Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has ‘deep concerns’ with NIL and the NCAA transfer portal

Petitti says “true NIL” is steering away from its original intent to provide students compensation for their talents but instead is becoming a pay-to-play model.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti speaks during the conference's media day on Wednesday in Indianapolis.Read moreDarron Cummings / AP

by Kerith Gabriel

Published July 26, 2023, 11:59 a.m. ET

In his first 87 days as the commissioner of the new-look Big Ten, Tony Petitti voiced his concerns when it comes to the wild west that is an ever-changing college landscape — but more specifically, “pros and cons” of the NIL and the NCAA transfer portal.

Petitti, a Haverford College alum and the former deputy commissioner of Major League Baseball, kicked off the annual two-day Big Ten Football Media Days on Wednesday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. His opening address intimated that “true NIL” was steering away from its original intent to provide students compensation for their talents but instead becoming a pay-to-play model when coupled with the revolving door that the transfer portal has become.

”I’ve learned about what NIL is and what NIL is not,” Petitti said. “One of the things we are most focused on are the incentives that are being created for students that are leaving.

”When I spend time with our coaches, the portal is an absolute priority and I think the combination of the benefits that are being provided with the freedom to move [is their greatest concern]. When I talk to our leadership, I get a real deep concern about what’s going to happen with graduation, as students move at the levels that we’re seeing today…we’ll see the results of that shortly with the data that comes out of this flood.”

The “flood” Petitti alluded to is the roughly 8,700 college football athletes who moved throughout the transfer portal between August 2022 and May 2023, according to an ESPN report.

”We as a conference not only support but celebrate the student-athlete’s ability to generate unlimited benefits from true NIL,” Petitti said. “However, much of what is happening now under the guise of NIL is not true NIL, but rather a move to a pay-for-play system that is driving recruitment and the transfer portal. It’s a system that operates away from institutional control, nor is it required to comply with Title IX.”