Big 12 Conference

"Big 12" redirects here. For the high school conference in Central Illinois, see Big Twelve Conference (Illinois). For the high school conference in Northeastern Illinois, see Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference. For the Brazilian football group, see Big Twelve (Brazilian football).

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition. Its 10 members, in the states of Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia, include two private Christian universities and eight public universities. Additionally, the Big 12 has 12 affiliate members — eight for the sport of wrestling, one for women's equestrianism, one for women's gymnastics and two for women's rowing. The Big 12 Conference is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.^[2] Brett Yormark became the new commissioner on August 1, 2022.

Big 12 Conference

Association	NCAA
Founded	February 25, 1994 (1994-02-25)^[1]
Commissioner	Brett Yormark (since 2022-present)
Sports fielded	23
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
No. of teams	10 + 4 future members
Headquarters	Irving, Texas
Region	South Atlantic West North Central West South Central
Official website	www.big12sports.com
Locations

The Big 12 Conference was founded in February 1994. The eight members of the former Big Eight Conference joined with the Southwest Conference universities University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Baylor University and Texas Tech University to form the conference, with play beginning in 1996.^[3] The conference's current ten-campus makeup resulted from the 2010–2013 Big 12 Conference realignment, in which Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference, Colorado joined the Pac-12, and Texas A&M and Missouri joined the Southeastern Conference. Texas Christian University and West Virginia University joined from the Mountain West and Big East Conferences respectively to offset two of the departing universities, bringing the conference to its current strength. In 2021, Texas and Oklahoma announced plans to move to the SEC in 2025. The Big 12 Conference then invited Brigham Young University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Houston; all four schools will join in 2023. Oklahoma and Texas will depart the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024.

The Big 12 Conference, like others involved in the realignment, has kept its name primarily for marketing purposes. The conference has high name recognition and remains one of the Power Five conferences, the five highest-earning and most historically successful FBS football conferences; Power Five conferences have provided nearly all participants in the College Football Playoff since its inception, are guaranteed at least one bid to a New Year's Six bowl game, and have been granted autonomy from certain NCAA rules.

Member universities

Current full members

Departing members are highlighted in pink.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Endowment (millions)^[4]	Nickname	Colors
Baylor University	Waco, Texas	1845	1996	Private (Baptist)	20,626^[5]	$2,101	Bears
Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	1858		Public	30,708^[6]	$1,440	Cyclones
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	1865			27,685^[7]	$1,820	Jayhawks
Kansas State University	Manhattan, Kansas	1863			20,229 ^[8]	$510	Wildcats
University of Oklahoma^[a]	Norman, Oklahoma	1890	1996	Public	28,052 ^[11] ^[b]	$1,736	Sooners
Oklahoma State University	Stillwater, Oklahoma	1890	1996	Public	24,660 ^[12]	$1,210	Cowboys/Cowgirls
University of Texas at Austin^[a]	Austin, Texas	1883	1996	Public	51,892^[13]	$42,900	Longhorns
Texas Christian University (TCU)	Fort Worth, Texas	1873	2012	Private (DOC)	11,938^[14]	$2,200	Horned Frogs
Texas Tech University	Lubbock, Texas	1923	1996	Public	40,666 ^[15]	$1,320	Red Raiders
West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	1867	2012		25,474^[16]^[c]	$590	Mountaineers

Notes

1. Oklahoma and Texas have accepted invitations to join the SEC on July 1, 2024.^[9][10]
2. Includes only enrollment at the Norman campus.
3. Includes only enrollment at the Morgantown campus.

Future members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joining	Type	Enrollment	Endowment (millions)^[17]	Nickname	Colors
Brigham Young University (BYU)	Provo, Utah	1875	2023^[18]^[19]^[20]	Private (LDS)	34,390^[21]	$1,974	Cougars
University of Central Florida (UCF)	Orlando, Florida	1963		Public	71,948^[22]	$165	Knights
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	1819			47,914^[23]	$1,776	Bearcats
University of Houston	Houston, Texas	1927			47,090^[24]	$1,100^[25]	Cougars

Affiliate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Big 12 sport	Primary conference
United States Air Force Academy	Colorado Springs, Colorado	1954	2015	Military academy	4,000	Falcons		Wrestling	Mountain West
University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	1831	2014	Public	38,563	Crimson Tide		Women's rowing	SEC
California Baptist University	Riverside, California	1950	2022	Private	11,045	Lancers		Wrestling	WAC
University of Denver	Denver, Colorado	1864	2015		11,809	Pioneers		Women's gymnastics	Summit
California State University, Fresno	Fresno, California	1911	2019	Public	24,405	Bulldogs		Equestrian	Mountain West
University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	1839	2021^[a]		31,089	Tigers		Wrestling	SEC
University of Northern Colorado	Greeley, Colorado	1889	2015		12,084	Bears			Big Sky
University of Northern Iowa	Cedar Falls, Iowa	1876	2017		13,914	Panthers			Missouri Valley
North Dakota State University	Fargo, North Dakota	1890	2015		14,747	Bison			Summit
South Dakota State University	Brookings, South Dakota	1881	2015		12,554	Jackrabbits
University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	1794	2014		27,523	Volunteers		Women's rowing	SEC
Utah Valley University	Orem, Utah	1941	2015		31,556	Wolverines		Wrestling	WAC
University of Wyoming	Laramie, Wyoming	1886	2015		13,992	Cowboys			Mountain West

Notes

1. Missouri was a full Big 12 member from the conference's formation in 1996 until leaving for the SEC in 2012.

• On July 29, 2015, the Big 12 announced it would add the six former members of the Western Wrestling Conference—Air Force, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, and Wyoming—as affiliate members for wrestling, plus Denver as an affiliate member for women's gymnastics, all effective with the 2015–16 academic year.^[26] On July 5, 2017, the Big 12 added Fresno State and Northern Iowa as wrestling affiliates.^[27] On May 2, 2019, the Big 12 added Fresno State as an equestrian affiliate.^[28] Fresno State would drop wrestling in 2021, but remains an equestrian affiliate.^[29] Big 12 wrestling added former full member Missouri in 2021.^[30]

Former full members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Nickname	Colors	Current conference
University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	1876	1996	2011	Public	Buffaloes		Pac-12
University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	1839		2012^[a]		Tigers		SEC
University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	1869		2011		Cornhuskers		Big Ten
Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas	1876		2012		Aggies		SEC

Notes

1. Missouri returned to the Big 12 as a wrestling-only member effective the 2021–22 school year.

Former affiliate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Nickname	Colors	Big 12 sport(s)	Current primary conference	Current conference in former Big 12 sport(s)^[a]
California State University, Fresno	Fresno, California	1911	2017	2021^[b]	Public	Bulldogs		Wrestling	Mountain West	N/A (dropped wrestling)
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	1930	2014	2018	Public	Monarchs		Women's rowing	Sun Belt	The American^[31]

Notes

1. Affiliation in former Big 12 sport(s); does not necessarily match primary affiliation.
2. Fresno State remains in the Big 12 as an affiliate member in equestrian.

Membership timeline

Full members Assoc. member (Other sports) Other Conference

Sports

The Big 12 Conference sponsors championship competition in ten men's and thirteen women's NCAA sanctioned sports.^[32]

Teams in Big 12 Conference competition

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	9	–
Basketball	10	10
Cross country	9	10
Equestrian	–	4
Football	10	–
Golf	10	9
Gymnastics	–	4
Rowing	–	7
Soccer	–	10
Softball	–	7
Swimming & Diving	3	5
Tennis	6	10
Track and Field (Indoor)	9	10
Track and Field (Outdoor)	9	10
Volleyball	–	9
Wrestling	13	–

Men's sponsored sports by university

Below are the men's sports sponsored by each member institution. The only sports with full participation by the entire conference are basketball, football, and golf. Swimming and diving have the lowest participation with only three universities fielding a team; one of these three (Texas) has announced its departure, but future full members BYU and Cincinnati also sponsor the sport. The conference fields 13 teams for wrestling, the most of any sport, with only four teams being full-time members, as well as nine affiliate members.

Departing members are highlighted in red.

University	Baseball	Basketball	Cross country	Football	Golf	Swimming and Diving	Tennis	Track & field Indoor	Track & field outdoor	Wrestling	Total Big 12 sports
Baylor	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	8
Iowa State	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	7
Kansas	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	7
Kansas State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	7
Oklahoma	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Oklahoma State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
TCU	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	9
Texas	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	9
Texas Tech	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	8
West Virginia	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	6
Totals	9	10	9	10	10	3	6	9	9	4*
Future Members
BYU	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	9
Cincinnati	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	8
Houston	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	7
UCF	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	N	6
Future Totals	11	12	10	12	12	4	6	10	10	12*
Affiliate Members
Air Force										Y	1
California Baptist										Y	1
Missouri										Y	1
North Dakota State										Y	1
Northern Colorado										Y	1
Northern Iowa										Y	1
South Dakota State										Y	1
Utah Valley										Y	1
Wyoming										Y	1

Men's (and Coed – see Rifle) varsity sports not sponsored by the Big 12 Conference which are played by Big 12 universities:

University	Gymnastics	Rifle^[a]	Soccer	Volleyball
Oklahoma	MPSF	N	N	N
TCU	N	PRC	N	N
West Virginia	N	GARC	SBC^[34]	N
Future Members
BYU	N	N	N	MPSF
UCF	N	N	SBC^[b]^[35]	N

1. Rifle is often categorized as a men's sport because the NCAA bylaws that establish scholarship limits for each sport list rifle as a men's sport.^[33] Nonetheless, it is an open coed sport in NCAA college athletics, with men's, women's, and coed teams in all NCAA divisions competing against each other. TCU and West Virginia both field coed teams. Through 2017, West Virginia with 19 national titles and TCU with two, together have won over half of the NCAA titles awarded since the inaugural NCAA championship in 1980. West Virginia also won four pre-NCAA national titles.
2. UCF men's soccer will join the Sun Belt Conference in 2023.

Women's sponsored sports by university

Below are women's sports sponsored by the member institutions. Six sports have full participation from the entire conference, including future members: basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, indoor track and outdoor track. Equestrian and gymnastics have the lowest participation with three full-time members and one affiliate participating; while gymnastics will lose a full-time member once Oklahoma departs, future member BYU sponsors the sport.

School	Basketball	Cross country	Equestrian	Golf	Gymnastics	Rowing	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & diving	Tennis	Track & field indoor	Track & field outdoor	Volleyball	Total Big 12 sports
Baylor	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Iowa State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Kansas	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Kansas State	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Oklahoma	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Oklahoma State	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	9
TCU	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Texas	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Texas Tech	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
West Virginia	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Totals	10	10	3+1	9	3+1	5+2	10	7	5	10	10	10	9
Future Members
BYU	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Cincinnati	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Houston	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
UCF	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Future Totals	12	12	3+1	11	3+1	4+2	12	8	7	12	12	12	11
Affiliate Members
Alabama						Y								1
Denver					Y									1
Fresno State			Y											1
Tennessee						Y								1

Women's (and co-educational – see Rifle) varsity sports not sponsored by the Big 12 Conference which are played by Big 12 universities:

University	Acrobatics & tumbling^[a]	Beach volleyball	Lacrosse	Rifle^[b]
Baylor	NCATA	N	N	N
TCU	N	CCSA^[37]	N	PRC
West Virginia	N	N	N	GARC
Future Members
Cincinnati	N	N	Y^[c]	N

1. Part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.
2. Rifle is often categorized as a men's sport because the NCAA bylaws that establish scholarship limits for each sport list rifle as a men's sport.^[36] Nonetheless, it is an open coed sport in NCAA college athletics, with men's, women's, and coed teams in all NCAA divisions competing against each other. TCU and West Virginia both field coed teams. Through 2018, West Virginia with 19 national titles and TCU with two, together have won over half of the NCAA titles awarded since the inaugural NCAA championship in 1980. West Virginia also won four pre-NCAA national titles.
3. Cincinnati has not announced which conference their women's lacrosse team will compete in since the Big 12 does not sponsor the sport.

• In addition to the above, UCF lists its coeducational cheerleading and all-female dance teams as varsity teams on its official athletic website.

History

 

 

Baylor

 

Iowa State

 

Kansas

 

Kansas State

 

Oklahoma

 

Oklahoma State

 

TCU

 

Texas

 

Texas Tech

 

West Virginia

 

Air Force

 

Alabama

 

Denver

 

Fresno State

 

Missouri

 

Northern Colorado

 

Northern Iowa

 

North Dakota State

 

South Dakota State

 

Tennessee

 

Utah Valley

 

Wyoming

 

Houston

 

UCF

 

BYU

 

Cincinnati

 

Cal Baptist

class=notpageimage|

Big 12 Conference Member locations
  – Full member,   – Full, departing member   – Full, arriving member
  – Affiliate, wrestling,   – Affiliate, other   – Affiliate, arriving wrestling

Main article: History of the Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference was formed in February 1994 when four prominent universities from Texas that were members of the Southwest Conference were invited to join the eight members of the Big Eight Conference to form a new 12 member conference. The Big 12 does not claim the Big Eight's history as its own, even though it was essentially the Big Eight plus the four Texas universities.

The Big 12 began athletic play in fall 1996, with the Texas Tech vs. Kansas State football game being the first-ever sports event staged by the conference. From its formation until 2011, its 12 members competed in two divisions in most sports. The Oklahoma and Texas universities formed the South Division, while the other six teams of the former Big Eight formed the North Division.

Between 2011 and 2012 four charter members left the conference, while two universities joined in 2012. A decade later, Oklahoma and Texas notified the Big 12 Conference that the two universities do not wish to extend their grant of television rights beyond the 2024–25 athletic year.^[38][39] On July 27, 2021, Oklahoma and Texas sent a joint letter to the Southeastern Conference requesting an invitation for membership beginning July 1, 2025.^[40][41] On July 29, 2021, the 14 presidents and chancellors of SEC member universities voted unanimously to invite Oklahoma and Texas to join the SEC.^[42] The following day, the Texas Board of Regents and Oklahoma Board of Regents each accepted the invitation to join the SEC from July 1, 2025.^[10] On September 10, 2021, the Big 12 announced that invitations had been extended to and accepted by BYU, a football independent and otherwise a member of the non-football West Coast Conference, and three members of the American Athletic Conference in Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston. These moves, combined with the impending departure of Oklahoma and Texas, would once again increase the Big 12's membership to twelve schools.^[43] All four schools will begin competing in Big 12 athletics beginning in fall 2023. BYU had initially announced that it would join in 2023,^[44] and Houston indicated it could do so as well.^[45] On June 10, 2022, The American and its three departing members announced a buyout agreement that allowed those schools to join the Big 12 in 2023.^[46]

Distinctive elements

 

Original Big 12 Conference logo from 1996 to 2004

 

Big 12 Conference logo from 2004 to 2014

Football championship game takes hiatus, returns in 2017

The Big 12 is unique among the current "Power Five" conferences in that it only has 10 members, despite the name, causing some confusion. From 1987 to 2015, 12 or more members were required for an "exempt" conference championship game—that is, one that did not count against NCAA limits for regular-season games (currently 12 in FBS)—although the first such game was not established until the SEC did so in 1992.^[47] Since the 2014 season, the Pac-12 has 12 members, ACC has 15 members, Big Ten and SEC have 14 football members each.

Former Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and former football coach Mack Brown, along with Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops, preferred not to have a championship game.^[48] Critics argued it was a competitive advantage over other contract conferences. Conferences with a championship game have their division champions typically play one of their toughest games of the year in the last week of the regular season. Unlike the other "Power 5" conferences in which a team only plays a portion of the other teams in the conference each season, each Big 12 team plays the other nine teams during its conference schedule. This theoretically allows for the declaration of a de facto champion without the need for an additional rematch between the top two teams in the conference.

On June 3, 2016, the conference announced it would reinstate the football championship game in the 2017 season.^[49] This followed the passage of a new NCAA rule allowing all FBS conferences to hold "exempt" football championship games regardless of their membership numbers.^[50]

Population base

The Big 12 universities are located in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas, and West Virginia. These states have a combined population of 37.8 million.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, of the 115.6 million TV households nationwide there were 13,427,130 TV households in those states (11.6%),^[51][52] although Morgantown, West Virginia where WVU is based is in the Pittsburgh television market, which increases the Big 12's television base well into Pennsylvania, and Lawrence, Kansas, where KU is based, is in the Kansas City television market, increasing the base into western Missouri.

The pending additions of BYU, Cincinnati, and UCF will expand its market share with the addition of the Orlando (ranked 17th nationally), Salt Lake City (30th) and Cincinnati (36th) TV markets.

The Big 12's share of the nation's TVs is similar to that reached by the rest of the Power Five. The conference negotiated tier 1 and 2 TV contracts with total payouts similar to those of the other Power Five conferences.^[53]

Grant of Rights

Member universities granted their first and second tier sports media rights to the conference for the length of their current TV deals. The Grant of Rights (GOR) deal with the leagues' TV contracts ensures that "if a Big 12 school leaves for another league in the next 13 years, that school's media rights, including revenue, would remain with the Big 12 and not its new conference".^[54]

GOR is seen by league members as a "foundation of stability" and allowed the Big 12 to be "positioned with one of the best media rights arrangements in collegiate sports, providing the conference and its members unprecedented revenue growth, and sports programming over two networks." All members agreed to the GOR and later agreed to extend the initial 6-year deal to 13 years to correspond to the length of their TV contracts.^[55]

Prior to this agreement, the Big Ten and Pac-12 also had similar GOR agreements.^[56] The Big 12 subsequently assisted the ACC in drafting its GOR agreement.^[57] Four of the five major conferences now have such agreements, with the SEC the only exception.

Tier 3 events

The Big 12 is the only major conference that allows members to monetize TV rights for tier 3 events in football and men's basketball.^[58] This allows individual Big 12 member institutions to create tier 3 deals that include TV rights for one home football game and four home men's basketball games per season. Tier 3 rights exist for other sports as well, but these are not unique to the Big 12. The unique arrangement potentially allows Big 12 members to remain some of college sports' highest revenue earners. Other conferences' cable deals are subject to value reductions based on how people acquire cable programming; Big 12 universities' tier 3 deals are exempt.^[59] Texas alone will earn more than $150 million of that total from their Longhorn Network.^[60]

As of 2022, all of the Big 12's tier 3 rights are held by ESPN; the network operates a joint venture with Learfield and the Texas Longhorns known as Longhorn Network, and ESPN bought the tier 3 rights to most Big 12 teams (besides Oklahoma) in 2019, moving the events exclusively to ESPN+.^[61] The Oklahoma Sooners retained an agreement with Bally Sports Oklahoma (which distributed its football game via pay-per-view) until 2022, when it also sold its rights to ESPN+.^[62][63]

Revenue

Big 12 Conference annual revenue distribution

Year	Total distributed	Annual increase	Average per university^a
1997^[64]	$53.6 million	–	$4.5 million
1998^[64]	$58 million	8.2%	$4.8 million
1999^[64]	$64 million	10.3%	$5.3 million
2000^[64]	$72 million	12.5%	$6.0 million
2001^[64]	$78 million	8.3%	$6.5 million
2002^[64]	$83.5 million	7.1%	$7.0 million
2003^[64]	$89 million	6.6%	$7.4 million
2004^[64]	$101 million	13.5%	$8.4 million
2005^[64]	$105.6 million	4.6%	$8.8 million
2006^[64]	$103.1 million	−2.4%	$8.6 million
2007^[64]	$106 million	2.8%	$8.8 million
2008^[64]	$113.5 million	7.1%	$9.5 million
2009^[64]	$130 million	14.5%	$10.8 million
2010^[64]	$139 million	6.9%	$11.6 million
2011^[65]	$145 million	4.3%	$12.1 million
2012^[66]	$187 million	29.0%	$18.7 million
2013^[66]	$198 million	5.9%	$19.8 million
2014^[67]	$212 million	7.1%	$21.2 million
2015^[68]	$252 million	18.9%	$25.2 million
2016^[69]	$304 million	20.6%	$30.4 million
2017 ^[70]	$348 million	14.5%	$34.8 million
2018^[71]	$364 million	4.9%	$36.5 million
2019^[72]	$388 million	6.3%	$38.8 million
2020^[72]	$377 million	-2.8%	$37.7 million
2021^[73]	$345 million	-8.5%	$34.5 million
2022^[74]	$426 million	23.5%	$42.6 million
^a Twelve Big 12 members received disbursements each year from 1997 to 2011; ten each year afterwards. Individual universities' disbursement varied annually according to bylaw rules and entrance or withdrawal agreements.

Conference revenue comes mostly from television contracts, bowl games, the NCAA, merchandise, licensing and conference-hosted sporting events. The Conference distributes revenue annually to member institutions.^[75] From 1996 to 2011, 57 percent of revenue was allotted equally; while 43 percent was based upon the number of football and men's basketball television appearances and other factors.^[76][77] In 2011, the distribution was 76 percent equal and 24 percent based on television appearances. Changing the arrangement requires a unanimous vote; as a Big 12 member, Nebraska and Texas A&M had withheld support for more equitable revenue distribution.^[76]

With this model, larger universities can receive more revenue because they appear more often on television. In 2006, for example, Texas received $10.2 million, 44% more than Baylor University's $7.1 million.^[78]

Big 12 revenue was generally less than other BCS conferences; this was due in part to television contracts signed with Fox Sports Net (four years for $48 million) and ABC/ESPN (eight years for $480 million).^[79]

In 2011, the Big 12 announced a new 13-year media rights deal with Fox that would ensure that every Big 12 home football game is televised, as well as greatly increasing coverage of women's basketball, conference championships and other sports.^[80] The deal, valued at an estimated $1.1 billion, runs until 2025.^[81] In 2012, the conference announced a new agreement with Fox and ESPN, replacing the current ABC/ESPN deal, to immediately increase national media broadcasts of football and increase conference revenue;^[82] the new deal was estimated to be worth $2.6 billion through the 2025 expiration.^[83] The two deals pushed the conference per-university payout to approximately $20 million per year, while separating third-tier media rights into separate deals for each university; such contracts secured an additional $6 million to $20 million per university annually.^[84] The per-university payout under the deal is expected to reach $44 million, according to Commissioner Bob Bowlsby.^[85]

In 2022, the conference renewed its media rights with ESPN and Fox Sports for six seasons starting in 2025–26, with an estimated US$380 million average annual fee.^[86]

Revenue ranking (old statistics)

Revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, university funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, scholarships, buildings/ground, maintenance, utilities and rental fees and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues and insurance costs. Data is from United States Department of Education.^[87]

2014–15 Conference Rank	Institution	2014–15 Total Revenue from Athletics^[88]	2014–15 Total Expenses on Athletics^[88]	2014–15 Average Spending per student-athlete^[89]
1	University of Texas at Austin	$179,555,311	$152,853,239	$218,050
2	University of Oklahoma	$135,660,070	$124,732,244	$170,866
3	Baylor University	$106,078,643	$106,078,643	$153,737
4	University of Kansas	$103,326,170	$103,326,170	$177,536
5	West Virginia University	$87,265,473	$87,265,473	$147,159
6	Oklahoma State University	$85,645,208	$80,196,450	$123,189
7	Texas Christian University	$80,608,562	$80,608,562	$145,766
8	Kansas State University	$76,245,188	$66,449,920	$110,016
9	Texas Tech University	$69,858,256	$64,245,380	$123,207
10	Iowa State University	$65,733,110	$65,658,901	$129,396

Facilities

Departing members are in red and future members are in gray.

University	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Baylor	McLane Stadium	45,140	Ferrell Center	10,284	Baylor Ballpark	5,000
BYU	LaVell Edwards Stadium	63,470	Marriott Center	19,000	Larry H. Miller Field	2,204
Cincinnati	Nippert Stadium	40,000	Fifth Third Arena	12,012	UC Baseball Stadium	3,058
Houston	TDECU Stadium	40,000	Fertitta Center	7,100	Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park	3,500
Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium	61,500^[90]	Hilton Coliseum	14,356	Non-baseball university^[a]
Kansas	David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium	47,000^[93]	Allen Fieldhouse	16,300	Hoglund Ballpark	2,500
Kansas State	Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium	50,000^[94]	Bramlage Coliseum	11,000	Tointon Family Stadium	2,331^[95]
Oklahoma	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium	80,126^[96]	Lloyd Noble Center	10,967	L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park	3,180
Oklahoma State	Boone Pickens Stadium	55,509^[97]	Gallagher-Iba Arena	13,611	O'Brate Stadium	3,500^[b]
Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium	100,119^[99]	Moody Center	10,000	UFCU Disch-Falk Field	6,649
TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium	47,000^[100]	Schollmaier Arena	6,700^[101]	Lupton Stadium	4,500
Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium	60,862^[102]^[103]^[104]^[105]	United Supermarkets Arena	15,098	Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park	4,528
UCF	FBC Mortgage Stadium	45,301 ^[106]	Addition Financial Arena	10,000	John Euliano Park	3,841
West Virginia	Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium	60,000^[107]	WVU Coliseum	14,000^[108]	Monongalia County Ballpark	3,500^[109]

1. Iowa State discontinued its participation in baseball as an NCAA-recognized activity following the 2001 season.^[91] It participates in club baseball as a member of the National Club Baseball Association. Games are played at Cap Timm Field, capacity 3,000.^[92]
2. Permanent seated capacity; expandable to 8,000.^[98]

Apparel

School	Provider
Baylor	Nike
BYU^*	Nike
Cincinnati^*	Under Armour
Houston^*	Jordan
Iowa State	Nike
Kansas	Adidas
Kansas State	Nike
Oklahoma^**	Jordan
Oklahoma State	Nike
Texas^**	Nike
TCU	Nike
Texas Tech	Under Armour
UCF^*	Nike
West Virginia	Nike

^* BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF set to join the Big 12 as full members on July 1, 2023. ^** Oklahoma and Texas have accepted invitations to join the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024.^[110]

Championships

National championships

The following is a list of all NCAA, equestrian, and college football championships won by teams that were representing the Big 12 Conference in NCAA-recognized sports at the time of their championship.^[111] The most recent Big 12 team to win a national title is Texas Women's Volleyball. Only two years of the Big 12's existence has the conference not won at least one team National Title, 2007 and 2020. However, in 2020 multiple National Championships were not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Football (3): 1997 – Nebraska 2000 – Oklahoma 2005 – Texas Equestrian (3): 2002 − Texas A&M (Overall) 2012 – Texas A&M (Overall) 2022 – Oklahoma State (Overall) Baseball (2): 2002 – Texas 2005 – Texas Men's basketball (3): 2008 – Kansas 2021 – Baylor 2022 – Kansas Women's basketball (4): 2005 – Baylor 2011 – Texas A&M 2012 – Baylor 2019 – Baylor Women's Bowling (5): 1999 – Nebraska 2001 – Nebraska 2004 – Nebraska 2005 – Nebraska 2009 – Nebraska

Men's Cross Country (6): 2001 – Colorado 2004 – Colorado 2006 – Colorado 2009 – Oklahoma State 2010 – Oklahoma State 2012 – Oklahoma State Women's Cross Country (2): 2000 – Colorado 2004 – Colorado Men's golf (6): 2000 – Oklahoma State 2006 – Oklahoma State 2009 – Texas A&M 2012 – Texas 2017 – Oklahoma 2018 – Oklahoma State 2022 – Texas Rifle (6): 2013 – West Virginia 2014 – West Virginia 2015 – West Virginia 2016 – West Virginia 2017 – West Virginia 2019 – TCU Women's gymnastics (6): 2014 – Oklahoma 2016 – Oklahoma 2017 – Oklahoma 2019 – Oklahoma 2022 – Oklahoma 2023 – Oklahoma

Men's gymnastics (9): 2002 – Oklahoma 2003 – Oklahoma 2005 – Oklahoma 2006 – Oklahoma 2008 – Oklahoma 2015 – Oklahoma 2016 – Oklahoma 2017 – Oklahoma 2018 – Oklahoma Women's Indoor Track (3): 1998 – Texas 1999 – Texas 2006 – Texas Men's Outdoor Track (4): 2009 – Texas A&M 2010 – Texas A&M 2011 – Texas A&M 2019 – Texas Tech Women's Outdoor Track (7): 1998 – Texas 1999 – Texas 2005 – Texas 2009 – Texas A&M 2010 – Texas A&M 2011 – Texas A&M 2013 – Kansas Women's Rowing (2): 2021 – Texas 2022 – Texas Men's/Women's Skiing (4): 1998 – Colorado 1999 – Colorado 2006 – Colorado 2011 – Colorado

Softball (6): 2000 – Oklahoma 2013 – Oklahoma 2016 – Oklahoma 2017 – Oklahoma 2021 – Oklahoma 2022 – Oklahoma Men's Swimming (10): 1996 – Texas 2000 – Texas 2001 – Texas 2002 – Texas 2010 – Texas 2015 – Texas 2016 – Texas 2017 – Texas 2018 – Texas 2021 – Texas Men's Tennis (2): 2004 – Baylor 2019 – Texas Women's Tennis (2): 2021 – Texas 2022 – Texas Women's volleyball (4): 2000 – Nebraska 2006 – Nebraska 2012 – Texas 2022 – Texas Wrestling (4): 2003 – Oklahoma State 2004 – Oklahoma State 2005 – Oklahoma State 2006 – Oklahoma State

National team titles by institution

See also: List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships, List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships, and List of NCAA Division I conferences

The national championships listed below are as of March 2016.^{[needs update]} Football, Helms, pre-NCAA competition and overall equestrian titles are included in the total, but excluded from the column listing NCAA and AIAW titles.

Big 12 National Championships
University	Total titles	Titles as a member of the Big 12	NCAA titles^[112]	AIAW titles	Notes
Texas	62	29	55	5	UT has 4 football titles
Oklahoma State	54	12	52		OSU has 1 football and 1 equestrian title
Oklahoma	42	23	33		OU has 7 AP football titles
West Virginia	23	4	20		WVU has 3 pre-NCAA rifle titles
Iowa State	18	0	13	5
Kansas	14	3	12		KU has 2 Helms basketball titles
Baylor	6	5	5		Baylor has 1 Equestrian title
TCU	6	0	4		TCU has 2 football titles
Texas Tech	2	1	2
Kansas State	0	0	0
Total	224	72	192	10

Conference champions

Main article: List of Big 12 Conference champions

The Conference sponsors 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's.^[113]

In football, divisional titles were awarded based on regular-season conference results, with the teams with the best conference records from the North and South playing in the Big 12 Championship Game from 1996 to 2010. Baseball, basketball, softball, tennis and women's soccer titles are awarded in both regular-season and tournament play. Cross country, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, track and field, and wrestling titles are awarded during an annual meet of participating teams. The volleyball title is awarded based on regular-season play.

Conference titles by university

All-Time Big 12 Championships by university Through July 1, 2022.^[114]

Team	Season	Regular Season^[115]	Postseason^[115]	Total^[115]
Baylor Bears	1997–present	48	41	89
Iowa State Cyclones	1997–present	4	24	28
Kansas Jayhawks	1997–present	24	19	43
Kansas State Wildcats	1997–present	11	6	17
Oklahoma Sooners	1997–2024	36	55	91
Oklahoma State Cowboys	1997–present	13	75	88
TCU Horned Frogs	2013–present	12	6	18
Texas Longhorns	1997–2024	59	142	201
Texas Tech Red Raiders	1997–present	13	14	27
West Virginia Mountaineers	2013–present	6	5	11

Note, includes both regular-season, tournament titles, and co-championships. List does not include conference championships won prior to the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

Football

Main article: Big 12 Conference football

The first football game in conference play was Texas Tech vs. Kansas State in 1996, won by Kansas State, 21–14.^[116]

From 1996 to 2010, Big 12 Conference teams played eight conference games a season. Each team faced all five opponents within its own division and three teams from the opposite division. Inter-divisional play was a "three-on, three-off" system, where teams would play three teams from the other division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then play the other three foes from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home.^{[citation needed]}

This format came under considerable criticism, especially from Nebraska and Oklahoma, who were denied a yearly match between two of college football's most storied programs.^{[citation needed]} The Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry was one of the most intense in college football history.^{[citation needed]} (Until 2006, the teams had never met in the Big 12 Championship.) Due to the departure of Nebraska and Colorado in 2011, the Big 12 eliminated the divisions (and championship game) and instituted a nine-game round-robin format.^{[citation needed]} With the advent of the College Football Playoff committee looking at teams' strength of schedule for picking the four playoff teams, on December 8, 2015, the Big 12 announced an annual requirement for all Big 12 teams to schedule a non-conference game against a team from the four other Power Five conferences (plus Notre Dame).^[117] Per Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby: "Schedule strength is a key component in CFP Selection Committee deliberations. This move will strengthen the resumes for all Big 12 teams. Coupled with the nine-game full round robin Conference schedule our teams play, it will not only benefit the teams at the top of our standings each season, but will impact the overall strength of the Conference."^[117]

Championship game

Main article: Big 12 Football Championship Game

The Big 12 Championship Game game was approved by all members except Nebraska.^[118] It was held each year, commencing with the first match in the 1996 season at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis. It pitted the division champions against each other after the regular season was completed.

Following the 2008 game, the event was moved to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, being played there in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, the Sooners defeated the Cornhuskers 23–20.^[119]

After 2010, the game was moved to Arlington for 2011, 2012, and 2013.^[120] However, the decision became moot following the 2010 season because the league lacked sufficient members.^[121]

In April 2015, the ACC and the Big 12 developed new rules for the NCAA to deregulate conference championship games. The measure passed on January 14, 2016, allowing a conference with fewer than 12 teams to stage a championship game that does not count against the FBS limit of 12 regular-season games under either of the following circumstances:

• The game involves the top two teams following a full round-robin conference schedule.
• The game involves two divisional winners, each having played a full round-robin schedule in its division.

Under the first criterion, the Big 12 championship game resumed at the conclusion of the 2017 regular season, and is played during the first weekend of December, the time all other FBS conference championship games are played.

Bowl affiliations

The following were bowl games for the Big 12 for the 2022 season.

Pick	Name^[122]	Location	Opposing conference
–	College Football Playoff	–	–
1	Sugar Bowl†	New Orleans, Louisiana	SEC
2	Alamo Bowl	San Antonio, Texas	Pac-12
3	Cheez-It Bowl	Orlando, Florida	ACC
4	Texas Bowl	Houston, Texas	SEC
5	Liberty Bowl	Memphis, Tennessee	SEC
6	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Phoenix, Arizona	Big Ten
7‡	Armed Forces Bowl	Fort Worth, Texas	AAC/C-USA
7‡	First Responder Bowl	Dallas, Texas	AAC/ACC/C-USA
†The Big 12 champion will go to the Sugar Bowl unless selected for the College Football Playoff. In the event that the conference champion is selected for the playoff, the conference runner-up will go to the Sugar Bowl. ‡The seventh selection is a "flex pick."

Rivalries

Rivalries (primarily in football) mostly predate the conference. The Kansas–Missouri rivalry was the longest running, the longest west of the Mississippi and the second longest in college football. It was played 119 times before Missouri left the Big 12. As of October 2012, the University of Kansas' athletic department had not accepted Missouri's invitations to play inter-conference rivalry games, putting the rivalry on hold. Sports clubs sponsored by the two universities continued to play each other.^[123] Kansas and Missouri renewed the rivalry in men's basketball starting in December 2021, and have announced that they will meet again in football in 2025.

The rivalry between TCU and Baylor, known as the Revivalry is also one of the longest running in college football, with the two universities having played each other — largely as Southwest Conference members — 114 times since 1899. Following the 2022 game, TCU leads the series 58–53–7.

The Oklahoma-Texas rivalry, the Red River Showdown is one year younger and has been played 108 times. This was a major rivalry decades before they were both in the conference, starting the year after the Revivalry in 1900. Following the 2022 game, Texas leads this rivalry 63–50–5.

Some of the longstanding football rivalries between Big 12 universities include:

Rivalry	Name	Trophy	Games played^†	Began
Baylor–TCU	The Revivalry		117	1899
Baylor–Texas Tech	Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout		80	1929
Iowa State–Kansas State	Farmageddon		105	1917
Kansas–Kansas State	Sunflower Showdown	Governor's Cup	119	1902
Oklahoma–Oklahoma State	Bedlam	Bedlam Bell	116	1904
Oklahoma–Texas	Red River Showdown	Golden Hat	117	1900
TCU–Texas Tech	The West Texas Championship	The Saddle Trophy	64	1926
Texas–Texas Tech		Chancellor's Spurs	71	1928

Rivalries with former members

Rivalry	Name	Trophy	Games played^†	Began	Last meeting
Baylor–Texas A&M	Battle of the Brazos		108	1899	2011
Colorado–Kansas State			69	1912	2010
Colorado–Nebraska			66	1898	2018
Iowa State–Missouri		Telephone Trophy^[124]	104	1896	2011
Kansas–Missouri	Border War	Indian War Drum^[124]	120	1891	2011
Kansas–Nebraska			117	1892	2010
Missouri–Nebraska		Victory Bell	104	1892	2010
Missouri–Oklahoma		Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe	96	1902	2011
Nebraska–Oklahoma			87	1912	2021
Texas A&M–Texas Tech			70	1927	2011
Texas–Texas A&M	Lone Star Showdown	Lone Star Showdown Trophy	118	1894	2011

Basketball

Main article: Big 12 Conference men's basketball

From 1996 to 2011, standings in conference play were not split among divisions, although the schedule was structured as if they were. Teams played a home-and-home against teams within their divisions and a single game against teams from the opposite division for a total of 16 conference games. After Nebraska and Colorado left, Big 12 play transitioned to an 18-game, double round robin schedule.^[125]

Big 12 basketball teams currently play a "home and away" double round robin 18-game schedule, expanded from 16 games after the 2011 realignment. All teams in the conference qualify for the Big 12 tournament. From 1996–97 to 2010–11, teams played in-division members twice and non-division members only once. The conference tournament gave first round byes to the top four teams from 1997 through 2011, and the top six teams from 2012 onwards. When the conference temporarily expands to 14 members beginning with the 2023–24 season, the 18-game schedule will remain, but the double round-robin will be discontinued in favor of a new scheduling formula.^[126]

Conference champions

See also: Big 12 men's basketball tournament

Kansas has the most Big 12 titles, winning or sharing the regular-season title 20 times in the league's 25 seasons, including 14 straight from 2004–05 to 2017–18. The 2002 Jayhawks became the first, and so far only, team to complete an undefeated Big 12 regular season, going 16–0. Though rematches between Big 12 regular season co-champions have happened in that year's Big 12 tournament, none have met in the ensuing NCAA Tournament.

Season	Regular season champion	Tournament champion
1996–97	Kansas	Kansas
1997–98	Kansas (2)	Kansas (2)
1998–99	Texas	Kansas (3)
1999–00	Iowa State	Iowa State
2000–01	Iowa State (2)	Oklahoma
2001–02	Kansas (3)	Oklahoma (2)
2002–03	Kansas (4)	Oklahoma (3)
2003–04	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma State
2004–05	Oklahoma Kansas (5)	Oklahoma State (2)
2005–06	Texas (2) Kansas (6)	Kansas (4)
2006–07	Kansas (7)	Kansas (5)
2007–08	Texas (3) Kansas (8)	Kansas (6)
2008–09	Kansas (9)	Missouri
2009–10	Kansas (10)	Kansas (7)
2010–11	Kansas (11)	Kansas (8)
2011–12	Kansas (12)	Missouri (2)
2012–13	Kansas (13) Kansas State	Kansas (9)
2013–14	Kansas (14)	Iowa State (2)
2014–15	Kansas (15)	Iowa State (3)
2015–16	Kansas (16)	Kansas (10)
2016–17	Kansas (17)	Iowa State (4)
2017–18	Kansas (18)	Kansas (11)
2018–19	Kansas State (2) Texas Tech	Iowa State (5)
2019–20	Kansas (19)	Canceled*
2020–21	Baylor	Texas
2021-22	Kansas (20) Baylor (2)	Kansas (12)
2022-23	Kansas (21)	Texas (2)

In 2004–05, Oklahoma won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 71–63 win over the Jayhawks in Norman, OK. The teams did not meet in Kansas City, MO.
In 2005–06, Texas won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 80–55 win over the Jayhawks in Austin, TX. Kansas beat Texas 80–68 in the Big 12 Tournament championship game in Dallas, TX.
In 2007–08, Texas won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 72–69 win over the Jayhawks in Austin, TX. Kansas beat Texas 84–74 in the Big 12 Tournament championship game in Kansas City, MO.
In 2012–13, Kansas won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas State based on winning 59–55 in Manhattan and 83–62 in Lawrence. Kansas beat Kansas State for a third time 70–54 in the championship game in Kansas City, MO.
*The 2020 Big 12 Tournament was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
In 2021–22, Kansas won the seeding tiebreaker over Baylor for the Big 12 Tournament, as Kansas had gone 1–1 against third place team Texas Tech, while Baylor had been swept by Texas Tech.

NCAA tournament performance

Totals through the end of the 2021–22 season.^[127]

University	Appearances	Final Fours	Championships
Baylor	14	3	1
Iowa State	21	1	0
Kansas	50	16	4
Kansas State	31	4	0
Oklahoma	33	6	0
Oklahoma State	29	6	2
TCU	9	0	0
Texas	36	3	0
Texas Tech	19	1	0
West Virginia	30	2	0

*Texas Tech has appeared in 20 tournaments; however, their 1996 Tournament appearance was vacated by the NCAA, officially giving them 19 tournament appearances.

All-time records

Totals through the end of the 2018–19 season.^[128]

Team	Big 12 Record	Big 12 Winning %	Overall record	Overall winning %	Big 12 regular season championships	Big 12 tournament championships
Baylor	158–226	.411	1379–1378	.500	1	-
Colorado	95–145	.396	-	-	-	-
Iowa State	181–184	.496	1376–1323	.510	2	5
Kansas	314–70	.805	2274–859	.818	18
Kansas State	180–204	.469	1652–1158	.585	2	-
Missouri	139–119	.539	-	-	-	2
Nebraska	97–143	.404	-	-	-	-
Oklahoma	220–164	.573	1685–1083	.613	1	3
Oklahoma State	199–185	.518	1659–1178	.587	1	2
TCU	30–96	.238	1228–1407	.459	-	-
Texas	233–151	.607	1789–1088	.627	3	-
Texas A&M	98–160	.380	-	-	-	-
Texas Tech	150–234	.391	1427–1111	.556	1	-
West Virginia	66–60	.524	1771–1100	.616	-	-

All Time Series Record

	vs. Baylor	vs. Iowa State	vs. Kansas	vs. Kansas State	vs. Oklahoma	vs. Oklahoma State	vs. TCU	vs. Texas	vs. Texas Tech	vs. West Virginia
Baylor	—	22-20	7-34	23-23	20-45	32-55	103-85	94-163	62-80	12-8
Iowa State	20-22	—	66-184	80-142	91-117	66-67	12-11	18-24	20-17	7-9
Kansas	33-6	184-66	—	198-94	150-68	118-59	19-2	35-9	37-6	14-5
Kansas State	23-20	142-90	94-198	—	101-110	80-56	17-8	22-18	24-20	8-12
Oklahoma	45-20	117-91	68-150	100-101	—	139-100	25-4	56-41	40-27	8-9
Oklahoma State	55-32	67-66	59-118	56-80	100-139	—	25-9	45-52	43-23	8-9
TCU	85-103	11-12	2-19	8-17	4-25	9-25	—	68-113	52-84	3-14
Texas	163-94	24-18	9-35	18-22	41-56	52-45	113-68	—	86-60	12-9
Texas Tech	80-62	17-20	6-37	20-24	27-40	23-43	84-52	60-86	—	6-14
West Virginia	8-12	7-9	5-14	12-8	9-8	9-8	14-3	12-9	14-6	—
Total	375–513	380–593	788–315	511–532	598–543	458–528	242–412	175–111	232–378	77–77	Reference:^[128]

Totals though the end of the 2020–21 season. Includes any regular season or postseason meetings.

Baseball

Main article: Big 12 Baseball Tournament

All current Big 12 members sponsor baseball except Iowa State, which dropped the sport after the 2001 season. All former Big 12 members sponsored the sport throughout their tenures in the conference except Colorado, which never sponsored baseball during its time in the Big 12.^[129]

Baseball titles by university Team Season Regular Season Tournament Total Baylor 1997–present 3 1 4 Iowa State 1997–2001 0 0 0 Kansas 1997–present 0 1 1 Kansas State 1997–present 1 0 1 Missouri 1997–2012 0 1 1 Nebraska 1997–2011 3 4 7 Oklahoma 1997–2025 0 2 2 Oklahoma State 1997–present 1 3 4 TCU 2013–present 2 2 4 Texas 1997–2025 9 5 14 Texas A&M 1997–2012 4 3 7 Texas Tech 1997–present 4 1 5 West Virginia 2013–present 0 0 0

Baseball titles by season Season Regular season Tournament 1997 Texas Tech Oklahoma 1998 Texas A&M Texas Tech 1999 Texas A&M Nebraska 2000 Baylor Nebraska 2001 Nebraska Nebraska 2002 Texas Texas 2003 Nebraska Texas 2004 Texas Oklahoma State 2005 Baylor^† Nebraska Nebraska^† 2006 Texas Kansas 2007 Texas Texas A&M 2008 Texas A&M Texas 2009 Texas Texas 2010 Texas Texas A&M 2011 Texas^† Texas A&M Texas A&M^† 2012 Baylor University Missouri 2013 Kansas State Oklahoma 2014 Oklahoma State TCU 2015 TCU Texas 2016 Texas Tech TCU 2017 TCU^† Oklahoma State Texas Tech^† 2018 Texas Baylor 2019 Texas Tech Oklahoma State 2020 none none 2021 Texas TCU TCU

By university

• As of the completion of the 2018 tournament.^{[citation needed]}

University	Appearances	W-L	Pct	Tourney Titles	Title Years
Baylor	21	35–37	.486	1	2018
Iowa State	1	1–2	.333	0
Kansas	9	10–17	.370	1	2006
Kansas State	10	14–18	.438	0
Missouri	13	22–19	.536	1	2012
Nebraska	10	28–10	.737	4	1999, 2000, 2001, 2005
Oklahoma	21	36–35	.507	2	1997, 2013
Oklahoma State	19	25–35	.417	2	2004, 2017, 2019
TCU	5	12–7	.632	2	2014, 2016
Texas	18	41–29	.586	5	2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2015
Texas A&M	13	24–18	.571	3	2007, 2010, 2011
Texas Tech	17	18–34	.346	1	1998
West Virginia	5	8–8	.500	0

Academics

All current and future Big 12 members are doctorate-granting universities; all but BYU have "very high research activity," the highest classification given by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. BYU is in the Carnegie Foundation's second-tier classification of "high research activity".^[130] All member schools are also highly ranked nationally and globally by various groups, including U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, and Times Higher Education.

Broadcasting and media rights

The Big 12's media rights are controlled primarily by ESPN and Fox Sports, which reached a 13-year agreement in 2012 valued at $2.6 billion in total. The Big 12's top football rights are split between ESPN and Fox, while the basketball inventory is held by ESPN and CBS Sports. The agreement also included a grant of rights for all current Big 12 teams over the period of the contract.^[131]

In addition to the national agreement, each Big 12 university maintained the right to sell its "third-tier" covering selected events per-season (including one football game, basketball games, and other events outside of those sports). The third-tier rights to the Texas Longhorns are held through a channel dedicated to the team — Longhorn Network — which is operated by ESPN. In 2019, ESPN announced that it would acquire the third-tier rights to all Big 12 teams through 2024-25 (excluding Oklahoma and Texas, which are still under long-term contracts with ESPN+ and Longhorn Network respectively), and place their content on its subscription streaming service ESPN+. ESPN also acquired exclusive rights to all future Big 12 football championship games, replacing the previous alternation between ESPN and Fox.^[132]

On October 30, 2022, the Big 12 announced that it had reached a broadcast deal to renew rights with ESPN and Fox Sports. The contract was a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.28 billion, but also reportedly includes an "escalator clause" that will raise the value of the contracts if only Power Five schools are added. By striking a deal prior to the exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and Fox, the Big 12 managed to achieve several of its primary objectives of stability and security, including the ability to go back to its 12 member schools to seek an extended grant of rights and potential future conference expansion. Fox’s deal also provides a slate of Big 12 college basketball games on Fox and Fox Sports 1 for the first time.^[133]

• ESPN:
  • Football games will primarily air in a primetime window on ESPN
  • Rights to the football Big 12 Championship Game
  • Rights to the Big 12 basketball championship

• Fox Sports:
  • 26 football games per season:
  • Will air a large slate of basketball games

Business partnerships and innovation

The Big 12 has a sponsorship rights partnership with Learfield IMG College.^[134]The Big 12 announced on September 9, 2022 that it appointed WME Sports and IMG Media, Endeavor companies, to facilitate its global content and commercial strategy. Commissioner Brett Yormark stated “We have aligned with a best-in-class team to build a best-in-class business strategy for the Conference,”.^[135] November 14, 2022 Big 12 formed a comprehensive business advisor board composed of over three dozen entrepreneurial icons and respective industry leaders. From the likes of Monte Lipman the Founder/CEO Republic Records, Steve Stoute Founder/CEO UnitedMasters & Translation, Mark Shapiro President of Endeavor, Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerMedia, singer Garth Brooks, NBA legend Jason Kidd, Keith Sheldon President of Entertainment for Hard Rock Cafe International, and Ross Levinsohn Chairman and CEO - The Arena Group & Sports Illustrated.^[136]

The Big 12 partnered with creative agency Translation to help build a more contemporary audience and brand.^[137] Soon after Big 12 Conference made a deal with A Bathing Ape (BAPE) for Championship games. The Conference and BAPE worked together to create limited-edition clothing and a camouflaged Big 12 logo throughout the stadium, arena, and uniforms.

The Big 12 has 11 official corporate partners: All State, Children’s Health, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, Grand Caliber, Old Trapper, On Location, Phillips 66, Sonic Hard Seltzer, Sprouts Farmer’s Market, and Tickets For Less. They’re dozens of other companies engaged as sponsors of the conference. ^[138]

Conference Pro Day

On March 15, 2023, before the NFL Draft, the Big 12 announced the first of its kind across all college conferences, being a conference-wide Pro Day. Instead of schools hosting separate pro days for their football players, there will be only one conference-wide scouting event before the 2024 NFL draft. The event will be held at the Dallas Cowboys training complex, Ford Center at The Star. What essentially would be a conference version of the NFL combine, the Pro Day would be televised on NFL Network.^[139]

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