50 Most Influential: Jim Delany

Commissioner

Big Ten Conference

CHANGE FROM 2012: +5

Never afraid of a good debate, the Big Ten commissioner has been an outspoken voice against any sort of pay-for-play model in college sports. Delany has led the charge against compensating athletes beyond the $2,000 stipend model by saying that the Big Ten might just go Division III and play without athletic scholarships if such a model were forced on the conferences. That’s the sort of rhetoric this issue has generated, and even if Delany didn’t mean it, he’s been a leading and forceful figure as the issue has unfolded.