Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It consists of 14 full-member universities (3 private universities and 11 public universities) in the states of Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 25, 1994 |
| Commissioner | Brett Yormark (since 2022) |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division I |
| Subdivision | FBS |
| No. of teams | 14 (16 as of July 1, 2024) |
| Headquarters | Irving, Texas |
| Region | |
| Official website | big12sports |
| Locations | |
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 Five conferences, the five highest-earning and most historically successful FBS football conferences. Power Five conferences are guaranteed at least one bid to a New Year's Six bowl game and have been granted autonomy from certain NCAA rules.
The Big 12 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Brett Yormark became the new 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.
Major membership changes came during the 2010–2013 Big 12 Conference realignment and still more changes came or will come during the 2021–2024 NCAA conference realignment.