Big 12 will evolve into something more
When the Big 12 formed in 1994, there was little doubt about the name associated with the conference. The iconic logo, however, was a whole story altogether.
“We had a lot of fun coming up with the logo — the XII,” said Steve Hatchell, former Big 12 commissioner. “Everybody got invested and the idea was we were different. We’re not the Big Eight or the Southwest Conference, so when you see the XII, you know it’s the Big 12.”
According to Hatchell, the idea for creating the Big 12 Conference arose out of necessity.
As members from the Big Eight and the Southwest Conference discussed a scheduling alliance, the thought of a new league began to form. The demise of the College Football Association — a group of college institutions that controlled television rights for more than a quarter of a century — opened the door for conferences to negotiate individual TV deals.
At the time, the Big Eight (Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) comprised 7% of the television market. The SWC (Baylor, Houston, Rice, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU and Texas Tech) owned its own piece of the market (7%).
“You put them together and now you got [14%],” said Hatchell. “What that meant was we could go out and get one heck of a television deal for the conference with football and basketball.”
Long before the formation of the Bowl Championship Series and College Football Playoff, schools would work out their bowl agreements, something the Big 12 took full advantage of signing with seven bowls.
With many of the financial pieces in place, all that was needed was the final membership makeup. After some political wrangling, the Big Eight institutions welcomed Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech to form
the Big 12.
“There was real enthusiasm about it,” said Hatchell. “You still got a lot of the same culture, but now you’re adding four schools from Texas.”
While it was an exciting time for the 12 new members, there were still challenges for Hatchell, who was commissioner of the SWC.
“It was very awkward, to put it mildly,” he said. “I’m putting together bowls for the Big 12, working with television for the Big 12, but at the same time, I’m telling four schools [Houston, Rice, SMU and TCU] that they’re not going to be moving ahead and that’s uncomfortable.
“Those were wonderful people and institutions. They just weren’t going to move ahead, so it was a very tough time.”
Hatchell took the mantle of Big 12 commissioner, overseeing the challenges of a fledgling league from choosing the city to house the conference offices to creating trophies for divisional and conference championships.
“You’re literally starting over and creating something from nothing, that red meat for me,” he said. “I love creating new things and the enthusiasm I got working with these people was just fantastic.”
Hatchell led the Big 12 for three seasons before resigning in 1998, citing a need for change.
Success came early for the Big 12, which boasted six football teams in the 1996 preseason Associated Press Top 25 rankings led by No. 1 Nebraska. The Huskers (6th) and Colorado (8th) would finish in the top 10.
In its first 10 seasons of existence, the conference would have 21 teams finish in the top 10 of the AP poll and produce three national champions: Nebraska (1997), Oklahoma (2000) and Texas (2005).
Other sports followed suit, including men’s basketball, which claimed three national titles: Kansas (2008, ’22) and Baylor (’21); and women’s basketball, which claimed four titles: Baylor (2005, ’12, ’19) and Texas A&M (’11).
Membership, meanwhile, evolved throughout the 27 years of the Big 12’s existence.
Television revenue, which had been the catalyst for the creation of the conference, would eventually threaten to undo it all.
Concerns about unequal revenue distribution in the conference centering on powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma eventually led to Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-12) leaving in 2011. A year later, Texas A&M and Missouri departed, accepting invitations to join the SEC.
The Big 12 invited TCU and West Virginia to join 10 institutions to provide stability.
But that footing seemed tenuous at best. When the league’s cornerstone programs, Oklahoma and Texas, announced they were leaving for the SEC in 2025, the Big 12 once again found itself facing an uncertain future.
Not content to find out its fate, then-commissioner Bob Bowlsby took an aggressive stance, extending membership invitations to BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. The four new institutions eventually worked out deals to join the Big 12 in 2023.
“We are adding four great universities today,” Bowlsby said when announcing the deal Sept. 10, 2021. “Two hundred thousand students, three additional states, 40 million in population and three of the best recruiting areas in the entire nation.
“They are tremendously successful broadbased athletics programs, led by some outstanding coaches and administrators.”
Meanwhile, Oklahoma and Texas reached deals allowing them to exit the conference in 2024.
New commissioner Brett Yormark wasted little time after being hired in August, securing a 6-year media rights deal worth an estimated $2.3 billion which would distribute an annual payout of $31 million per school. That figure could climb depending on NCAA Tournament distribution and a new College Football Playoff deal after the current one expires in 2026.
Riding a wave of confidence following the media rights deal, Yormark publicly expressed his desire to expand the conference’s membership. His comments came on the heels of the Pac-12 wrestling with the loss of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and a devalued media rights package.
“We have an appetite to be a national conference in our makeup from coast to coast,” Yormark said. “We love our current composition and the four new schools coming in. However, if the opportunity presents itself to create value, we will pursue it.”
Looking back, Hatchell credits the enthusiasm of the school presidents, chancellors and athletic directors for the Big 12’s early success.
“It was too good to fail. It was too good to have any hiccups,” he said.