It's not totally crazy to think that Tony Petitti might be the worst thing that's ever happened to the Big Ten. Michigan officials certainly seem to think so. And while Nebraska admins are, for now, following Petitti's lead, they should probably rethink how long they'll continue to do so.
At issue is a push by Petitti for the Big Ten to accept a private equity deal that would provide an influx of billions in cash. However, at least two schools (Michigan and USC) are against the agreement. They have been since the beginning.
Earlier this week, reports began to circulate on the Internet that Petitti might make a move to simply leave the Wolverines and Trojans out of the deal. That in turn would convince the two schools it was time to leave the conference. And once they leave, it's hard to imagine no one else would want to follow.
Talk about Big Ten breakup gets louder and Tony Petitti takes the blame from Michigan
At first blush, the idea that the Big Ten commish would make a move that could detonate the conference seemed ridiculous. So did two schools like Michigan and USC (and maybe others) leave. However, The Athletic's Scott Dochterman has been dialed into the pulse of unnamed sources who paint a picture of real, severe strife.
One of the biggest complaints about the private equity pitch is that conference admins haven't been up front about the details, let alone who the agreement would be with. However, one of Dochterman's sources disputed that:
"There have been hundreds of hours. This has been an item on a weekly AD agenda for over a year. There have been meetings with presidents, individual meetings with institutions, with agreement to come and make multiple presentations. And those have happened at institutions where they've been requested for more detail and information, and that level of engagement directly with ADs and presidents and boards depending on what institution needed what. This commentary that this is a last-minute deal that hasn't had any discussion behind it is just completely a farce."
On Thursday, he got a quote from the other side. The writer said someone from high up at Michigan said they believe the continued push for the deal is an "aggressive move on Tony’s part to break up the Big Ten."
For now, this is a lot of big talk as the two sides in this argument materialize. Still, if a Big Ten breakup does happen, Nebraska might be an innocent bystander in all of this. Or one of the reasons it happens. Neither will be good for the Huskers.