User:Dcheagle/Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a 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.

The Big 12 was formerly composed of 12 schools, hence its name: it was formed in 1996 when four schools from the collapsing Southwest Conference (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor) joined with the pre-existing Big Eight Conference. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were grouped with the four newcomers in the "Big 12 South", while the remaining Six teams of the Big Eight (Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa State) formed the "Big 12 North".

The conference's current ten member makeup resulted from the 2010–13 Big 12 Conference realignment which was apart of a larger conference realignment. In 2011 Nebraska and Colorado left for the Big 10 Conference (Big 10) and Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) respectfully. The following year Texas A&M and Missouri both left for the Southeastern Conference. Following their departure TCU and West Virginia joined from the Mountain West and Big East Conferences respectively to offset the departing schools, bringing the conference to its current strength. In addition to the ten full members the conference also has ten affiliate members that take part in ether Wrestling, Women's rowing, or Women's gymnastics.

The Big 12 Conference, like others involved in the realignment, has kept its name primarily for marketing purposes; the conference has high name recognition, attempts to rename the conference to reflect its current membership strength would lead to confusion with the Big Ten Conference (which currently has 14 members).

The Big 12 is considered a member of the Power Five conferences, who are considered the primary contenders to produce a College Football Playoff championship team in any given year. The conference is also considered a member of the Power Seven Basketball Conferences who have historically placed the majority of the teams into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The Big 12 Conference 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.

Origins and Formation
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 who coordinate internal lobbying efforts in the NCAA on behalf of its member schools; this included members of the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences. However following a Supreme Court decision in 1984, the primary function of the CFA changed to negotiating television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges. In February 1994, the Southeastern Conference announced that they, like the Big Ten, Pac-10, and Notre Dame before them, would leave the CFA and begin negotiating independently for a television deal that covered the SEC only. 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, both had markets of approximately the same size --- about 8.5% of the nations TV households. Because of this the two conference began negotiations, with ABC and ESPN. During the negotiations for television rights, the leadership of both the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma viewed an alliance of 16 teams as being the least optimal option, with them both favoring being in the same conference. However at the same time Texas started to flirt with the idea of joining the Pacific-10 Conference along with Colorado. At a point in the negotiation, the deal with the PAC-10 changed to Texas and Texas A&M instead of Colorado, when Colorado's Board of Regents got wind of the new deal they became heavily involved with the TV negotiations for the new conference. The Big 8 began negotiations with ABC and ESPN for a TV deal for the new conference. Additionally, Texas A&M was also investigating a potential membership in the SEC, but the SEC only viewed them as an option if they brought Texas with them as a packaged deal. When word got out that both Texas and Texas A&M were both eying leaving the SWC, Texas state senator David Sibley, a Baylor alum and member of the very powerful Senate Finance Committee, approached William Cunningham President of the University of Texas and asked him pointedly whether Texas had planned to leave the SWC for the Big 8, Cunningham tried to change the subject a number of times but ultimately didn't deny the move. Sibley then approached Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock, a Texas Tech and Baylor alum and they put together a number of Texas Tech and Baylor alum legislators who worked to cut UT and A&M's access to the state of Texas's Permanent University Fund. Bullock called together a meeting between the legislators and Texas's and Texas A&M's leadership on February 20, 1994 where a deal was worked out that halted Texas's A&M's pursuit of a membership in the SEC and the inclusion of Texas Tech and Baylor in the new conference. In the meantime, the Big Eight had not stopped to wait for the Texas schools, and had continued to negotiate with the television networks.

Five days later on February 25, 1994, it was announced that a new conference would be formed in place of an alliance, the new conference consented of the members of the Big Eight plus four of the Texas 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.

Three months after the conferences formation, the schools officially selected the conference's name: the Big 12 Conference, and the location for its new headquarters. Seven city's were considered Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado, Dallas (then headquarters for the SWC) and Lubbock, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri (then headquarters for the Big Eight), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Omaha, Nebraska. Ultimately it would come down to Kansas City and Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas being the finalist, Irving was selected after a 7-5 vote of the Board of Directors. In December of 1994 following the conferences formation in February, the Pac-10 who had pursued Texas and Colorado as its eleventh and twelfth members unanimously voted to offer membership to Texas and Colorado. Texas turned them down outright and Colorado's Board of Regents voted 6-3 to reject the offer opting to stay in the newly formed 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. From the conference's formation until the 2010–11 season, the Big 12 was split into two divisions for most major sports. The six northernmost schools Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Nebraska constituted the North Division, while the Texas and Oklahoma schools constituted the South Division.

Immediate plans for expansion
The four Southwest Conference schools were not the only candidates the Big 8 considered. After the Big 12 was founded, there were leaks in 1994 that the conference also had a plan for a 14 team membership in order to secure a larger share of the nation's TV audience than the SEC, something much of the conference leadership felt might be vital for it's future TV negotiations.

Reports were confirmed that Brigham Young University and the University of New Mexico, then in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), were actively being considered for membership in the new conference and if the conference should then decide to go to 16 schools, the University of Louisville and Memphis State University would have been favorites to fill those slots.; in anticipation of of immediate expansion to 14, the new conference trademarked not only the name "Big 12" but also the name "Big 14 The idea was that BYU and New Mexico would raise the conference footprint to 20% of the nation's TV households while also giving the northern division another football powerhouse in BYU. Articles of the day suggested support for the idea was not uniform among Big 12 schools and many quotes suggested such an expansion was only a future possibility.

New Mexico's athletic director Rudy Davalos pointedly questioned in the media why the Big 12 would consider New Mexico and expressed a commitment to the WAC. It is possible that factions in the Big 12 were pushing for a different 14th member. There was also talk that the addition of BYU might be opposed by Baylor and a few other schools. TCU's AD at the time, Frank Windegger was told by collegues that TCU was discussed as a package deal with BYU, with the idea even going to a vote --- but the expansion vote was narrowly defeated.

Ultimately the conference chose to stay at 12 members. BYU's athletic director Clayne Jensen told the press that while the addition of BYU could likely pay for the Cougars' admission as the conference's 13th member, it appeared no other candidate school made financial sense to come in as the 14th member. It is unclear whether that statement was truly the sentiment of the leaderships at the dissenting schools in voting down the admission of BYU with a partner or whether the statement was designed to soothe BYU's jilted fan base.

Instability and realignment


During the 2010–14 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, and the conference championship game as the NCAA only allows football championship games in conferences with at least twelve teams.

Departures of Nebraska and Colorado
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. Later, after being fired by the Big 12, Beebe was quoted as saying, "Nebraska was one of the biggest objectors of equal revenue rights, and their president Harvey Perlman said that." 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 10 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.

Departures of Texas A&M and Missouri
In August 2011 Texas A&M University announced plans to leave the conference and apply for membership in an unspecified conference. Texas A&M's desire to leave the Big 12 Conference was driven by concern about conference stability and also by concerns that the Longhorn Network, controlled by Texas, would give Texas an unfair advantage in recruiting and other aspects of competition. As part of the settlement of there exit, the Big 12 Conference withheld $12.4 million of the revenue the Big 12 Conference would have shared with Texas A&M. Texas A&M still received a portion of the revenue from the recently signed contract between the Big 12 Conference and Fox Sports. Following Texas A&M announcement the Boards of Regents of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas all authorized their presidents to make decisions related to conference alignment, all of which where were reportedly considering applying to the Pacific-12 Conference along with Texas Tech. The remaining schools entered talks with the Big East football schools to potentially combine conferences. Those talks however temporarily halted on September 20, 2011 when the Pac-12 reiterated its desire to remain a twelve-team conference. 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. However despite this, on September 25, 2011 the SEC announced that Texas A&M was being accepted unconditionally—regardless of threats of legal action. Texas A&M officially joined the SEC on July 1, 2012. Once Texas A&M accepted the invite the other schools particularly the University of Oklahoma and its President David Boren pushed for the ousting of Commissioner Dan Beebe for not doing enough to smooth school concerns and his inability to stabilize the Conference, He was fired on September 23, 2011 and replaced by Interim commissioner Chuck Neinas while the Big 12's Board of Directory's looked for his replacement. With Neinas at the helm he was able to get all of the member schools to agree to equally distribute Tier I and II television revenues moving the conference towards stability on October 5, 2011.

On October 4, 2011 Missouri's Board of Curators authorized the school's Chancellor Dr. Brady J. Deaton to explore applying to other conferences. The previous year Missouri was looking to leave and join the Big Ten but that had ended when Nebraska, not Missouri, was invited to join the Big Ten. Deaton who at the time was the Chairmen of the Big 12 Board of Directors stepped down from the chairmanship stating that it was in the best interest of the Conference and the University of Missouri, following this Burns Hargis the president of Oklahoma State was selected to replace Deaton as Chairmen. Even with Neinas stating that Missouri would remain in the conference for the 2012 season, Missouri's Board of Curators on October 21 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 November 6, 2011 Missouri announced that it would join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012. As compensation for the departure, the Big 12 Conference withheld $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).

Additions of Texas Christian and West Virgina
Following Texas A&M's and Beebe's departure the Big 12 formed a committee to replace Texas A&M with at least one other school. Further stability came when 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 also named Brigham Young University and the University of Louisville 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 previously 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 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.

With Missouri in talks to leave the conference the Big 12 announced on October 28, 2011 that it had invited West Virginia University to join the conference and that WVU had accepted the invite and would begin conference play in 2012. However as a member of the Big East WVU was required to give the conference 27 months notice before leaving, which then Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said that West Virginia could not leave before July 1, 2014. In response, West Virginia filled a lawsuit against the Big East to have the withdrawal-notice requirement stipulated in the Big East's bylaws invalidated on the grounds that the Big East had 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 counter suit 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. However on February 14, 2012, West Virginia announced that it had settled its lawsuit with the Big East Conference. Clearing 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.

Grant of media rights agreemtent and new tv deal


Following the departures of Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas A&M and the additions of Texas Christen and West Virginia 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. With the additions of TCU and West Virginia as members of the Conference, the Big 12 Board to Directors hired Stanford University Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby as the conferences fourth Commissioner to replace Dan Beebe. Following six months of negotiations the Big 12 signed a 13 year $2.6 billion media rights agreement with Fox and ESPN. The deal also included a 13 year Grant of rights agreement between the member schools and the conference. The agreement gives the conference the rights to the schools Tier I and II television content while Tier III rights remain with the schools. Should a member school leave the conference during the duration of the contract that schools Tier I and II media rights would remain with the conference making it economically invaluable for them to leave. The New deal also allows Fox and ESPN to air a minimum of 25 football games per season on a combination of Fox, FX, ABC and ESPN. ESPN will be the primary basketball rights holder for both league games and the Big 12 Basketball Championship tournament. The deal will give each member school an estimated $20.3 million per year in revenue during the duration of the contract, and allow them to own and monetize their Tier III media. This allows member schools to form a network to air those third tier media and keep the revenue like Texas's Longhorn Network.

In May 2012, the Big 12 and SEC announced plans to create a new bowl game, the Champions Bowl, that would play host to the champions of both conferences. Much like how the Big 10 and Pac-12 champions play in the Rose Bowl. In November 2012, it was decided instead that the Sugar Bowl would play host to the champions of the Big 12 and SEC, beginning in January 2015. Because there is the likelihood that ether one or both conferences champions could be a percipient in the playoffs the next highest team from each conference will take their place, it also became one of the bowls that rotate as a spot for one of two national semifinal games.

Women's rowing
Prior to the 2014-15 athletic season conference members who sponsored womens rowing. (Kansas, K-State, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia) Competed in Conference USA for the C-USA rowing championship. As a result of conference realingment C-USA was left with few members that sponsored rowing, so begining with the 2015-16 season the Big 12 began sponsoring womens rowing and invited Alabama, Old Dominion and Tennessee to join the Big 12 as affiliate members in womens rowing.

Wrestling and Women's gymnastics
When the NCAA declined to grant another waiver that would allow the Big 12 Championship to be recognized and its champions and runnersup to be granted automatic qualification to the national championships. And with member schools wrestling coaches decling to have their athletes wrestle in the Western Regional Tournament, ment that wrestlers advanced to the NCAA Championships only as at-large invitees. The Big 12 entered talks to add the members of Western Wrestling Conference (Air Force, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, and Wyoming) as affiliate members.

Membership timeline
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Revenue
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.

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. 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.

Sports
As of the current 2012-13 academic year, the conference sponsors championship competition in ten men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The most recently added sports were equestrian which is sanctioned by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) and rowing, which debuted as fully sponsored sports with official championships during the 2011–12 school year. All Big 12 rowing schools are also affiliate members of Conference USA for that sport and as such compete for the C-USA Rowing championship as well as the Big 12 Rowing championship.

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

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

Baseball
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.

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)
 * Oklahoma: 1 (0 regular-season, 1 tournament)
 * Oklahoma State: 1 (0 regular-season, 1 tournament)
 * Kansas State: 0
 * Iowa State: 0

By school

 * As of the end of the 2012 tournament.

Men's basketball
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 8 straight league titles and 10 of the past 11. Kansas has won the most Big 12 postseason titles as well, winning 8 out of 16. However, Missouri was the most recent Big 12 Tournament champion, winning the 2012 edition of the tournament, the Tigers' final appearance in the event before leaving for the SEC.

In 2005, Oklahoma won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on their 71–63 home victory over the Jayhawks.

In 2006, Texas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on their 80–55 home victory over the Jayhawks.

In 2008, Texas won the post-season tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on their 72–69 home victory over the Jayhawks.

Big 12 in the NCAA tournament

 * Through 2012 Final Four

Big 12 men's basketball programs all time

 * Through the end of the 2008–09 season

Big 12 Cumulative Conference record
Conference records do not include conference tournament games, only regular season conference games
 * From 1996–1997, through March 12, 2013

Football
From 1996-2010 teams were separated into North and South divisions each comprising of six teams, Each team played eight conference games a season, five from 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. Under this format the teams leading their division at the end of the regular season would play in the Big 12 Championship game for the Conference Championship. Following the departures of Nebraska and Colorado in 2011, the Big 12 eliminated the divisions (and championship game) and instituted a nine-game round-robin format. Under this format all ten schools play one another and the team with the best conference record at the end of the regular season is declared the Big 12 Champion.

Championship Game
The Big 12 Championship Game was held by the Big 12 Conference from 1996 till 2010. 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 North Division champion against the South Division champion in a game held after the completion of the regular season. The first championship game was held on December 7 at Trans World Dome (now Edward Jones Dome) in St. Louis, Missouri following the 1996 season. The game was played between North Division Champion Nebraska and Big 12 South Division Champion Texas, with Texas winning 37-27 to become the first Big 12 Champion. The final Championship game was held on December 4 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas following the 2010 season. The game was played between North division Champion Nebraska and South division Champion Oklahoma, with Oklahoma winning the final Big 12 Championship game 23-20.

Only seven of the twelve teams to compete for a chance to play in the championship played in the game those being Oklahoma (8), Nebraska (6), Texas (5), Colorado (4), Kansas State (3), Texas A&M (2), Missouri (2). Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech did not make an appearance in any Big 12 Championship Game. Oklahoma won the most at seven.

During its fifteen year history the game was played in six different locations with Kansas City, Missouri hosting the most at five (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008), San Antonio, Texas hosted the seconded most with three (1997, 1999, 2007), Arlington, Texas (2009, 2010), Houston, Texas (2002, 2005), and St. Louis, Missouri (1996, 1998) each hosted the event twice and Irving, Texas (2001) hosted it once.

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. The Oklahoma-Texas rivalry is also unique, as it was a major rivalry decades before the two schools were in the same conference. Before their departure to other conferences, a number of former member schools held longtime rivalries within the conference:

Some of the longstanding football rivalries between Big 12 schools include: † Through 2012

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.

Big 12 Conference titles by school
As of May 3, 2012. ''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''.

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.

Team national championships
Football (3):

1997 – Nebraska

2000 – Oklahoma

2005 – Texas

Equestrian (12):

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)

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

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 (2):

2000 – Oklahoma

2013 - 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