Big 12 Conference

This article is about the college conference. 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.

Big 12 Conference

Association	NCAA
Commissioner	Bob Bowlsby (since 2012)
Sports fielded	23 men's: 10 women's: 13
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
Region	Mid-Atlantic West North Central West South Central
Official website	www.big12sports.com
Locations

The Big 12 Conference is a ten-school (full members) collegiate 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. Its ten members, located in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia, include eight public and two private Christian schools. Additionally, the Big 12 has 11 affiliate members, eight for the sport of wrestling, one for women's gymnastics, and two for women's rowing. The Big 12 Conference is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Delaware.

The Big 12 Conference was founded on February 25, 1994. The eight members of the former Big Eight Conference joined with Southwest Conference schools Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech to form the new Big 12 Conference, which commenced competition on August 31, 1996. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were grouped with the four former SWC schools in the Big 12 South division, while the other six teams of the former Big Eight (Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa State) formed the Big 12 North division.

The conference's current 10-campus makeup resulted from the 2010–13 Big 12 Conference realignment, in which Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference, Colorado joined the Pac-12, and Missouri and Texas A&M joined the Southeastern Conference. TCU and West Virginia joined from the Mountain West and Big East Conferences respectively to offset two of the departing schools, bringing the conference to its current strength.

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 which are considered the primary contenders to produce a College Football Playoff champion team in any given year. Attempts to rename the Big 12 to reflect its current strength would lead to confusion with the current Big Ten Conference (which currently has 14 teams).

The Big 12 Conference commissioner is Bob Bowlsby.

Member schools

Current members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors
Baylor University	Waco, Texas	1845	1996	Private	16,787	Bears/Lady Bears
Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	1858		Public	36,660	Cyclones
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	1865			28,091	Jayhawks
Kansas State University	Manhattan, Kansas	1863			23,779	Wildcats
University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	1890			30,824	Sooners
Oklahoma State University	Stillwater, Oklahoma	1890			23,459	Cowboys/Cowgirls
Texas Christian University	Fort Worth, Texas	1873	2012	Private	10,394	Horned Frogs
University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	1883	1996	Public	50,950	Longhorns
Texas Tech University	Lubbock, Texas	1923			38,300	Red Raiders
West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	1867	2012		31,287	Mountaineers
Reference:

Affiliate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Sport(s)
United States Air Force Academy	Colorado Springs, Colorado	1954	2015	Military academy	4,000	Falcons	Wrestling
University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	1831	2014	Public	36,155	Crimson Tide	Women's rowing
University of Denver	Denver, Colorado	1864	2015	Private	11,809	Pioneers	Women's gymnastics
California State University, Fresno	Fresno, California	1911	2017	Public	24,405	Bulldogs	Wrestling
University of Northern Colorado	Greeley, Colorado	1889	2015		12,084	Bears
University of Northern Iowa	Cedar Falls, Iowa	1876	2017		13,914	Panthers
North Dakota State University	Fargo, North Dakota	1890	2015		14,747	Bison
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
Utah Valley University	Orem, Utah	1941	2015		31,556	Wolverines	Wrestling
University of Wyoming	Laramie, Wyoming	1886	2015		13,992	Cowboys

• 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 school year. On July 5, 2017, the Big 12 added Fresno State and Northern Iowa as wrestling affiliates.

Former members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Current Conference
University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	1876	1996	2011	Public	30,128	Buffaloes		Pac-12
University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	1839		2012		34,255	Tigers		SEC
University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	1869		2011		24,100	Cornhuskers		Big Ten
Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas	1876		2012		53,337	Aggies		SEC

Former affiliate members

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Big 12 Sport(s)	Current Conference
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	1930	2014	2018	Public	24,125	Monarchs		Women's rowing	The American

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.

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	12	–

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	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y	6
Totals	9	10	9	10	10	3	6	9	9	4*
Affiliate Members
Air Force										Y	1
Fresno State										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 schools:

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

• 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. 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.

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	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	9	3*	5*	10	7	5	10	10	10	9
Affiliate Members
Alabama						Y								1
Denver					Y									1
Tennessee						Y								1

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

School	Beach Volleyball	Rifle*
TCU	Coastal Collegiate Sports Association	Patriot Rifle Conference
West Virginia	No	Great America Rifle Conference

• 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. 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.

History

Main article: History of the Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a major college athletic conference in the United States, having formed in February 1994 when four prominent colleges 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 began athletic play in the fall of 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. Between 2011 and 2012 four charter members left the conference, while two schools joined in 2012.

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. (Since the 2014 season, the Pac-12 has 12 members, while the ACC, 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. 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. This followed the passage of a new NCAA rule allowing all FBS conferences to hold "exempt" football championship games regardless of their membership numbers.

Population base

The Big 12 schools are located in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, West Virginia and Iowa. These states have a combined population of 37.8 million.

As of 2013, out of the 115.6 million TV households nationwide there are only 13,427,130 TV households in those states (11.6%), 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 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.

Grant of Rights

Member schools 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."

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.

Prior to this agreement, the Big Ten and Pac-12 also had similar GOR agreements. The Big 12 subsequently assisted the ACC in drafting its GOR agreement. 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. 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 schools' tier 3 deals are exempt. Texas alone will earn more than $150 million of that total from their Longhorn Network.

Revenue

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
2013	$198 million	5.9%	$19.8 million
2014	$212 million	7.1%	$21.2 million
2015	$252 million	18.9%	$25.2 million
2016	$348 million	38.9%	$34.8 million
Total	$2.54 billion	–	$239 million
Average	$221 million	–	$11.9 million
a Twelve Big 12 members received disbursements each year from 1997–2011; ten each year afterwards. Individual schools' 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. 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. 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.

With this model, larger schools 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.

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).

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. 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 was estimated to be worth $2.6 billion through the 2025 expiration. The two deals pushed the conference per-school payout to approximately $20 million per year, while separating third-tier media rights into separate deals for each school; such contracts secured an additional $6 million to $20 million per school annually. The per-school payout under the deal is expected to reach $44 million, according to Commissioner Bob Bowlsby.

Revenue ranking

Revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school 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.

2014–15 Conference Rank	Institution	2014–15 Total Revenue from Athletics	2014–15 Total Expenses on Athletics	2014–15 Average Spending per student-athlete
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

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity
Baylor	McLane Stadium	45,140	Ferrell Center	10,284	Baylor Ballpark	5,000
Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium	61,500	Hilton Coliseum	14,356	Non-baseball school*
Kansas	David Booth 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	83,489	Lloyd Noble Center	11,562	L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park	3,180
Oklahoma State	Boone Pickens Stadium	56,790	Gallagher-Iba Arena	13,611	Allie P. Reynolds Stadium	3,821
Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium	100,119	Frank Erwin Center	16,540	UFCU Disch-Falk Field	6,649
TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium	45,000	Schollmaier Arena	6,700	Lupton Stadium	4,500
Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium	60,862	United Supermarkets Arena	15,098	Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park	4,528
West Virginia	Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium	60,000	WVU Coliseum	14,000	Monongalia County Ballpark	3,500

*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.

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.

Football (3):
1997 – Nebraska
2000 – Oklahoma
2005 – Texas

Equestrian (3):
2002 − Texas A&M (Overall)
2012 – Baylor (Hunter Seat)
2012 – Texas A&M (Overall)

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 (6):
2000 – Oklahoma State
2006 – Oklahoma State
2009 – Texas A&M
2012 – Texas
2017 – Oklahoma
2018 - Oklahoma State

Rifle (5):
2013 – West Virginia
2014 – West Virginia
2015 – West Virginia
2016 – West Virginia
2017 – West Virginia

Women's Gymnastics (3):
2014 – Oklahoma
2016 – Oklahoma
2017 – 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 (3):
2009 – Texas A&M
2010 – Texas A&M
2011 – Texas A&M

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

Men's/Women's Skiing (4):
1998 – Colorado
1999 – Colorado
2006 – Colorado
2011 – Colorado

Softball (4):
2000 – Oklahoma
2013 – Oklahoma
2016 – Oklahoma
2017 – Oklahoma

Men's Swimming (7):
1996 – Texas
2000 – Texas
2001 – Texas
2002 – Texas
2010 – Texas
2015 – Texas
2016 – 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 March 2016. 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
School	Total titles	Titles as a member of the Big 12	NCAA titles	AIAW titles	Notes
Texas	52	18	44	4	UT has 4 recognized football titles
Oklahoma State	52	10	52
Oklahoma	36	15	29		OU has 7 recognized NCAA football titles
West Virginia	22	4	19		WVU has 3 pre-NCAA rifle titles
Iowa State	18	0	13	5
Kansas	13	2	11		KU has 2 Helms basketball titles
TCU	6	0	4		TCU has 2 recognized football titles
Baylor	4	3	3		Baylor has 1 Equestrian title
Texas Tech	1	0	1
Kansas State	0	0	0

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 NCAA Division I FBS Conferences

Conference champions

Main article: List of Big 12 Conference champions

The 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 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 school

Titles as of June 2018.

• Baylor – 76
• Iowa State – 22
• Kansas – 38
• Kansas State – 16
• Oklahoma – 80
• Oklahoma State – 72
• TCU – 10
• Texas – 176
• Texas Tech – 23
• West Virginia – 10

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.

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.

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. The Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry was one of the most intense in college football history. (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. 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). 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."

Championship game

Main article: Big 12 Football Championship Game

The Big 12 Championship Game game was approved by all members except Nebraska. 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.

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

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 will resume at the conclusion of the 2017 regular season, and will be played during the first weekend of December, the time all other Division I FBS conference championship games are played.

Bowl affiliations

As of 2018. (see 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games)

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing conference
–	College Football Playoff	–	–
1	Sugar Bowl†	New Orleans, Louisiana	SEC
2	Alamo Bowl	San Antonio, Texas	Pac-12
3	Camping World Bowl	Orlando, Florida	ACC
4	Texas Bowl	Houston, Texas	SEC
5	Liberty Bowl	Memphis, Tennessee	SEC
6	Cheez-It Bowl	Tempe, Arizona	Pac-12
7	Armed Forces Bowl	Fort Worth, Texas	American
†: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.

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.

The rivalry between TCU and Baylor, known as the Revivalry is also one of the longest running in college football, with the two schools having played each other — largely as Southwest Conference members — 112 times since 1899. As of the 2016 game, TCU leads the series 53–52–7.

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. Currently Texas leads this rivalry 60–44–5.

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

Rivalry	Name	Trophy	Games played†	Began
Baylor–TCU	The Revivalry		112	1899
Baylor–Texas Tech	Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout		74	1929
Iowa State-Kansas State	Farmageddon		98	1917
Kansas–Kansas State	Sunflower Showdown	Governor's Cup	112	1902
Oklahoma-Oklahoma State	Bedlam	Bedlam Bell	109	1904
Oklahoma–Texas	Red River Showdown	Golden Hat	110	1900
TCU–Texas Tech	The West Texas Championship	The Saddle Trophy	58	1926
Texas–Texas Tech		Chancellor's Spurs	64	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–Nebraska			69	1898	2010
Iowa State–Missouri		Telephone Trophy	104	1896	2011
Kansas–Missouri	Border War	Indian War Drum	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			86	1912	2010
Texas A&M–Texas Tech			70	1927	2011
Texas–Texas A&M	Lone Star Showdown	Lone Star Showdown Trophy	118	1894	2011

Men's 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 "division"s 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.

Conference champions

See also: Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament

Big 12 basketball teams played non-division members only once and in-division members twice during the regular season in a 16-game schedule until the 2012-13 season when its ten teams adopted a "home and away" double round robin 18-game schedule. The conference tournament gave first round byes to the top four teams from 1997 until 2012, and the top six teams 2013 to present.

Kansas has the most Big 12 titles, winning or sharing the regular-season title 17 times in the league's 21 seasons. The 2002 Jayhawks became the first, and so far only, team to complete an undefeated Big 12 regular season, going 16–0. As of the 2017-2018 season, Kansas had won or shared 14 straight regular-season league titles and 16 of the past 17. 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)

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.

NCAA tournament performance

Totals though the end of the 2015-16 season.

School	Appearances	Final Fours	Championships
Baylor	11	2	0
Iowa State	19	1	0
Kansas	46	14	3
Kansas State	28	4	0
Oklahoma	31	6	0
Oklahoma State	27	6	2
TCU	7	0	0
Texas	34	3	0
Texas Tech	16	0	0
West Virginia	28	2	0

All-time records

Totals though the end of the 2015–16 season.

Team	Big 12 Record	Big 12 Winning %	Overall Record	Overall Winning %	Big 12 Regular Season Championships	Big 12 Tournament Championships
Baylor	94–157	.375	1287–1337	.490	-	-
Colorado	95-145	.396	-	-	-	-
Iowa State	112–127	.469	1340-1292	.510	2	3
Kansas	179–43	.805	2186-836	.723	16	9
Kansas State	90–131	.407	1581-1123	.585	1	-
Missouri	139-119	.539	-	-	-	2
Nebraska	97-143	.404	-	-	-	-
Oklahoma	151–100	.602	1626-1035	.613	1	3
Oklahoma State	130–121	.518	1606-1130	.587	1	2
TCU	8–64	.111	1160–1366	.459	-	-
Texas	157–94	.626	1738-1035	.627	3	-
Texas A&M	98-160	.380	-	-	-	-
Texas Tech	84–167	.335	1351-1080	.556	-	-
West Virginia	39–33	.542	1702-1059	.616	-	-

Overall series records

Totals though the end of the 2015–16 season.

	Baylor	Iowa State	Kansas	Kansas State	Oklahoma	Oklahoma State	TCU	Texas	Texas Tech	West Virginia
vs. Baylor	—	13–16	4–25	16–12	7–35	15–28	9–0	14–32	21–20	6–3
vs. Iowa State	16–13	—	12–33	22–20	13–17	12–17	8–0	11–17	14–13	5–3
vs. Kansas	25–4	33–12	—	44–5	23–6	22–10	8–1	23–7	24–4	6–3
vs. Kansas State	12–16	20–22	5–44	—	12–14	11–17	7–2	12–15	15–13	3–5
vs. Oklahoma	35–7	17–13	6–23	14–12	—	25–19	7–1	24–23	28–14	6–3
vs. Oklahoma State	28–15	17–12	10–22	17–11	19–25	—	6–2	17–29	32–15	4–4
vs. TCU	0–9	0–8	1–8	2–7	1–7	2–6	—	1–8	3–6	0–9
vs. Texas	32–14	17–11	7–23	15–12	23–24	29–17	8–1	—	38–6	6–3
vs. Texas Tech	20–21	13–14	4–24	13–15	14–28	15–32	6–3	6–38	—	1–8
vs. West Virginia	3–6	3–5	3–6	5–3	3–6	4–4	9–0	3–6	8–1	—
Total	105–171	113–133	208–52	97–148	161–115	150–135	10–68	175–111	92–183	41–37

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.

Baseball titles by school

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–present	0	2	2
Oklahoma State	1997–present	1	2	3
TCU	2013–present	2	2	4
Texas	1997–present	7	5	12
Texas A&M	1997–2012	4	3	7
Texas Tech	1997–present	3	1	4
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	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

By school

• As of the completion of the 2018 tournament.

School	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
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

Broadcasting

Football

Big 12 home football games are carried through Fox Sports or ESPN.  Fox Sports may choose to place the game on the FOX broadcast network, on its cable networks FS1 or FS2.  Low-profile games may be carried on FSN, a national or regional broadcast on Fox Sports’ regional networks, or on the Fox College Sports networks.  ESPN may choose to place the games on the ABC broadcast network, or on cable networks ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU.  ESPN may also display the games through its online streaming services, ESPN3 or ESPN+.  The Big 12 Championship game was first broadcast by FOX in 2017, and will alternate with ESPN in the coming years.  Non-conference away games are subject to the home teams broadcasting contracts, so games may appear on other networks.  (For example, West Virginia played at Tennessee on September 1, 2018, the game was carried on CBS as part of the SEC on CBS deal)

Men’s Basketball

All Big 12 home men’s basketball games are produced by ESPN.  They may be carried on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.  The Big 12 features in ESPN’s Big Monday telecast, which has an exclusive 8 PM CT window for the Big 12.  Occasional high-profile Saturday games may be picked up for national broadcast by CBS. The Big 12 men’s basketball tournament is produced by ESPN and is carries on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU during the same week when those networks carry the SEC, ACC, and Pac-12 tournaments among others.

Women’s Basketball

Some women’s basketball games may be produced by Fox Sports and carried on FS1.  The women’s basketball tournament is produced by Fox Sports.

Other sports

ESPN may occasionally pick up a volleyball, soccer, women’s gymnastics, softball, or baseball contest for coverage on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU.  The championship tournaments for soccer, softball, and baseball are produced by Fox Sports.

External links

• Official website