Jim Delany

James Edward Delany (born 1948) is the former commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, a role in which he had served from 1989 until 2020.

He is regarded among college athletics as having been influential in the creation of the Bowl Championship Series and its maintenance.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1970.

In 1975 he moved on to a position in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, working as an enforcement representative.

Twenty-five percent of all U.S. households are in the geographic region covered by the Big Ten Conference.[when?