Big 12 Conference (Big 12) |
|
---|---|
Established | February 25, 1994 |
Association | NCAA |
Division | Division I FBS |
Members | 20 (10 full members, 10 affiliate members) |
Sports fielded | 23 (men's: 10; women's: 13) |
Region | |
Headquarters | Irving, Texas |
Commissioner | Bob Bowlsby (since 2012) |
Website | www |
Locations | |
The Big 12 Conference is a ten-school collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports, except hockey and men's soccer; 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 Conference is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Delaware.
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 6 teams of the Big 8 (Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa State) formed the "Big 12 North".