Everything, though, feels different now. This is the commissioner in charge as the Big Ten boldly extended his league from one side of the United States of America to the other with the addition of USC and UCLA.
Those who chose to place the entirety of the blame on him for the league’s decision to postpone its football season during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they were so very eager, now have little choice but to acknowledge his role in helping to make the conference the wealthiest in all of college sports.
Not long after adding the Bruins and Trojans, the Big Ten announced it had signed television contracts worth $8 billion over seven years. Their football games will be shown on every major network save one, plus a top new streaming service.
Warren, who came to the Big Ten headquarters after more than two decades as an executive with NFL teams, had the misfortune of beginning his tenure in January 2020, two months before circumstances forced the cancellation of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and spring sports, with the debate about whether to play a football season following soon after. The following summer, the Big Ten was blindsided – like everyone else in college sports – by the Southeastern Conference’s decision to invite Texas and Oklahoma to join its league and depart the Big 12.
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It feels like not a lot of time has passed since all of that occurred, but the Big Ten – and the gentleman in charge – got a lot done in that period. He agreed to sit down with The Sporting News for an extended conversation about his accomplishments and the challenges ahead as basketball media days concluded:
TSN: In watching you handling your Media Day duties the last two days, it felt like this time was different than a year ago. With all the difficult decisions you had to make early in your tenure, the zeal of some to dismiss you, now you have the TV deal and the expansion to USC and UCLA – how does it feel for you?
Warren: I’m a big believer that challenging times, kind of rough times, are really beneficial for the soul. Studying leaders in business, sports and entertainment, politics, it seems like the leaders that have been most admired are the individuals who started off in rough, complicated spots.
I always believed, regardless of how long you’re in one of these jobs that are very public-facing, that are high-profile, that are challenging – at some point in your time during your tenure, you’re going to have a very complicated position. I just think that’s normal. Coach, executive, whether you’re running a Fortune 50 company – I don’t think anyone, if you look at it if they spent any amount of time there, they’ll say, “Oh, from the day I started until the day I retired, it was smooth.”
In knowing that, I would rather have my extremely challenging, rough spots as early as possible. Because when you’re able to endure those challenging times, it fortifies relationships; it helps you to identify where people stand; what are the hot buttons of everyone involved, and then it gives you a sense of direction as you climb out of it, where do you need to be facing?
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I knew when I took this Big Ten commissioner’s job after being with the Vikings, I knew there were going to be some rough moments.
You had a conference that was almost 125 years old. You had an iconic leader in Jim Delany who had been here for 31 years. You’ve had a consistent voice. Things were in place. You had 14 of the strongest brands in all of the world, as academic and athletic institutions. There were so many things in place, but there were so many opportunities.
Were those first two years challenging? I don’t know that there’s a word in the dictionary that describes what it was like. But I really have learned in my life … to embrace the pain. You can’t run away from it. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking through: What are the lessons? It was also during those quiet, complicated times that I was really able to refine and chart the course this conference needed to take.
One of those things I thought about was at some point in time, expansion would have a major impact on the Big Ten.
TSN: You already are in New Jersey and Maryland. At any point when considering the two Los Angeles schools, did you say, “Man, that’s a big conference. Do we really want to do that?” Was geography any sort of obstacle?
Warren: I didn’t. Some of this is coming out of my years in professional sports, and also how travel kind of shaped my mind. In college, my freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania, we had the normal Ivy League road games, but we also played at the University of New Mexico, and we played at Stanford University, and then we played in Tokyo, Japan against Louisville and Oregon State. I had never had a passport up until that point. To take that trip as a true freshman and go there and be able to play – that helped shape my mind … that really the world is one.
That trip impacted my heart even more from an educational standpoint than it did from a basketball standpoint. Learning about new cultures – our coaches challenged us to read and learn about Tokyo and Japan and the history of that. We had individuals that talked to us about it, and then to be there, and then we recapped it.
I know the power of field trips. That’s one of the reason we started the B1G Life series, and taking our student-athletes to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. I’m a big believer that this will not only be beneficial to our student athletes from, quite naturally, an athtetic, competitive standpoint, having a larger platform for them to display their talents, but also from an educational experience. It would be interesting to see how many student-athletes who are in the Big Ten now have never been to Southern California.
I know what it just did for Nebraska and Northwestern traveling to Dublin. We had many of our student-athletes have never had a passport.
A flight from Minneapolis to LA is less than three hours. People fly that all the time.
TSN: You’ve talked, it appears – because they haven’t been conversations with me – somewhat aggressively about this isn’t the end of expansion, there’s more out there. You already have the biggest television contract, now you have LA, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, what’s the value to getting even bigger than you are? And take Notre Dame out of the equation, because everybody gets that.
Warren: Because of the landscape we live in, college athletics right now, just being a prudent businesswoman or businessman, you have to be mindful of potential conference realignment or expansion. But this is not something we’re aggressively doing right now.
When people ask me right now: Do I think certain conferences may grow through a natural evolution to 18 or 20 schools? I do believe that. Now, over what time period is the critical question. I don’t know if that’s within a year, or five years, or seven years. I just think there’s been kind of like that … kind of like the Big Ten grew in the past.
I just think there’s going to be some natural growth. But I made it very clear: Some of my can’t-miss priorities, the things that I have to make sure we execute flawlessly are:
- Integrating our new television media partners. Because we were with Fox, ESPN, BTN for years. When you have those long-term relationships, you can have a recap meeting at the end of the year, make a few adjustments and come back. Now we’re talking about, in addition to Fox, FS1 and BTN, having two brand-new network partners in CBS and NBC starting next summer, and then with Peacock. So we’re going to have to be very intentional to make sure we integrate those relationships.
The other thing is, we have to flawlessly integrate USC and UCLA. Because any further expansion – if we don’t handle USC and UCLA properly, then any further expansion becomes much more complicated than it should be. So we’re spending a lot of time focused on that. We have internal integration committees that we’re working on. We’re not sitting here saying, “That’s two years out.”
I don’t want it to be that we say, “We did it pretty well.” I want it to be textbook. And that’s where my focus is.
TSN: When you talk about the natural evolution of college athletics, and therefore the league might grow, if Texas and Oklahoma had not moved to the SEC, would you have been compelled to add the two LA schools?
Warren: One-hundred percent. In my preparation for my job interview, expansion was one of the items I spoke about. Because of the history and tradition of the Big Ten, our list of potential schools is not 30 schools. There’s a defined list that has to have a combination of academic focus, athletic focus and history and tradition. Alumni base. All those different things combined. It’s easy to go through the list and say, “Here’s potential people that make sense.”
So regardless of what happened with Texas and Oklahoma going to the SEC, I know for us to make sure we provide our student-athletes with unique experiences, that expansion was on the horizon.
TSN: As leagues grow like this, does someone have to get college sports fans to understand that they have to recalibrate their expectations? Because when you have 16 teams, someone’s finishing 16th. If you go to 18 teams, someone’s finishing 18th. Well, 18th is a lot farther toward the bottom than 10th. Do fans have to readjust how their teams fare in such a much broader landscape than existed a decade ago?
Warren: What we’re seeing in our fans, they are very bright. And they understand how things operate from a scheduling, competition, college athletics standpoint. I think the main thing we have to focus on is making sure we continually engage our fans, like we have done with our media agreements. As I always talk about: From age 5 to 105, they can consume content in any form or fashion.
And the other thing, that’s why you have to be very skilled at storytelling, to be able to talk about those different things. College athletics, it is a changing landscape. Things are different. But I always try to create an environment where it really is a positive. So for that real fan to be able to see some of the matchups that will occur with having USC and UCLA in our conference. I think it should be exciting for them.
I just think you’re seeing an evolution of college athletics for the better, to give more access to our fans, more content. I already have a visualization that one day fans will be able to attend this event, and that I’ll be a family interactive event. I’m not a big believer in creating change for change. That’s where people can make mistakes they shouldn’t make. But I’m a big believer in making sure that we evolve, even, ahead of the times. I don’t want to evolve with the times. I want to evolve ahead.
TSN: When the Big Ten Tournament was moved to New York City and Washington D.C. under commissioner Delany, there was a lot of unpopularity regarding that decision among the core Midwest fans. Now you’re adding USC and UCLA, can you see a point at which these two tournaments are played in Los Angeles or, perhaps, Las Vegas?
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Warren: One good thing about the process we have now is to ask ourselves not only why, but why not? Even coming here to the Twin Cities – this is the first time we’ve not only had basketball media days here, but also the tournaments here? This is a rabid fan base they have not only for men’s but women’s basketball here.
Evolving ahead of the times allows us to look at it. That’s why we have to flawlessly integrate USC and UCLA. Once that happens, then I think we have the ability to say we’re truly a bi-coastal conference. And that allows you to be able to look at the country from a holistic standpoint and say, “What makes the most sense to have tournaments or games or multi-team events?”
There’s a possibility we could have tournaments and games and events anywhere in our Big Ten footprint.
TSN: You said very early in this process that you are an advocate of playoff expansion. And then when the 12-team format was proposed last summer, you were among those who did not approve then. What was in that plan, or what changed, that you’re now endorsing the current 12-team plan?
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Warren: The issue that I had last year, there were too many questions that were going to need to be resolved after we had the vote. I’ve been for expansion, but what I was not for is voting to expand and then having a whole laundry list of items that we’re going to have to deal with. I’m a big believer, just because of how my mind works and operates, in being more methodical. I’m for it. Let’s get as many of these kinds of items worked through. I know everything won’t be able to be worked through. What you’ve seen in the last year is the list has gone from a long list to a smaller list. So I’m comfortable now.
We’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’m confident we’ll continually work through it.
TSN: Can you give one example of an item that needed to be covered that now is?
Warren: One, off the top of my head, early on it wasn’t clear how our TV agreement, if there was expansion, would be handled. There was some discussion – nothing against ESPN; I have so much respect for Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus and Nick Dawson there – but it wasn’t fully clear how that would work.
In the last year it’s become more clear in regards to the opportunity for potential other partners to bid on it, or how we could amplify that. I feel now comfortable that at least there’s a collective agreement. Nothing has been signed. And it has nothing to do with excluding a network or automatically including one. It’s just the mindset to say: This should be handled. This content is so valuable, it should be handled by multiple network partners.
TSN: There’s a distinct difference between what’s happening now with athletes’ name/image/likeness rights being monetized and the possibility of college athletics adopting an employer/employee relationship. I’ve seen in some pieces that suggest you are an advocate of moving in that direction. Can you tell me what your position is on that?
Warren: What I’m an advocate of is having the discussion on these issues. I think one of the things that has probably put college athletics in a compromised position is these are some of the issues that we weren’t comfortable getting on the table to talk about.
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I can’t sit here and automatically say we should have student-athletes that are employees, and they’re professionals. I was in professional sports for 21 years. There are really good elements about professional athletics. And there are some things you do not want to have as far as our young student-athletes.
What we have to understand: My father was a college professor. My mother was an elementary school teacher and librarian. I have an undergrad degree, a Master’s and a law degree. I wouldn’t be sitting here today but for education. Was athletics important to me? Yes. Was it the key that unlocked me to get on college campuses? Yes. But I know the importance of a college education.
So regardless of what happens in the future, anything we do – and I believe everything we do – has to be tethered to education. Our colleges and universities were designed to educate people. And if those individuals happen to be talented athletes, that is wonderful.
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TSN: What did the pandemic teach you about the challenges of dealing with athlete health and safety? Because that’s been an important part of your message since you became commissioner.
Warren: I think what the pandemic did was emphasize the importance of health and safety of our student-athletes. That’s why when people have asked me – Are there things you would have changed? – there are things quite naturally I could have done better.
I would have communicated with our student-athletes and even our parents, our athletic directors and chancellors and presidents and coaches in a different manner. Although it may not have been a direct legal issue, there may have been some serious legal implications that came out of it. So I had to be thoughtful in how I communicated. But if I had to do it all over again, I would have changed the lines of communication and made sure to say: Here’s why I feel the way I do. But we were figuring it out as we go.
When I would ask medical personnel about COVID and the impact, people were still saying, “I don’t know what it’s going to do with someone’s brain,” or, “I don’t know what it’s going to do with their heart,” or “I think this might work,” or “I think this should be OK.” You can say that as far as a business deal, but when you start dealing with health – especially the health of a young person – I wanted to err on the side of being as risk-adverse as we possibly could be.
Was it a tough decision? Yes. And it created a lot of complicated issues we had to work with. But that’s something I’m proud that the Big Ten – how we put the health and safety of our student-athletes first.
TSN: Last thing, I wanted to ask about the B1G Life event you did with taking athletes to the site of the Selma-to-Montgomery March and crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to cross that bridge.
Warren: I’m telling you, I get choked up still, to this day. To be able to go there and spend time with the folks in Selma and Montgomery … We rode on the bus, 54 miles. Even riding on the bus, it was a long ride. As we had to remind ourselves, they walked that. And it wasn’t on a highway with street lights. I asked everyone there: What would you walk 54 miles over a 5-day period for? And they were walking for the opportunity to vote. It wasn’t like: Make the walk, and at the end everybody gets $10 million. They were just walking for an opportunity for equality.
To do it with young people – that’s why I say, regardless of a course you’re taking on a college campus on the Civil Rights movement, preparing for that trip, then going to Selma and Montgomery on that immersive trip, and then the post- conversations we had, that is more valuable than any course anyone could ever take.
So when we start talking about expansion, I’m asking myself: What are those same types of experiences we could create for not only our schools in Los Angeles who will be traveling to the Midwest and East but also those currently in the Big Ten who’ll be traveling West. Because those same stories exist at USC and UCLA and our 14 institutions.
