The Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I is broken down into a North and a South. It is comprised of schools from the old Big 8 Conference and some from the old Southwest Conference. It was esablished July 1, 1996. The North/South division is used in both football and basketball. In football a Big 12 Championship game is held at the end of the year between the top team of each division to decide the overall winner of the conference.

The North:

The South: Useless Trivia: The total seating capacity of all the arenas and stadiums in the Big 12 Conference exceeds 1,000,000.

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If a conference doesn't have 12 teams, is it still appropriate to use the number 12 in its name?

It's a moot question. Because as one of the "Power Five" conferences, there's enough brand recognition (i.e. television and marketing revenue) that the name sticks no matter how many teams are in the conference.

In 2010, University of Nebraska announced it would leave to join the Big Ten. And Colorado announced it would join the Pac-10.

With these schools planning to leave the conference, news reports in June 2010 announced that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma state were in discussions to join the Pac 10, and Texas A&M was considering either the Pac 10 or the SEC, leaving the other schools to consider the dissolution of the conference. In the end, negotiations of athletic directors, conference commissioners, television network executives, and college administrators convinced (with the help of a new television deal) the Texas and Oklahoma teams to remain, leaving the Big 12 with 10 teams for the 2011 season.

In 2011, Texas A&M and Missouri wrangled invitations to join the SEC. But the Big 12 was prepared, inviting West Virginia University and Texas Christian University to join the conference. So the 2012 season still had 10 teams in the Big 12, just not the same 10 teams as the year before. Good thing, too, because the Big 12 schools counting on that football TV money would need 10 teams in the conference to hold up their end of the contract (fewer teams = fewer conference games to televise = less money).

Skip ahead to 2021, and both Texas and Oklahoma announced they would depart the conference to join the SEC starting in 2025. This prompted the Big 12 to invite BYU, University of Central Florida, University of Cinncinnati, and the University of Houston to join. All four schools accepted, and will play in the conference starting in the 2023 season, meaning the Big 12 will have 14 schools in the conference for two seasons.

Then, in 2025, the Big 12 conference will live up to its name and have 12 schools.

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