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.
↑ Tempe hosts the main campus and university administration. ASU has three other physical campuses in the Phoenix area.
↑ Total on-campus enrollment is reported. Enrollment at the main Tempe campus is 57,144, and total enrollment including online students is 145,655.[9]
↑ The UCF campus has an Orlando mailing address but is entirely located in unincorporated Orange County, Florida
↑ Colorado was a founding member of the Big 12 in 1996. In 2011, they left to join the Pac-12 Conference and rejoined the Big 12 as a full member in 2024
↑ Reflects the calendar year in which the school joined, which for spring sports is the year before the first season of competition.
↑ Virtually all of the Air Force Academy grounds, including the cadet area and all athletic facilities, are outside the city limits of Colorado Springs. The US Postal Service considers the Academy to be its own entity, and the US Census Bureau considers it to be the census-designated place of Air Force Academy, Colorado.
↑ Missouri was a full Big 12 member from the conference's formation in 1996 until leaving for the SEC in 2012.
↑ Oklahoma was a full Big 12 member from the conference's formation in 1996 until leaving for the SEC in 2024.
↑ Old Dominion was previously a women's rowing affiliate of the Big 12 from 2014 until 2018.
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 academic year.[13]
On July 5, 2017, the Big 12 added Fresno State and Northern Iowa as wrestling affiliates.[14]
On May 2, 2019, the Big 12 added Fresno State as an equestrian affiliate.[15] Fresno State would drop wrestling in 2021, but remains an equestrian affiliate.[16]
In 2021, the Big 12 added former full member Missouri as a wrestling affiliate.[17]
Below are the men's sports sponsored by each member institution.
The only men's sports with full participation by the entire conference are basketball, football, and golf. Swimming and diving has the lowest participation with only seven universities fielding a team.
The Big 12 fields 14 teams for wrestling. Before the conference's 2023 expansion, it had the most competing schools of any Big 12 sport, with 13 members at that time. The 2022–23 and 2024–25 wrestling lineups both included only 4 full conference members; all remaining wrestling schools were affiliate members (listed as a footnote at the bottom of the table).
↑ Affiliate members Air Force, California Baptist, Missouri, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, and Wyoming.
Men's (and Coed – see Rifle) varsity sports not sponsored by the Big 12 Conference which are played by Big 12 universities:
Schools Participating in Men's Non-Sponsored Sports
↑ 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.[20] 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 university
Below are the women's sports sponsored by each member institution.
The only women's sports with full participation by the entire conference are basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, indoor track and outdoor track. Oklahoma State is the only member that does not sponsor volleyball, and only Utah and West Virginia do not sponsor golf.
Equestrian (3 full members, 1 affiliate) has the lowest participation, with 4 total members. Beach volleyball (3 full members, 3 affiliates), lacrosse (3 full members, 3 affiliates) and rowing (4 full members, 2 affiliates) follow with 6 total members. The affiliate members are listed as footnotes at the bottom of the table, beneath their respective sport.
↑ 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.[21] 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.
In addition to the above, UCF lists its coeducational cheerleading and all-female dance teams as varsity teams on its official athletic website.
The Big 12 does not claim the Big Eight's history as its own, even though it was essentially the Big Eight plus four of the Texas universities.
The Big 12 began athletic play in fall 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 in most sports. The two Oklahoma universities and the four Texas universities formed the South Division, while the other six universities of the former Big Eight formed the North Division.
Between 2011 and 2012 four charter members left the conference:
On July 26, 2021, Oklahoma and Texas notified the Big 12 Conference that the two universities did not wish to extend their grant of television rights beyond the 2024–25 athletic year.[22][23] On July 27, 2021, Oklahoma and Texas sent a joint letter to the Southeastern Conference requesting an invitation for membership beginning July 1, 2025.[24][25] On July 29, 2021, the 14 presidents and chancellors of SEC member universities voted unanimously to invite Oklahoma and Texas to join the SEC.[26] The following day, the Texas Board of Regents and Oklahoma Board of Regents each accepted the invitation to join the SEC from July 1, 2025.[27]
On September 10, 2021, the Big 12 announced that invitations had been extended to and accepted by BYU (a football independent and member of the non-football West Coast Conference) and three members of the American Athletic Conference in Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston. These moves, combined with the impending departure of Oklahoma and Texas, would once again increase the Big 12's membership to twelve schools.[28] All four schools began competing in Big 12 athletics beginning in summer of 2023. BYU had initially announced that it would join in 2023,[29] and Houston indicated it could do so as well.[30] On June 10, 2022, The American and its three departing members announced a buyout agreement that allowed those schools to join the Big 12 in 2023.[31]
On February 9, 2023, Oklahoma and Texas announced they had reached a settlement with the conference that allowed them to join the SEC on July 1, 2024.[32]
On July 27, 2023, Colorado, a former member of the Big 12, announced it would rejoin the conference from the Pac-12 beginning in the 2024–25 academic year. The following week, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah announced they would leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12, also effective for the 2024–25 academic year.
Academics
All Big 12 members are doctorate-granting universities. All members except TCU are classified by the American Council on Education (ACE) as "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research spending and doctorate production". TCU is in ACE's second-tier classification of "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research spending and doctorate production".[33][34]
Member universities 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".[41]
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.[42]
Prior to this agreement, the Big Ten and Pac-12 also had similar GOR agreements.[43] The Big 12 subsequently assisted the ACC in drafting its GOR agreement.[44] Three of the four major conferences now have such agreements, with the SEC the only exception.
Tier 3 events
Historically, the Big 12 allowed members to monetize TV rights for everything not broadcast on national or regional TV channels (tier 3 rights). Currently, the conference's tier 3 broadcast rights are bundled as part of the television deal extension starting in the 2025-26 school year, with all of the Big 12's tier 3 rights held by ESPN.[45] As such, schools no longer need to find their own broadcast partners for these events; they are all handled by ESPN. These events are primarily broadcast on Big 12 Now/ESPN+, but are also broadcast on other ESPN channels as determined by ESPN.[46]
Business partnerships and innovation
The Big 12 has a sponsorship rights partnership with Learfield IMG College.[47] The Big 12 announced on September 9, 2022, that it appointed WME Sports and IMG Media, Endeavor companies, to facilitate its global content and commercial strategy. Commissioner Brett Yormark stated "We have aligned with a best-in-class team to build a best-in-class business strategy for the Conference".[48] November 14, 2022 Big 12 formed a comprehensive business advisor board composed of over three dozen entrepreneurial icons and respective industry leaders. From the likes of Monte Lipman the Founder/CEO Republic Records, Steve Stoute Founder/CEO UnitedMasters & Translation, Mark Shapiro President of Endeavor, Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerMedia, singer Garth Brooks, NBA legend Jason Kidd, Keith Sheldon President of Entertainment for Hard Rock Cafe International, and Ross Levinsohn Chairman and CEO - The Arena Group & Sports Illustrated.[49]
The Big 12 partnered with creative agency Translation to help build a more contemporary audience and brand.[50] Soon after Big 12 Conference made a deal with A Bathing Ape (BAPE) for Championship games. The Conference and BAPE worked together to create limited-edition clothing and a camouflaged Big 12 logo throughout the stadium, arena, and uniforms.
On March 15, 2023, before the NFL Draft, the Big 12 announced the first of its kind across all college conferences, being a conference-wide Pro Day. Instead of schools hosting separate pro days for their football players, there will be only one conference-wide scouting event before the 2024 NFL draft. The event will be held at the Dallas Cowboys training complex, Ford Center at The Star. What essentially would be a conference version of the NFL Combine, the Pro Day would be televised on NFL Network.[52]
Hoops in the Park
In March, the Big 12 Conference announced a partnership with the legendary Rucker Park for a community engagement event. In June the event was officially announced as "Big 12 Hoops in the Park", to host men's and women's summer exhibition games. Throughout the event, the Big 12 is also preparing a number of entertainment activities and community engagements. The activities include youth clinics, meet-and-greets, live music, and food.[53]
Mexico
Early June 2023, the "Big 12 Mexico" initiative was announced, which includes men's and women's soccer, baseball, basketball, and football games and an international media rights strategy.[54] In July 2024, the Big 12 announced that it would narrow it's focus in Mexico to looking at games for baseball and women's soccer.[55]
a Twelve Big 12 members received disbursements each year from 1997 to 2011; ten each year afterwards. Individual universities' disbursement varied annually according to bylaw rules and entrance or withdrawal agreements. †legacy 10-member institutions and adds from PAC 12. ‡UCF, BYU, UC & UH.
Conference revenue comes from media rights contracts, bowl games, the NCAA, merchandise, licensing, and conference-hosted sporting events.
Most of the Big 12's revenue comes from its media rights contracts. In 2012, the Big 12 announced a media rights agreement with Fox and ESPN, replacing an ABC/ESPN deal, estimated to be worth $2.6 billion through the 2025 expiration.[69] The two deals pushed the conference per-university payout to approximately $20 million per year, while separating third-tier media rights into separate deals for each university; such contracts secured an additional $6 million to $20 million per university annually.[70] In 2022, the conference renewed its media rights with ESPN and Fox Sports for six seasons starting in 2025–26, with an estimated US$380 million average annual fee, equating to about $31.7 million per school.[71] The contract included a pro-rata clause that increased the conference's fee proportionately if Power conference schools were added. Subsequently, with the additions of Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, and Utah, the value of the contract is set to increase by about $125 million per year from $380 million to $505 million.[72]
Significant additional revenue is generated from postseason play by Big 12 teams, including the college football playoff, football bowl games, and NCAA basketball tournament revenue. For the 2023-24 football season, the Big 12 received $79.4 million for participating in the college football playoff.[73] Bowl game revenues vary yearly with team selections; the 2024 Alamo Bowl between BYU, representing the Big 12, and Colorado, who took a Pac-12's spot, paid the conference $9.8 million.[74] Considered perhaps the best basketball conference in the country, the Big 12 performs well in the NCAA basketball tournament. Conference teams earned 15 units (worth $30 million) in the 2024 tournament,[75] and 20 units (worth $40 million) in the 2025 tournament.[76]
In the era of Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) payments to student-athletes and revenue sharing directly from school athletic department budgets, the Big 12 has also maximized creative sponsorships. In July 2025, the conference announced a sponsorship deal with PayPal worth about $100 million over 3 years, roughly $2 million per school per year.[77] Under the agreement, PayPal and Venmo will be the official partner of the Big 12 Conference for payments to student athletes and will be promoted across Big 12 football, basketball, and Olympic sports championships for both men and women.[78] Phillips 66 is the title sponsor for Big 12 championship events, and has been for most of the conference's existence, though the contract amount has not been publicly disclosed.[79]
Once the Big 12's new media rights deal kicks in, conference annual distributions to each school are expected to be $50 million or more.[80] All conference members will receive a full share of revenue from the conference's media rights contracts, though payments to individual schools could differ based on postseason play.[81]
Athletic department revenue by school
Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties.
Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.
The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2023–24 academic year.[82]
The following table shows Big 12 Conference distributions during the fiscal year beginning 07-01-2022 ending 06-30-2023 (submission May 6, 2024) as reported by ProPublica using Schedule A of the Big 12 Conference tax filings[83]
↑ Iowa State discontinued its participation in baseball as an NCAA-recognized activity following the 2001 season.[88] It participates in club baseball as a member of the National Club Baseball Association. Games are played at Cap Timm Field, capacity 3,000.[89]
The national championships listed below are as of the 2024−25 season.[107][108][109] Football, Helms, pre-NCAA competition and overall equestrian titles are included in the total, but excluded from the column listing NCAA and AIAW titles.
† Co-ed sports include fencing (since 1990), rifle, and skiing (since 1983). Team fencing championships before 1990 and team skiing championships before 1983 were awarded as men's or women's championships and are counted here as such. ‡ Includes titles won under the DGWS, predecessor of the AIAW.
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.[116] The most recent Big 12 team to win a national title is Oklahoma State men's golf in 2025. Only two years of the Big 12's existence has the conference not won at least one team National Title, 2007 and 2020. However, in 2020 multiple National Championships were not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One former member of the conference did not win a National Championship while a member of the Big 12, Missouri. Original members Kansas State and Iowa State have not won a championship while representing the Big 12. The only national championships won by 2012 arrival West Virginia since joining the Big 12 have been in rifle, a sport that the conference has never sponsored. Of the 2023 arrivals, Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati have not won a championship in the Big 12, but BYU has won in women’s and men’s cross country.
Men's swimming has the most overall championships with 10, while men's golf has the most different schools win a championship with 4.
Men's Golf (7): 2000 – Oklahoma State 2006 – Oklahoma State 2009 – Texas A&M 2012 – Texas 2017 – Oklahoma 2018 – Oklahoma State 2022 – Texas 2025 – Oklahoma State
Rifle (7): 2013 – West Virginia 2014 – West Virginia 2015 – West Virginia 2016 – West Virginia 2017 – West Virginia 2019 – TCU 2024 – TCU 2025 – West Virginia
The Conference sponsors 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's.[118]
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.
All-Time Big 12 Championships by University (through May 30, 2025)[119]
The first football game in conference play was Texas Tech vs. Kansas State in 1996, won by Kansas State, 21–14.[120]
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.[121]
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.[citation needed] The Nebraska–Oklahoma rivalry was one of the most intense in college football history.[citation needed] (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.[citation needed] 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).[122] 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."[122] The Big 12 has made it to the Playoffs 6 times from 2014 to 2023. Four Big 12 participants have made it to the playoff: Oklahoma in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019; Texas in 2023; TCU in 2022; and Arizona State in 2024.
The Big 12 Championship Game was approved by all members except Nebraska.[123] 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.[124]
After 2010, the game was moved to Arlington for 2011, 2012, and 2013.[125] However, the decision became moot following the 2010 season because the league lacked sufficient members.[126]
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 resumed at the conclusion of the 2017 regular season, and is played during the first weekend of December, the time all other FBS conference championship games are played.
Bowl affiliations
The following were bowl games for the Big 12 for the 2022 season.[needs update]
†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. In years in which the Sugar Bowl is a CFP semifinal, the Big 12 champion (runner-up if the champion is selected for the CFP) is slotted to the Cotton, Fiesta or Peach Bowls.
‡The seventh selection is a "flex pick."
Rivalries
The Big 12 is known for rivalries (primarily in football) that 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, dating back to the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association before evolving into the Big Eight. 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.[128] Kansas and Missouri renewed the rivalry in men's basketball starting in December 2021, and have announced that they will meet again in football in 2025.
The rivalry between TCU and Baylor, known as the Revivalry is also one of the longest running in college football, with the two universities having played each other — largely as Southwest Conference members — 120 times since 1899. Following the 2024 game, TCU leads the series 59–54–7.
After the conference's 2024 expansion, only four rivalries were "protected" (i.e., guaranteed of being played each season)—Arizona–Arizona State, Baylor–TCU, BYU–Utah, and Kansas–Kansas State.[129] These are highlighted in bold in the table below.
Some of the football rivalries between Big 12 universities include:
As of the end of the 2023–2024 season, nine current Big 12 members are among the teams with the most wins and/or the highest win percentage in NCAA Division 1 men's basketball: Kansas (#2 in wins, #3 in percentage), Cincinnati (#12 wins, #19 percentage), Utah (#15 wins, #22 percentage), BYU (#17 wins, #31 percentage), Arizona (#19 wins, #10 percentage), West Virginia (#20 wins, #36 percentage), Houston (#37 percentage), Oklahoma State (#39 wins), and Kansas State (#42 wins). On the list of the most Final Four appearances, Kansas is #5 and Cincinnati, Houston, and Oklahoma State are all tied (with several other schools) at #11.[130]
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 divisions 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.[131] When the conference temporarily expanded to 14 members for the 2023–24 season, the 18-game schedule remained, but the double round-robin was discontinued in favor of a new scheduling formula.[132]
In 2024–25, the Big 12 played a 20-game schedule, but due to input from coaches the league will play an 18-game schedule in 2025-26.[133]
Kansas has the most Big 12 titles, winning or sharing the regular-season title 20 times in the league's 25 seasons, including 13 straight from 2004–05 to 2016–17. The 2002 Jayhawks became the first, and so far only, team to complete an undefeated Big 12 regular season, going 16–0. 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.
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. *Due to the use of an ineligible player, Kansas was forced to vacate 15 victories from its 2017-18 season, including the Big 12 regular season and postseason championships the Jayhawks won that year. The bracketed numbers in subsequent are the official number of titles counting those that were vacated. **The 2020 Big 12 Tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2021–22, Kansas won the seeding tiebreaker over Baylor for the Big 12 Tournament, as Kansas had gone 1–1 against third place team Texas Tech, while Baylor had been swept by Texas Tech.
NCAA tournament performance
Totals through the end of the 2024–25 season.[134][135]
*Arizona has appeared in 39 tournaments; however, their 1999, 2008, 2017 and 2018 Tournament appearance was vacated by the NCAA, officially giving them 35 tournament appearances*Kansas has appeared in 52 tournaments and 16 final fours; however, their 2018 Tournament appearance was vacated by the NCAA, officially giving them 51 tournament appearances and 15 final fours
*Texas Tech has appeared in 21 tournaments; however, their 1996 Tournament appearance was vacated by the NCAA, officially giving them 20 tournament appearances.
Source:[138] Some of the values from the bottom of page 32 don't match with the detailed numbers given on pages 33–41 so that latter values were used: *
All current Big 12 members sponsor baseball except Colorado, which never sponsored baseball during its first conference tenure and still does not sponsor the sport, and Iowa State, which dropped the sport after the 2001 season. All other former Big 12 members sponsored the sport throughout their tenures in the conference.[139]
On September 7, 2012, the Big 12 announced a 13-year agreement with ESPN and Fox valued at $2.6 billion in total. ESPN and Fox split college football rights, while the basketball inventory was held by ESPN with sublicensing options for CBS Sports and Fox Sports. The agreement also included a grant of rights for all current Big 12 teams over the period of the contract.[145][146]
In addition to the national agreement, each Big 12 university maintained the right to sell its "third-tier" covering selected events per-season (including one football game, basketball games, and other events outside of those sports). The third-tier rights to the Texas Longhorns are held through a channel dedicated to the team — Longhorn Network — which is operated by ESPN. In 2019, ESPN announced that it would acquire the third-tier rights to all Big 12 teams through 2024–25 (excluding Oklahoma and Texas, which are still under long-term contracts with ESPN+ and Longhorn Network respectively), and place their content on its subscription streaming service ESPN+. ESPN also acquired exclusive rights to all future Big 12 football championship games, replacing the previous alternation between ESPN and Fox.[147]
2025 extension deal
On October 30, 2022, the Big 12 announced that it had reached early broadcast deal to renew rights with ESPN network (includes ABC rights) and Fox. It is a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.3 billion, but also reportedly includes an "escalator clause" that will raise the value of the contracts if only Power Five schools are added. By striking a deal prior to the exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and Fox, the Big 12 managed to achieve several of its primary objectives of stability and security, including the ability to consult its member schools to seek an extended grant of rights and potential future conference expansion. Fox's deal also places a slate of Big 12 college basketball games on Fox Sports for the first time.[148]
ESPN:
Football games will primarily air in a primetime window on ESPN
Primary streaming partner under the branding Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Fox Sports:
26 football games per season:
Rights to a slate of college basketball games
TNT Sports
College football, men's basketball, and women's basketball games that would normally be broadcast on ESPN's streaming service ESPN+ will be licensed to TNT Sports to be broadcast on TNT and/or TBS, as well as the Max streaming service.
CBS
Sublicense rights to select college basketball games
↑ Spring Meetings: Friday Media Update. Kansas City, Missouri. June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2013. This is the place when we always announce the revenue distribution for the year, and we will be distributing 145 million [dollars] to our member institutions at the conclusion of this year.
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