Big 12 Conference

Big 12 Conference (Big 12)
Established	February 25, 1994
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	10
Sports fielded	(men's: 10; women's: 11)
Region	West South Central States, Midwest Appalachia (West Virginia)
Headquarters	Irving, Texas
Commissioner	Bob Bowlsby
Website	big12sports.com
Locations

The Big 12 Conference is a ten-school college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I 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. Member schools are located in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia.

According to the Big 12 Conference's website, the alternate names "Big Twelve" and "Big XII" are incorrect. The trademarked name of the conference is Big 12 Conference, notwithstanding the Roman numeral XII featured on the conference logo. The current Big 12 Commissioner is Bob Bowlsby.

History

The Big 12 Conference is the second youngest of the major college athletic conferences in the United States, having formed in 1994 from a merger of one of the oldest conferences, the Big Eight, with four prominent colleges from Texas. From its formation until 2011, its 12 members competed in two divisions. Two charter members left the conference in 2011, and in 2012, two more universities left, while another two joined from other conferences. In 2012, the Big 12 formed an alliance with the Southeastern Conference to host a joint post-season college bowl game between the champions of each conference, which would eventually become the Sugar Bowl.

Origins

In the early 1990s, most of the colleges in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), then known as Division I-A, were members of the College Football Association; this included members of the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences. Following a Supreme Court decision in 1984, the primary function of the CFA was to negotiate television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges. In February 1994, the Southeastern Conference announced that they, like Notre Dame before them, would be leaving the CFA and negotiate independently for a television deal that covered SEC schools only. This led The Dallas Morning News to proclaim that "the College Football Association as a television entity is dead". More significantly, this change in television contracts ultimately would lead to significant realignment of college conferences, with the biggest change being the dissolution of the Big Eight and the Southwest Conferences and the formation of the Big 12.

After the SEC's abandonment of the CFA, the Southwest Conference and the Big Eight Conference saw potential financial benefits from an alliance to negotiate television deals, and quickly began negotiations to that end, with ABC and ESPN. Though there were complications over the next several weeks (some of which are detailed below), on February 25, 1994, it was announced that a new conference would be formed from the members of the Big Eight and four of the Texas member colleges of the Southwest Conference. Though the name would not be made official for several months, newspaper accounts immediately dubbed the new entity the "Big 12". Charter members of the Big 12 included: Baylor University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Iowa State University, University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, and Texas Tech University.

During the negotiations for television rights, the University of Texas started to flirt with the idea of joining the Pacific-10 Conference. Additionally, Texas A&M was also investigating a potential membership in the SEC. However, these courtships were aborted when Texas lawmakers made it clear that they wanted as many Texas schools as possible to stay together. In the meantime, the Big Eight had not stopped to wait for the Texas schools, and had continued to negotiate with the television networks. Ultimately, this pressured the Texas schools to join with the Big Eight schools.

Furthermore, both Brigham Young University and the University of New Mexico, then in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), were also considered for membership in the new conference; in anticipation of this possibility, the new conference trademarked not only the name "Big 12" but also the name "Big 14", in case of future expansion. However, ultimately the two WAC schools were left out, and three months after formation, the schools of the new conference officially selected the conference's name: the Big 12 Conference. Athletic competition in the conference commenced on August 31, 1996. Although at the time of its formation the Big 12 was composed of the old Big Eight plus the four Texas schools, it regards itself as a separate conference, not an expanded Big Eight, and as such does not claim the Big Eight's history as its own.

Seven cities were considered for the conference's headquarters including:Colorado Springs, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Lubbock, Texas, Oklahoma City, and Omaha, Nebraska before locating in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

From the conference's formation until the 2010–11 season, the Big 12 was split into two divisions for football. The six northernmost schools Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Nebraska constituted the North Division, while Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech constituted the South Division.

Conference instability and realignment

Locations of the Big 12 Conference full-member institutions.

Main article: 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment

During the 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment, the Big 12 was one of the more heavily impacted all-sports conferences; Colorado announced plans to join the Pac-10, then Nebraska accepted an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference. This ended the Big 12's divisional format, as the NCAA only allows football championship games in conferences with at least twelve teams.

2010

In May 2010, American intercollegiate sports news became rife with speculation that the Big 12 Conference was on the verge of dissolution. One reason for this speculation was the inability of the Big 12 to come to an agreement on equal revenue sharing in the conference. Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma objected to equal sharing, according to former Commissioner Dan Beebe. After his 2011 firing, Beebe said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that Oklahoma, Nebraska, and even Texas A&M were interested in "developing their own distribution systems" for their sports programs.

The Big 12's collapse seemed imminent amid rampant speculation that teams were defecting to various conferences. Colorado was eying the Pac-10. Nebraska was eying the Big Ten. The Big Ten also considered the addition of Texas a possibility. Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado were talking with the Pac-10.

On June 10, Colorado accepted an invitation to become the Pac-10's eleventh member; Colorado reportedly moved quickly for fear that Baylor would force its way into the Pac-10, leaving Colorado behind in a dissolving conference. The Colorado move to the Pac-10 was to be effective in 2012, but the school later negotiated a settlement with the Big 12 to leave on July 1, 2011. The day following Colorado's defection announcement, on June 11, Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten Conference and was unanimously accepted, becoming the Big Ten's twelfth member, effective July 1, 2011.

The departures of Colorado and Nebraska, combined with reports that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were close to accepting invitations to join the Pac-10, made the Big 12's demise seem to be a foregone conclusion. However, on June 14, those five schools announced that they had decided to stay in the Big 12, after agreeing to an eleventh-hour deal to save the conference. The decisions reportedly came after furious lobbying by the other five remaining Big 12 schools (Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri), as well as intervention by athletic directors around the country who were concerned about the prospect of a 16-team "superconference". The deal was made possible because of a restructured revenue sharing agreement and the promise of a lucrative new television deal. As part of the deal, member schools were permitted to launch their own television networks, which eventually led to the creation of the University of Texas Longhorn Network, which would broadcast Texas Longhorn sporting events including non-conference football games and at least one conference football game. Additionally, Texas A&M and Oklahoma ended contact with the Southeastern Conference, which had been pursuing both schools as potential candidates if their conference decided to expand past 12 members.

On June 16, 2010, Texas state lawmakers Garnet Coleman and Bill Callegari, both from the Houston area, co-wrote a letter asking Big 12 officials to consider adding the University of Houston (a Conference USA member) to the Big 12.

2011

Departures

Texas A&M

In August 2011, Texas A&M announced plans to apply to join another unspecified conference. Texas A&M's desire to leave the Big 12 Conference was reportedly driven both by concern about conference stability and also by concerns that the Longhorn Network, controlled by A&M's arch rival Texas, would give Texas an unfair advantage in recruiting and other aspects of competition. On September 2, David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, announced that his school was actively reevaulating its conference membership. Several days later, Southeastern Conference officials voted to accept Texas A&M as its thirteenth member, conditional upon a reaffirmation that the remaining Big 12 schools would not pursue legal action to block the move. Several schools refused to waive their rights to pursue legal action against the Southeastern Conference for tortious interference. Despite this, on September 25, the SEC announced that Texas A&M was being accepted unconditionally—regardless of legal threats. Texas A&M officially joined the SEC on July 1, 2012. As part of the settlement of the exit, the Big 12 Conference will withhold $12.4 million of the revenue the Big 12 Conference would have shared with Texas A&M.

The Big 12 Conference said it would form a committee to replace Texas A&M with at least one other school. The Boards of Regents of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas all authorized their presidents to make decisions related to conference alignment. These three schools, along with Texas Tech, were reportedly considering applying to the Pacific-12 Conference, while the remaining schools entered talks with the Big East football schools to potentially combine conferences. Further realignment was temporarily halted on September 20, when the Pac-12 reiterated its desire to remain a twelve-team conference. There was another step towards conference stability on October 5, 2011, when the Big 12 Conference agreed to equally distribute Tier I and II television revenues.

Missouri

At the same time that the remaining members of the former South Division were being secured in the fold, there was another defection brewing in the north. On October 4, 2011, Missouri's Board of Curators authorized the school's president to explore applying to other conferences. A year earlier, there had been widespread speculation that Missouri was interested in defecting to become the Big Ten's twelfth member, but that had ended when Nebraska, not Missouri, was invited to join the Big Ten. On October 11, in a notably non-prescient comment, interim Big 12 Conference Commissioner Chuck Neinas stated categorically Missouri would remain in the Big 12 Conference for the 2012 season.

Despite his confidence, Missouri inched closer to leaving on October 21 when its Board of Curators authorized Chancellor Brady Deaton to move the school out of the Big 12 Conference if it would be in the school's best interest to do so. On October 28, the Big 12 Conference's press release announcing its invitation to West Virginia University hinted at Missouri's imminent departure, as Missouri was not listed among the "expected" members for the 2012–13 school year.

On November 6, Missouri announced that it would join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012. Missouri will compete in the conference's East division. As compensation for the departure, the Big 12 Conference is withholding $12.4 million of the revenue it would have shared with Missouri; additionally, it was announced that Missouri would not share the revenue from a newly-signed contract between the Big 12 Conference and Fox Sports. Missouri also agreed to pay the Big 12 Conference for its share of officiating costs of its final year in the conference, as it has done in prior years (an estimated payment of $500,000).

Following these departures, the Conference retained the "Big 12" name and logo despite dropping to ten teams, a decision ostensibly similar to the Big Ten Conference's choice to keep its name after its membership increased first to eleven and then to twelve.

Additions

TCU

On October 6, the Big 12 Conference Board of Directors, acting upon a unanimous recommendation of the expansion committee, authorized negotiations with Texas Christian University (TCU) to become a member of the Conference even though TCU had previously agreed to join the Big East Conference in the near-future. A Big 12 official named Brigham Young University and the University of Louisville (the latter of which was a Big East member at the time and like TCU is a former member of Conference USA) as other candidates for expansion. On October 10, Texas Christian University's Board of Trustees voted to accept the invitation from the Big 12 Conference, and the school joined the conference on July 1, 2012. TCU had been a member of the Southwest Conference, one of the original constituent conferences that were incorporated into what became the Big 12 and has long and historical rivalries with several Big 12 schools, the most notable of which is with Baylor, a rivalry dating back to 1899—making it one of the longest ongoing series in the nation. TCU also maintains a deep historic rivalry with cross-Metroplex rival Southern Methodist, whom they play annually in the Battle for the Iron Skillet.

West Virginia

On October 28, West Virginia University accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference, effective the 2012 season. However, because the Big East Conference requires 27 months of notice prior to withdrawal, Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said that West Virginia may not leave before July 1, 2014. In response, West Virginia filed a lawsuit to declare invalid the withdrawal-notice requirement stipulated in the Big East's bylaws. The WVU lawsuit alleged that the Big East Conference breached its fiduciary duty by allowing several football-playing members to depart, causing the conference to no longer be a major football conference and jeopardizing the conference's continued existence. Because of this, West Virginia alleged, its continued performance under the contract had become unreasonably burdensome and that its original purpose in entering into the contract had been eliminated. Additionally, West Virginia also stated its belief that its notice to withdraw in 2012 was indeed accepted, when the Big East Conference accepted its payment of half the $5 million withdrawal penalty. Marinatto denied the allegations. The Big East Conference filed a countersuit against West Virginia, alleging that West Virginia breached its contract by withdrawing from the conference without 27 months of notice. West Virginia requested a dismissal of the Big East's lawsuit; this was denied. The Big East Conference's lawsuit was scheduled to begin being argued in court in April 2012, but on February 14, 2012, West Virginia announced that it had settled its lawsuit with the Big East Conference. This cleared the final hurdle for West Virginia to join the Big 12 Conference in time for the 2012 season. While terms of the settlement were kept confidential, West Virginia's athletic director said that the settlement would be paid only from private donations and money the athletes raise themselves. According to an anonymous source, the Big East Conference will be paid $20 million, of which $11 million will be paid by West Virginia and $9 million by the Big 12 Conference. The agreement apparently stipulated that the $2.5 million exit fee that West Virginia paid to the Big East Conference in October 2011 will be counted towards the settlement, and that the revenue-sharing money owed by the Big East Conference to West Virginia would not be paid to West Virginia but instead would be applied towards the settlement with West Virginia.

Member schools

Current members

Institution	Location (Pop.)	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Nickname	Mascot	Varsity Sports	National Titles (See chart below)
Baylor University	Waco, Texas (126,697)	1845	Private	15,195	1996	Bears	Judge / Bruiser	16	4
Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa (59,042)	1858	Public	31,040	1996	Cyclones	Cy the Cardinal	16	18
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas (88,727)	1865	Public	30,004	1996	Jayhawks	Big Jay / Baby Jay / Centennial Jay	16	12
Kansas State University	Manhattan, Kansas (52,281)	1863	Public	24,378	1996	Wildcats	Willie the Wildcat	14	0
University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma (113,273)	1890	Public	29,721	1996	Sooners	Sooner Schooner / Boomer and Sooner	19	26
Oklahoma State University	Stillwater, Oklahoma (46,048)	1890	Public	23,307	1996	Cowboys/Cowgirls	Pistol Pete / Bullet	16	54
University of Texas	Austin, Texas (820,611)	1883	Public	51,195	1996	Longhorns	Bevo / Hook 'em	18	50
Texas Christian University	Fort Worth, Texas (758,738)	1873	Private	9,142	2012	Horned Frogs	Super Frog	18	5
Texas Tech University	Lubbock, Texas (233,740)	1923	Public	32,611	1996	Red Raiders	Masked Rider / Raider Red	16	1
West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia (30,293)	1867	Public	29,306	2012	Mountaineers	The Mountaineer	17	15

Former members

Institution	Location (Population)	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Left	Nickname	NCAA Titles	Current Conference
University of Colorado	Boulder, Colorado (100,160)	1876	Public	30,128	1996	2011	Buffaloes	22	Pac-12
University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri (110,438)	1839	Public	34,255	1996	2012	Tigers	2	SEC
University of Nebraska	Lincoln, Nebraska (225,581)	1869	Public	24,100	1996	2011	Cornhuskers	16	Big Ten
Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas (95,142)	1876	Public	53,337	1996	2012	Aggies	10	SEC

Membership timeline

Full members Other Conference

Endowments

See also: List of U.S. colleges and universities by endowment

• Texas (System-wide) – $17.1 billion
• Kansas (System-wide) – $1.3 billion
• TCU – $1.2 billion
• Oklahoma (System-wide)– $1.2 billion
• Baylor – $1.1 billion
• Texas Tech (System-wide) – $891 million
• Oklahoma State (System-wide) – $682 million
• Iowa State – $612 million
• National Average – $490,946,000
• West Virginia (System-wide) – $406 million
• Kansas State – $338 million

Schools ranked by academic measures

Institutions are ranked by 6-year graduation rate.

Conference Rank	Institution	Location	6-year graduation rate(2012)	Freshman retention rate(2012)	Average SAT score(CR+Math) of first-time freshman(2012)
1	University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	79%	93%	1245
2	Baylor University	Waco, Texas	75%	87%	1225
3	Texas Christian University	Fort Worth, Texas	75%	90%	1180
4	Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	71%	86%	1145
5	University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	67.8%	85%	1175
	BIG 12 average		67.38%	83.7%	1141
6	University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	64%	79%	1135
7	Oklahoma State University	Stillwater, Oklahoma	62%	79%	1105
8	Texas Tech University	Lubbock, Texas	62%	81%	1115
9	Kansas State University	Manhattan, Kansas	59%	80%	1050
	National average		58%	75%	1010
10	West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	57%	77%	1035

Commissioners

• • Charles Martin Dobbs (1994–1995) interim^{[citation needed]}
• Steven J. Hatchell (1995–1998)
  • Dave Martin (interim) (1998)
• Kevin Weiberg (Dec 4, 1998–2007)
• Dan Beebe (2007–2011)
  • Chuck Neinas (2011–2012) interim
• Bob Bowlsby (2012–present)

Revenue

Former Big 12 Conference logo

Big 12 Conference annual revenue distribution

Year	Total distributed	Annual Increase	Per-school averagea
1997	$53.6 million	–	$4.5 million
1998	$58 million	8.2%	$4.8 million
1999	$64 million	10.3%	$5.3 million
2000	$72 million	12.5%	$6.0 million
2001	$78 million	8.3%	$6.5 million
2002	$83.5 million	7.1%	$7.0 million
2003	$89 million	6.6%	$7.4 million
2004	$101 million	13.5%	$8.4 million
2005	$105.6 million	4.6%	$8.8 million
2006	$103.1 million	−2.4%	$8.6 million
2007	$106 million	2.8%	$8.8 million
2008	$113.5 million	7.1%	$9.5 million
2009	$130 million	14.5%	$10.8 million
2010	$139 million	6.9%	$11.6 million
2011	$145 million	4.3%	$12.1 million
2012	$187 million	29.0%	$18.7 million
Total	$1.628 billion	–	$139 million
Average	$101.8 million	–	$8.7 million
Source: Big 12 Conference a Twelve Big 12 members received disbursements each year from 1997-2011; ten each year afterwards. Individual schools' disbursement varied according to bylaw rules and entrance or withdrawal agreements.

The Big 12 Conference distributes revenue, mostly collected from television contracts, bowl games, the NCAA, merchandise, licensing, and conference-hosted sporting events, annually to member institutions. From 1996 to 2011, 57 percent of all distributed revenue was allotted equally; with the other 43 percent distributed based upon the number of football and men's basketball television appearances and other factors. The 2011 annual meeting of the conference resulted in a distribution of 76 percent equal allotment and 24 percent based on television appearances. Changing the revenue-sharing arrangement requires a unanimous vote; as a Big 12 member, Nebraska had withheld support for more equitable revenue distribution.

With this exposure-based revenue-sharing model, larger schools in the conference, such as the University of Texas, can receive more revenue because television channels will schedule such schools more frequently than smaller schools that may have less national audience appeal. In 2006, for example, Texas received $10.2 million, 44% more than Baylor University's $7.1 million.^{[citation needed]}

Compared to other conferences, the Big 12's revenue has been low for a BCS conference; 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) that were set to expire in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

In 2011, the Big 12 announced a new 13-year media rights deal with Fox that would ensure every Big 12 home football game is televised, as well as greatly increasing coverage of women's basketball, conference championships, and low-revenue sports. The deal, valued at an estimated $1.1 billion, runs until 2025. In 2012, the conference announced a new ESPN/FOX agreement, replacing the current ABC/ESPN deal, to immediately increase national media broadcasts of football and increase conference revenue; the new deal is estimated to be worth $2.6 billion through the 2025 expiration. The two deals pushed the conference per-team payout to approximately $20 million per year, while also withholding third-tier media rights for schools to negotiate separately for individual contract; schools signing contracts for these rights have secured an additional $6 million to $20 million per school annually.

Sports

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

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	9	9
Gymnastics	-	3
Rowing	-	5
Soccer	-	9
Softball	-	7
Swimming & Diving	3	5
Tennis	6	10
Track and Field (Indoor)	9	10
Track and Field (Outdoor)	9	10
Volleyball	-	9
Wrestling	4	-

Men's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Swimming & 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	N	Y	N	N	N	Y	5
Totals	9	10	9	10	9	3	6	9	9	5

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big 12 Conference which are played by Big 12 schools:

School	Gymnastics	Rifle*	Soccer
Oklahoma	Mountain Pacific Sports Federation	No	No
TCU	No	Independent	No
West Virginia	No	Great America Rifle Conference	Mid-American Conference

• * = Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. TCU and West Virginia both field coed teams.

Women's sponsored sports by school

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	Y	Y	N	Y	N	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	4	9	3	5	9	7	5	10	10	10	9

All Big 12 rowing schools are also affiliate members of Conference USA for that sport. The Big 12 conducts its own rowing championship, and its rowing schools also participate in the C-USA championship.

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big 12 Conference which are played by Big 12 schools:

School	Rifle*
TCU	Independent
West Virginia	Great America Rifle Conference

• * = Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. TCU and West Virginia both field coed teams.

Football

Main article: Big 12 Conference football

From 1996–2010, 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 fans at Nebraska and Oklahoma, who were denied a yearly matchup between two of college football's most storied programs.^{[citation needed]} The Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry was one of the most intense rivalries 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]}

Championship game

Main article: Big 12 Championship Game

The Big 12 Championship Game was held by the Big 12 Conference each year. The idea of having a championship game was voted on at a Big 12 Conference meeting; Nebraska voted against, while the other schools voted in favor. The championship game pitted the Big 12 North Division champion against the Big 12 South Division champion in a game held after the regular season has been completed. The first championship game was held during the 1996 season. Since the 1996 season, most football championship games were held at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The final game was played in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which had also hosted the previous games, with the Oklahoma Sooners defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers 23–20.

In 2010, the Big 12 Conference decided to move the location of the championship game to Dallas for 2011, 2012, and 2013. This became moot following the 2010 season because the NCAA only allows conferences with at least twelve teams to hold a championship game; as the conference only has ten teams following the 2010 season, the conference will not hold a championship game.

Bowl games

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing Conference	Opposing Pick
1	Fiesta Bowl	Glendale, Arizona	BCS	–
2	AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic	Arlington, Texas	SEC	3/4/5
3	Valero Alamo Bowl	San Antonio, Texas	Pac-12	2
4	Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl	Tempe, Arizona	Big Ten	4/5
5	Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl	San Diego, California	Pac-12	3
6	Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas	Houston, Texas	Big Ten	6
7	New Era Pinstripe Bowl	Bronx, New York	Big East	4
8	Heart of Dallas Bowl	Dallas, Texas	Big Ten	7

Rivalries

The Big 12 Conference has many rivalries among its member schools, primarily in football. Most of the rivalries existed before the Big 12 was established. The Kansas-Missouri rivalry was the longest running in the Big 12, the longest running west of the Mississippi, and the second longest running in college football. It was played a duration of 119 years before Missouri left the Big 12. As of October 2012, the University of Kansas' athletic department has not accepted Missouri's invitations to play inter-conference rivalry games, putting the rivalry on hold. Sports clubs sponsored by the two universities have continued to play games. The Oklahoma-Texas rivalry is also unique, as it was a major rivalry decades before the two schools were in the same conference.

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

Rivalry	Name	Trophy	Games played†	Began
Baylor–TCU			108	1899
Baylor–Texas			101	1901
Baylor–Texas Tech			67	1929
Iowa State–Kansas State	Farmageddon		94	1917
Kansas–Kansas State	Sunflower Showdown	Governor's Cup	108	1902
Oklahoma–Oklahoma State	Bedlam Series	Bedlam Bell	103	1904
Oklahoma–Texas	Red River Rivalry	Golden Hat	105	1900
TCU–Texas			82	1897
TCU–Texas Tech			54	1926
Texas–Texas Tech		Chancellor's Spurs	60	1928

Before their departure to other conferences, a number of former member schools held longtime rivalries within the conference:

Rivalry	Name	Trophy	Games played†	Began	Last Meeting
Baylor–Texas A&M	Battle of the Brazos		108	1899	2011
Colorado–Nebraska			69	1898	2010
Iowa State–Missouri		Telephone Trophy	104	1896	2011
Kansas–Missouri	Border War	Indian War Drum	119	1891	2011
Missouri–Nebraska		Victory Bell	104	1892	2010
Missouri–Oklahoma		Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe	95	1902	2011
Nebraska–Oklahoma			86	1912	2010
Texas A&M–Texas Tech			68	1927	2011
Texas–Texas A&M	Lone Star Showdown	Lone Star Showdown Trophy	118	1894	2011

Men's basketball

See also: Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament and Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

From 1996–2011, standings in conference play were combined and not split among divisions, the schedule was structured as if the schools were split into two divisions. Teams played a home-and-home against teams within its division and a single game against teams from the opposite division for a total of 16 conference games. This denied Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, formerly in the Big Eight, two games a season against their opponents from that former conference, but did allow most of the other traditional rivalries to be played home-and-home. However, after the departures of Nebraska and Colorado, Big 12 play transitioned to an 18-game, double round robin schedule, allowing Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to once again play their former Big 8 rivals twice each season, in addition to adding second annual games to lucrative, nationally prominent series like Texas-Kansas.

Big 12 men's basketball champions

Kansas has the most Big 12 regular season titles, winning or sharing the title 12 times in the league's 16 seasons. The 2002 Kansas team became the first, and so far, only team to complete an undefeated Big XII regular season, going 16–0. Kansas has won or shared 9 straight league titles and 11 of the past 12.

Season	Regular Season Champion Record	Tournament Champion
1997	Kansas 15–1	Kansas
1998	Kansas 15–1	Kansas
1999	Texas 13–3	Kansas
2000	Iowa State 14–2	Iowa State
2001	Iowa State 13–3	Oklahoma
2002	Kansas 16–0	Oklahoma
2003	Kansas 14–2	Oklahoma
2004	Oklahoma State 14–2	Oklahoma State
2005	Oklahoma Kansas 12–4	Oklahoma State
2006	Texas Kansas 13–3	Kansas
2007	Kansas 14–2	Kansas
2008	Texas Kansas 13–3	Kansas
2009	Kansas 14–2	Missouri
2010	Kansas 15–1	Kansas
2011	Kansas 14–2	Kansas
2012	Kansas 16–2	Missouri
2013	Kansas Kansas State 14-4	Kansas

In 2005, Oklahoma won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 71–63 victory over the Jayhawks.
In 2006, Texas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 80–55 victory over the Jayhawks.
In 2008, Texas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 72–69 victory over the Jayhawks.
In 2013, Kansas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas State based on its 59-55 victory in Manhattan and 83-62 win in Lawrence.

Big 12 in the NCAA tournament

• Through the end of the 2013 tournament

School	Appearances	Final Fours	Championships
Baylor	7	2	0
Iowa State	15	1	0
Kansas	42	14	3
Kansas State	27	4	0
Oklahoma	28	4	0
Oklahoma State	25	6	2
TCU	7	0	0
Texas	30	3	0
Texas Tech	8	0	0
West Virginia	25	2	0

Big 12 men's basketball programs all time

• Through the end of the 2012–13 season

School	Year Started	All Time Ws	All Time Ls	All Time Win %
Baylor	1907	1,215	1,303	.483
Iowa State	1908	1,240	1,252	.498
Kansas	1899	2,101	812	.721
Kansas State	1903	1,536	1,077	.588
Oklahoma	1907	1,560	1,006	.608
Oklahoma State	1909	1,556	1,082	.590
TCU	1908	1,121	1,308	.462
Texas	1906	1,674	997	.627
Texas Tech	1925	1,296	1,028	.558
West Virginia	1909	1,634	1,024	.615

Big 12 era cumulative records

• From 1996–1997, through the end of the 2012–13 season

School	Conf Ws	Conf Ls	Conf W %	Total Ws	Total Ls	Total W %
Baylor	98	178	.355	279	245	.532
Colorado	95	145	.396	240	223	.518
Iowa State	123	153	.446	311	232	.573
Kansas	231	45	.837	505	104	.829
Kansas State	125	151	.453	311	225	.580
Missouri	139	119	.539	322	199	.618
Nebraska	97	143	.404	247	221	.528
Oklahoma	164	112	.594	370	184	.668
Oklahoma State	158	118	.572	371	189	.663
TCU	2	16	.111	11	21	.344
Texas	183	93	.663	390	184	.679
Texas A&M	98	160	.380	257	234	.523
Texas Tech	101	175	.366	273	261	.511
West Virginia	6	12	.333	13	19	.406

Conference records do not include conference tournament games, only regular season conference games

Baseball

Main article: Big 12 Baseball Tournament

The top 8 teams compete in the conference tournament at the conclusion of each season. Iowa State has not sponsored baseball since dropping its intercollegiate program after the 2001 season.^{[citation needed]}

Number of baseball titles by school

• Texas: 11 (7 regular-season, 4 tournament)
• Nebraska: 7 (3 regular-season, 4 tournament)
• Baylor: 3 (3 regular-season, 0 tournament)
• Texas Tech: 2 (1 regular-season, 1 tournament)
• Kansas: 1 (0 regular-season, 1 tournament)
• Kansas State: 1 (1 regular season, 0 tournament)
• Oklahoma: 1 (0 regular-season, 1 tournament)
• Oklahoma State: 1 (0 regular-season, 1 tournament)
• Iowa State: 0
• TCU: 0
• West Virginia: 0

Season	Regular-Season Champion	Tournament Champion
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	Nebraska Baylor	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	Missouri
2013	Kansas State	TBD

By school

• Appearances updated for the 2013 tournament.^{[citation needed]}

School	Appearances	W-L	Pct	Tourney Titles	Title Years
Baylor	16	25–23	.521	0
Iowa State	1	1–2	.333	0
Kansas	7	6–6	.500	1	2006
Kansas State	7	7–10	.412	0
Missouri	13	22–19	.536	1	2012
Nebraska	10	28–10	.737	4	1999, 2000, 2001, 2005
Oklahoma	16	23–24	.489	1	1997
Oklahoma State	15	11–26	.297	1	2004
TCU	1	0–0	—	0
Texas	13	26–22	.542	4	2002, 2003, 2008, 2009
Texas A&M	13	24–18	.571	3	2007, 2010, 2011
Texas Tech	12	13–19	.382	1	1998
West Virginia	1	0–0	—	0

Facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Baylor	Floyd Casey Stadium Baylor Stadium (2014)	50,000 45,000	Ferrell Center	10,284	Baylor Ballpark	5,000
Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium	55,000	Hilton Coliseum	14,356	Non-baseball school*
Kansas	Memorial Stadium	50,071	Allen Fieldhouse	16,300	Hoglund Ballpark	2,500
Kansas State	Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium	50,000	Bramlage Coliseum	12,528	Tointon Family Stadium	2,000
Oklahoma	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium	82,112	Lloyd Noble Center	12,000	L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park	3,180
Oklahoma State	Boone Pickens Stadium	60,218	Gallagher-Iba Arena	13,611	Allie P. Reynolds Stadium	3,821
Texas	Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium	100,119	Frank Erwin Center	16,734	UFCU Disch-Falk Field	6,649
TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium	45,000	Daniel–Meyer Coliseum	7,200	Lupton Stadium	4,500
Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium	60,454	United Spirit Arena	15,091	Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park	5,050
West Virginia	Mountaineer Field	60,000	WVU Coliseum	14,000	Hawley Field	1,500

*Iowa State discontinued its participation in baseball as an NCAA-recognized activity following the 2001 season. It participates in club baseball as a member of the National Club Baseball Association. Games are played at Cap Timm Field, capacity 3,000.

National championships

The following is a list of all NCAA championships won by teams that were representing the Big 12 Conference in NCAA-recognized sports at the time of their championship.

Football (3): 1997 – Nebraska 2000 – Oklahoma 2005 – Texas Equestrian (13): 2002 − Texas A&M (Overall) 2003 − Oklahoma State (Western) 2004 − Oklahoma State (Western) 2005 − Texas A&M (Western) 2006 − Oklahoma State (Western) 2007 − Texas A&M (Western) 2009 − Texas A&M (Western) 2010 − Texas A&M (Western) 2011 − Texas A&M (Western) 2012 – Texas A&M (Overall) 2012 – Baylor (Hunter) 2012 – Texas A&M (Western) 2013 – Oklahoma State (Western) Baseball (2): 2002 – Texas 2005 – Texas Men's Basketball (1): 2008 – Kansas Women's Basketball (3): 2005 – Baylor 2011 – Texas A&M 2012 – 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 (4): 2000 – Oklahoma State 2006 – Oklahoma State 2009 – Texas A&M 2012 – Texas Rifle (1): 2013 - West Virginia

Men's Gymnastics (5): 2002 – Oklahoma 2003 – Oklahoma 2005 – Oklahoma 2006 – Oklahoma 2008 – Oklahoma Women's Indoor Track (3): 1998 – Texas 1999 – Texas 2006 – Texas Men's Outdoor Track (3): 2009 – Texas A&M 2010 – Texas A&M 2011 – Texas A&M Women's Outdoor Track (6): 1998 – Texas 1999 – Texas 2005 – Texas 2009 – Texas A&M 2010 – Texas A&M 2011 – Texas A&M Men's/Women's Skiing (4): 1998 – Colorado 1999 – Colorado 2006 – Colorado 2011 – Colorado

Softball (1): 2000 – Oklahoma Men's Swimming (5): 1996 – Texas 2000 – Texas 2001 – Texas 2002 – Texas 2010 – Texas Men's Tennis (1): 2004 – Baylor Women's Volleyball (3): 2000 – Nebraska 2006 – Nebraska 2012 - Texas Wrestling (4): 2003 – Oklahoma State 2004 – Oklahoma State 2005 – Oklahoma State 2006 – Oklahoma State

National team titles by institution

The national championships listed below are as of January 2013. Football, Helms and equestrian titles are included in the total, but excluded from the column listing NCAA and AIAW titles.

Big 12 National Championships
School	Total titles	Titles as a member of the Big 12	NCAA and AIAW titles	Notes
Oklahoma State	55	13	51	OSU has 4 equestrian titles
Texas	50	15	46	UT has 4 recognized football titles and 4 AIAW titles
Oklahoma	26	7	19	OU has 7 recognized football titles
Iowa State	18	0	18	ISU has 5 AIAW titles
West Virginia	16	0	16
Kansas	12	1	10	KU has 2 Helms basketball titles
TCU	5	0	3	TCU has 1 recognized football title and 1 equestrian title
Baylor	4	3	3	BU has 1 equestrian title
Texas Tech	1	0	1
Kansas State	0	0	0

Conference champions

Main article: List of Big 12 Conference champions

The Big 12 Conference sponsors 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's.

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 for the Big 12 title from 1996–2010. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Big 12 Conference titles by school

As of May 17, 2013. List 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.

Current members

• Texas – 130 (137 including 7 football division championships)
• Oklahoma – 54 (62 including 8 football division championships)
• Oklahoma State – 51 (52 including 1 football division championship)
• Baylor – 50
• Kansas – 27 (28 including 1 football division championship)
• Texas Tech – 13 (14 including 1 football division championship)
• Iowa State – 12 (13 including 1 football division championship)
• Kansas State – 10 (14 including 4 football division championships)
• West Virginia – 1
• TCU – 0

Former members

• Nebraska – 71 (80 including 9 football division championships)
• Texas A&M – 61 (64 including 3 football division championships)
• Colorado – 27 (31 including 4 football division championships)
• Missouri – 10 (12 including 3 football division championships)

External links

• Official website
• Big Eight Conference records