The basketball-driven Big East reportedlyis handing the reins of the conference to a former Major League Baseball executive.
Pete Thamel and Jeff Passan of ESPN reportedSaturday that Tim Brosnan, who was MLB’s chief operating officer when he resignedin 2015, is expected to be named the sixth commissioner of the Big East.
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He would replace Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member Val Ackerman, whose plannedretirement takes effect at the end of this month. She has served for 13 years.
The Big East has 11 schools: UConn, Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier.
Commissioner Val Ackerman hands the championship trophy to St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino after St. John’s defeated UConn in the men’s Big East tournament championship game at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 2026. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Twenty years ago, Brosnan would not havebeen a conventional hire. He doesn’t have a decades-long career surrounded bycollege hoopla, town-and-gown relations. He does not need to understand a coach’sXs and Os.
Instead, a commissioner today must havethe experience to navigate the new realities of college sports, which hinge on expertise in areas such as business acumen, negotiations of television contracts and development ofrevenue streams.
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He will not be the first former MLBexecutive to lead a conference; the powerful Big Ten went the same route in 2023with the hiring of another former MLB leader, Tony Pettiti.
Eleven times, Brosnan was named to thelist of the “100 Most Powerful People in Sports” by Sports Business Journal. Hewas one of the three finalists to serve as MLB commissioner when Rob Manfredwas elected to the position in 2014 to succeed Bud Selig early the following year.
MLB executive vice president of business Tim Brosnan addresses the crowd during the unveiling of the 2012 All Star Game logo at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 2, 2011. Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The Big East is a basketball conferencein a football-driven world. But the Big East drives college basketball.
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UConn’s football team operates as an independent.
In the past dozen seasons since 2014, theconference has won five men’s NCAA basketball tournaments, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference withthree, the Big 12 with two, and the powerful Big Ten and Southeasternconferences just one each.
Among Big East teams, UConn won three titles and Villanova earned two.
In the same time span, the UConn women won four national championships for the Big East. The SEC also has four.
Despite such success, without revenues generated bymega-million football television and streaming contracts generated by the powerconferences, the Big East needs a jolt to its financial stream.
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Brosnan has experience in that realm. Whileemployed by MLB, Brosnan was part of the group that developed the MLB Networkand World Baseball Classic.
According to ESPN, MLBrevenues grew from $1.5 billion in 1991 to $8.5 billion in 2015, the timein which Brosnan rose to the highest posts of his baseball career.
Each Big East school – UConn included – canuse an infusion of cash in today’s revenue sharing and NIL landscape.
Brosnan is a 1980 graduate of Georgetown,where he played baseball for four seasons and was team captain as a senior. Hemajored in government, then earned his J.D. at Fordham Law School. He spenttime in private practice and also served on the New York state Commission ofGovernment Integrity, appointed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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As the father of three Georgetown grads,he didn’t stray far from his Big East home. He served six years on the university’s Boardof Regents (chair of athletics) and counseled former university president JohnDeGioia on matters concerning athletics.
In 2021, DeGioia charged Brosnan withanalyzing how the implementation of NIL rules would impact Georgetown. His task ledto the creation of Hoyas Rising, a private company that Brosnan developed andled as chairman and CEO through June 2025.
Once officially announcedas commissioner, Brosnan will join Dave Gavitt, Mike Tranghese, JohnMarinatto, Mike Aresco and Ackerman as those to have served in the role.
NCAA executiveDan Gavitt, the son of Dave Gavitt, reportedly turned down the opportunity toserve as commissioner. His father was one of the conference’s founders.
