One very interesting facet of the "comparative realignment goals" of the Big 10 and SEC is to take a look at the conference commissioner bios of the two:
SEC
Sankey started as an intramural sports director at Utica College, and in 1992 joined the office of the SEC working in compliance. He has basically been a lifelong SEC employee, who rose through the ranks and is now the commissioner. Well respected all around.
BIG 10.
Tony Petitti, Harvard Law grad, has had a pretty unique career in the sports media industry:
-ABC Sports ... 8 years in a variety of roles including VP of programming.
-CBS Sports ... (10 years) joined after his 8 years at ABC sports as VP of programming and ended up EVP of CBS sports
in charge of the entire sports network.
-MLB. (12 years). Petite joined MLB in 2008 to CREATE, LAUNCH, AND OVERSEE PROGRAMMING FOR THE MLB NETWORK.
If I had to choose a commissioner that might be more of a visionary on what a conference COULD BECOME, and had the actual experience in creating and managing an expansion BASED ON OPTIMIZING TV PROGRAMMING AND MAJOR BIG TIME MATCHUPS ... there is no contest ... Tony Petitti, with 30 years in the highest level of sports media pioneering work would be the guy to keep an eye on.