By Pat Harty

Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago that a Cy-Hawk contract extension for football is coming soon.

The current contract will expire after the 2027 season.

Goetz told members of the media that she and Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard have had several conversations this summer and that both sides are determined to keep the annual rivalry going with a new contract extension.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti also said Tuesday that he supports Big Ten teams continuing these long-standing rivalries.

“We’re scheduling nine of the 12 games and our institutions are figuring out how they want to play,” Petitti said. “There’s obviously a long history to that game and Beth is responsible for making those decisions. It’s at a point where, obviously, it means a lot.

“What we want to do in the league is allow and encourage and have a system that allows our schools to make those decisions. That’s the way we think about it. No matter what the rivalry game is, I think fans have an expectation about those types of games and my sense in our league is we work hard to preserve them.”

And while that might upset some Hawkeye fans who feel that playing Iowa State on an annual basis hurts Iowa’s scheduling flexibility; it still is the right thing to do, especially with the rivalry now actually a rivalry as Iowa has a 14-13 record over the past 27 seasons, though Iowa State has won three of the last four games.

Since 2010, the home team has won just four games in the rivalry, and prior to Iowa State’s three-point victory in 2025, the home team had not won since 2018.

That wasn’t always the case as Iowa won 15 straight games in series from 1983 to 1997 under former head coach Hayden Fry, with some of the game not even competitive.

The fact that Iowa, despite its low population, has two power-conference football programs from two different power conferences should be something to celebrate rather than eliminate.

Iowa will host the Cyclones on Sept. 12 at Kinnick Stadium in the second game of the season. The game already has reached sellout status.