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).

Big 12 Conference
AssociationNCAA
FoundedFebruary 25, 1994 (1994-02-25)[1]
CommissionerBrett Yormark (since 2022)
Sports fielded
  • 25
    • men's: 10
    • women's: 15
DivisionDivision I
SubdivisionFBS
No. of teams16
HeadquartersIrving, Texas
Region
Official websitebig12sports.com
Locations
Location of teams in Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

The Big 12 is a member of the 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.

The Big 12 is one of the Power Four conferences, the four highest-earning and most historically successful FBS football conferences. Power Four conferences are guaranteed at least one bid to a New Year's Six bowl game and have been granted exemptions from certain NCAA rules.

The Big 12 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[2] Brett Yormark became the commissioner on August 1, 2022.

The Big 12 was founded in February 1994. All eight members of the former Big Eight Conference joined with half the members of the former Southwest Conference (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech) to form the conference, with play beginning in 1996.[3]

Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah joined the conference on August 2, 2024, as part of a more extensive NCAA conference realignment.[4]

  1. ^ "Big 12 Quick Facts". Big12Sports.com. July 31, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. ^ "Big Twelve Conference Inc". Exempt Organizations Select Check. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
    - Division of Corporations, Delaware Department of State. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  3. ^ "'Everybody's looking for TV sets': The oral history of the formation of the Big 12 Conference". Sports Illustrated. August 12, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2017. When the Southwest Conference busted and the major four came to the Big Eight ...
    - "Texas Giants Merge With Big 8". Associated Press. February 27, 1994. Retrieved July 1, 2017. Texas and Texas Tech voted...to...join the Big Eight.
  4. ^ Salerno, Cameron (July 1, 2024). "Historic summer of realignment kicks off July 1 as Texas, Oklahoma officially join SEC; ACC adds SMU". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 16, 2024.