The basketball-driven Big East reportedly
is handing the reins of the conference to a former Major League Baseball executive.

Pete Thamel and Jeff Passan of ESPN reported
Saturday that Tim Brosnan, who was MLB’s chief operating officer when he resigned
in 2015, is expected to be named the sixth commissioner of the Big East.

He would replace Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member Val Ackerman, whose planned
retirement 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.

An outside-the-box hire?

Twenty years ago, Brosnan would not have
been a conventional hire. He doesn’t have a decades-long career surrounded by
college hoopla, town-and-gown relations. He does not need to understand a coach’s
Xs and Os.

Instead, a commissioner today must have
the 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 of
revenue streams.

He will not be the first former MLB
executive to lead a conference; the powerful Big Ten went the same route in 2023
with the hiring of another former MLB leader, Tony Pettiti.

Eleven times, Brosnan was named to the
list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Sports” by Sports Business Journal. He
was one of the three finalists to serve as MLB commissioner when Rob Manfred
was elected to the position in 2014 to succeed Bud Selig early the following year.

How does Brosnan’s background help
the Big East?

The Big East is a basketball conference
in a football-driven world. But the Big East drives college basketball.

UConn's football team operates as an independent.

In the past dozen seasons since 2014, the
conference has won five men's NCAA basketball tournaments, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference with
three, the Big 12 with two, and the powerful Big Ten and Southeastern
conferences 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.

Starting 5 for the BIG EAST Championship game pic.twitter.com/HNXSo9zQDc

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 9, 2026

Despite such success, without revenues generated by
mega-million football television and streaming contracts generated by the power
conferences, the Big East needs a jolt to its financial stream. 

Brosnan has experience in that realm. While
employed by MLB, Brosnan was part of the group that developed the MLB Network
and World Baseball Classic.

According to ESPN, MLB
revenues grew from $1.5 billion in 1991 to $8.5 billion in 2015, the time
in which Brosnan rose to the highest posts of his baseball career.

Each Big East school – UConn included – can
use an infusion of cash in today’s revenue sharing and NIL landscape.

Brosnan’s Big East background

Brosnan is a 1980 graduate of Georgetown,
where he played baseball for four seasons and was team captain as a senior. He
majored in government, then earned his J.D. at Fordham Law School. He spent
time in private practice and also served on the New York state Commission of
Government Integrity, appointed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

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 Board
of Regents (chair of athletics) and counseled former university president John
DeGioia on matters concerning athletics.

In 2021, DeGioia charged Brosnan with
analyzing how the implementation of NIL rules would impact Georgetown. His task led
to the creation of Hoyas Rising, a private company that Brosnan developed and
led as chairman and CEO through June 2025.

Once officially announced
as commissioner, Brosnan will join Dave Gavitt, Mike Tranghese, John
Marinatto, Mike Aresco and Ackerman as those to have served in the role.

NCAA executive
Dan Gavitt, the son of Dave Gavitt, reportedly turned down the opportunity to
serve as commissioner. His father was one of the conference’s founders.