The
Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central
United States. 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. The conference was officially formed on February 25, 1994, when the former
Big Eight Conference merged with four Texas schools that had been members of the
Southwest Conference, which had just disbanded. Athletic competition in the conference commenced on August 31, 1996. Big 12 headquarters is located in
Irving, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. According to the Big 12 Conference's website, the use of the alternate names "Big Twelve" and "Big XII" are incorrect; the trademarked name of the conference is "Big 12 Conference" (notwithstanding the Roman numeral XII featured on the conference logo).
Although all eight of the former Big 8 schools are members of the Big 12, the Big 12 does not claim the Big 8's history as its own. However, many fans of the old Big 8 schools consider the Big 12 to be an enlarged Big 8.
