TheBig 12 Conference sponsors championships in 25 sports, 10 men's and 15 women's,[2] with two women's sports to be added in the 2024–25 school year.[3] The first conference championship awarded was the 1996 softball postseason tournament championship, which was won by Oklahoma.
From 2011 through 2016, the football champion was decided by regular-season play. Previously 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 theBig 12 Championship Game for the Big 12 title. Following changes in NCAA rules, the Big 12 will reinstate its football championship game in 2017, with the top two teams in the final conference standings advancing to the title game. Baseball, basketball, soccer, and tennis titles are awarded in both regular-season and tournament play. Cross country, golf, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and diving, track and field, and wrestling titles are awarded during an annual meet of participating teams. The volleyball and softball titles are awarded based on regular-season play. Softball previously held a post season tournament.
All current Big 12 members sponsor baseball except Iowa State, which dropped the sport after the 2001 season, and Colorado, which never sponsored baseball during its first conference tenure and still does not sponsor the sport.[6]
Beach volleyball, organized by the NCAA only for women, is the first of two women's sports that were added in 2024–25. Established full member TCU was joined by incoming members Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. The Big 12 planned to add other schools in that sport to meet the sponsorship level required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but gave no timetable for any additions.[3] After the 2025 season, Utah dropped beach volleyball[7] and the Big 12 added Boise State, Florida State, and South Carolina as new associates.[8]
Four schools participate in equestrian—full members Baylor, Oklahoma State, and TCU, plus associate member Fresno State. Kansas State discontinued its equestrian team after the 2016 season.
This list reflects the official Big 12 totals by including division championships (1996–2010), conference championships won through a postseason championship game (1996–2010 and 2017–present), and conference championships won through the regular season (2011–2016).[13] The Big 12 counts shared division championships as a full championship for each school, regardless of what school went on to play in the Big 12 title game.
Season
North Division Representative
South Division Representative
Big 12 Champion
Big 12 Championship Game (1996–2010, 2017–present)
Note: While the team playing in the championship game from 1996 through 2010 was popularly regarded as the divisional champion, the Big 12 did officially recognize co-champions in football, just like it does in other sports. As a result, the following teams are also recognized as champions by the Big 12: North Co-Champions: Kansas State (1999), Nebraska (2000, 2001, 2008), Iowa State (2004), Kansas (2007), Missouri (2010) South Co-Champions: Texas (2002, 2008), Texas Tech (2008), Oklahoma State (2010), Texas A&M (2010)[14]
2011–2016
When Nebraska and Colorado left the conference after the 2010 season, it left the conference with only 10 members. The conference did not replace the two teams and therefore eliminated the Big 12 Championship game. Under the new format, which remained in place through the 2016 season, every team played each other and the team with the best conference record won the Big 12 title. In the event of a tie between two teams or more teams for the best conference record, then they were determined co-champions. Through the 2013 season, the winner of the head-to-head game earned the BCS berth in theFiesta Bowl.[15] This was later changed and the league recognized a tie-breaker starting in 2015.[15] The change was made after the B12 was left out of the inaugural four-team College Football Playoff in 2014. The B12 presented TCU and Baylor as co-champs to the College Football Committee in 2014, despite Baylor having the head-to-head win over TCU. The move was seen as a play by the conference to get two teams invited into the new format, which backfired, leaving both teams out.[16]
Following a 2016 change in NCAA rules that allowed FBS conferences to stage championship games regardless of their membership numbers, the Big 12 announced it would reinstate its championship game starting in 2017. The conference continued to play a full round-robin conference schedule until it expanded to 14 members in 2023 (and to 16 in 2024). The top two teams at the end of the conference season (with tiebreakers used as needed) play in the championship game.
With the launch of theCollege Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014, which coincided with a reworking of bowl tie-ins, the Big 12 tie to the Fiesta Bowl ended.
The Big 12's primary bowl partner is now theSugar Bowl, In years when that game is not a CFP semifinal, the top teams from the Big 12 andSEC, as chosen by the CFP selection committee, will play one another. If either conference provides a team for the CFP semifinals, the top non-playoff team from that conference will go to the Sugar Bowl.
When the Sugar Bowl is hosting a semifinal, the top Big 12 team not involved in the playoff will receive a berth in either theCotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, orPeach Bowl.
All current Big 12 members sponsor men's golf. The most recent school to add the sport while a Big 12 member is West Virginia, which added that sport starting in the 2015–16 season.
The Big 12 currently has seven women's gymnastics members—full members Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Iowa State, Utah and West Virginia, plus Denver, an affiliate since the 2015–16 season.
Women's lacrosse is the other women's sport added in 2024–25. At the time of announcement, Cincinnati was the only full member that sponsored the sport, joined by incoming members Arizona State and Colorado. As in the case of beach volleyball, the other new sport for 2024–25, the Big 12 planned to add other schools to meet the sponsorship level required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but gave no timetable for any additions.[3] In February 2024, the conference announced the arrival of three associates for its first women's lacrosse season—Florida, San Diego State, and UC Davis.[19]
In the 2014–15 school year, rowing was the only Big 12 sport with affiliate members. Before that school year, the Big 12 andConference USA (CUSA) had a rowing alliance in which all Big 12 rowing schools would participate in the CUSA championship as well as the Big 12 championship. CUSA dropped rowing after the departure of most of its rowing members for other conferences. The Big 12 then took in the three remaining schools from the CUSA rowing league (Alabama, Old Dominion, and Tennessee) as single-sport affiliates. Old Dominion left Big 12 rowing after the 2017–18 season to join theAmerican Athletic Conference, but returned to Big 12 women's rowing in 2024–25. Full American Conference member Tulsa also joined for women's rowing in 2024–25.[19]
Since 2015–16, the Big 12 has also had affiliates in women's gymnastics and men's wrestling, and now has affiliates in beach volleyball and women's equestrian as well.
The departure of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024 for the SEC allowed that conference to begin sponsoring women's rowing. Both schools that were affiliates in the 2023–24 season (Alabama and Tennessee) are charter SEC members, and SEC bylaws allow it to hold a championship in any sport sponsored by at least 25% of the full membership (four schools). The Big 12's announcement of the arrival of Old Dominion and Tulsa hinted at the departure of Alabama and Tennessee. Neither SEC member was included in the list of Big 12 rowing members for 2024–25, and the SEC indeed added rowing for 2024–25 with Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas as the initial members.
All current Big 12 members sponsor women's soccer. The most recent to add the sport was Kansas State, which announced in 2015 that it was adding the sport. The Wildcats played their first season in 2016 as an independent, and began playing a full Big 12 schedule in 2017.[20]
^The 2019 conference tournament was canceled due to rain and resulting poor field conditions before pool play could be completed. Regular-season champion Oklahoma received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[21]
Ten Big 12 schools currently sponsor women's swimming and diving: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, TCU, Utah, and West Virginia.
All current Big 12 members sponsor women's volleyball except Oklahoma State, which has never sponsored women's volleyball as a Big 12 member.[27] WithVanderbilt reinstating women's volleyball in 2025 after a 45-year absence, Oklahoma State is the onlyPower Four conference member that does not sponsor women's volleyball. The only current member witha varsity men's team isBYU.
Men's wrestling crowned regular-season champions in 2011–12 and 2012–13 only.
In 2015, the Big 12 absorbed theWestern Wrestling Conference, with that league's six final members becoming Big 12 affiliates effective with the 2015–16 school year. Fresno State and Northern Iowa became affiliates in 2017–18. Missouri became an affiliate during the 2021-22 season after Fresno State dropped its program, and California Baptist became an affiliate in 2022–23 once it completed its transition fromNCAA Division II to Division I.
Oklahoma remained in Big 12 wrestling after otherwise joining the SEC, keeping that program together with the only other SEC member to sponsor the sport, former Big 12 member Missouri. Of the four schools that joined the Big 12 in 2024, only Arizona State sponsors wrestling.
Women's wrestling became an official NCAA championship sport in 2025–26, but no Big 12 membersponsors the sport.
