cruz-Cantwell bill, which has loopholes. According to Pete Thamel, Petitti admitted, “The Senate bill won’t be perfect.” Simply because it brings more problems than solutions.

However, if the bill solves the conference objections, there could be a shift in the Big Ten’s approach.

“If we can get to that place, then we can move into a position very quickly to support the bill. But again, until I see where we are, we’re not quite ready to say that,” said the Big Ten commissioner as reported by Pete Thamel.

Let’s see if the bill passes and becomes law; as Paul Finebaum said, the odds of it passing are too low.