Big Ten has '18 strong members,' no expansion talks, commish says - ESPN

ROSEMONT, Ill. — The Big Ten has had no discussions about pursuing expansion, even if the proposed Protect College Sports Act would allow the 18-member league to add two additional members.

Commissioner Tony Petitti said Thursday at Big Ten basketball media days that the conference, while «aggressively supporting» the bill, has had «absolutely no discussions taking place around expansion, and there haven't been for quite some time.»

«This conference has got 18 strong members,» Petitti said. «We're focused on that. There's lots of things that we think we can do inside the conference to continue to grow the position that we have with the 18 members.»

The bill, which passed the U.S. Senate 77-22 in September and would go next to House of Representatives, would cap conference membership at 20 teams and require any school seeking to move from one Power 4 conference to another to spend three years without any conference affiliation before joining its new league.

The Big Ten most recently expanded by bringing in four teams from the original Pac-12, with USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington all officially joining in 2024. In the 2010s, the Big Ten added Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland.

Petitti is «optimistic» that the bill will pass the House and said it addresses «core things» around eligibility and transfer rules that will help college sports reach «a cleaner system» of operation. He said he respects athletes who take legal means to establish eligibility, noting that a number of Big Ten athletes have done so, but added that returning from a professional league to college crosses a line.

«We've just got to go to a cleaner system that allows us to compete nationally and just slows down all that,» Petitti said. «The bill isn't going