Dan Butterly: Leading the Big West Conference into the Future
Episode #124
Posted On: July 15, 2024 By :
Dan Butterly has been the commissioner of the Big West Conference since July 1, 2020. He took the job at a time when Covid was wreaking havoc on the sports landscape and led the conference through uncertain times. Butterly has negotiated a large streaming contract with ESPN Plus and has ambitious designs for the future of the conference and its athletics. He is a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Competition and Oversight Committees, and the NCAA Council Working Group on NIL.
In this episode, Butterly discusses the ever-changing worlds of NIL and conference realignment, how the Big West can capitalize from the demise of the Pac-12, getting his conference more exposure, and what went into the decision to move the men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments from California to Henderson, Nevada.
Among the topics in this episode
- What it’s like being a commissioner in these days of ever-evolving college athletics (1:58)
- Thoughts on the current NIL landscape (3:00)
- What the future of NIL looks like (4:30)
- What conference realignment means to the Big West (5:33)
- How to handle other conferences trying to poach Big West schools (7:15)
- The juggling act of keeping member institutions happy (8:40)
- How the Big West is capitalizing on the demise of the Pac-12 (9:47)
- The partnership with ESPN Plus (11:18)
- Managing travel for athletics to and from Hawaii (12:38)
- Moving the conference basketball tournaments to Las Vegas/Henderson (14:45)
- Opening the Dollar Loan Center in 2022 (16:50)
- Growing the conference basketball tournaments (18:28)
- Big West’s partnership with Ontario International Airport (22:32)
This episode is sponsored by:
