An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions , with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region.
151-653: The power conferences are the most prominent athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association 's Division I , the highest level of collegiate football in the nation, and are considered the most elite conferences within that tier. Power conferences have provided most of the participants in
302-818: A realignment in the early 2010s ; at the same time, the BCS was reorganised into the College Football Playoff, and the remaining AQ conferences were collectively referred to as the Power Five . A further realignment in the early 2020s saw the Pac-12 left with only two members after the 2023 season ; the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC now form the Power Four , with further suggestions that the Big Ten and SEC –
453-811: A season , a conference refers to a single tournament. This has since been carried over by other leagues, such as the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which has its own conferences , the Philippine Super Liga , the Premier Volleyball League , the PBA D-League , and formerly the Philippine Basketball League . The term "conference" referring to a single tournament does not apply if there's only one tournament in
604-617: A 14-team league with two football divisions. These talks died when the Big Eight Conference merged with former Southwest Conference members to create the Big 12 . Following the addition of Penn State, efforts were made to encourage the University of Notre Dame , at that time the last remaining non- service academy independent, to join the league. In 1999, Notre Dame and the Big Ten entered into private negotiations concerning
755-433: A BCS bowl game. The highest ranked champion of any non-AQ conference received an AQ bid if they ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS poll or ranked in the top 16 and higher than a champion of an AQ conference. The conferences in this group were: The BCS faced several controversies throughout its tenure, driven largely by teams and fans dissatisfied at being left out of the championship game. The presence of two SEC teams in
906-406: A combination of polls and computer selection methods to determine team rankings, though conference championships also affected game selection. The term "BCS conference" was used by many fans to refer to one of the six conferences whose champions received an automatic berth in one of the five BCS bowl games, although the BCS itself used the term "automatic qualifying conference" (AQ conference). Each of
1057-516: A conference system. From 2011 through to 2015, the competition had one conference based in each of its three founding countries . The winner of each conference received a playoff spot, as did the three next best teams overall. With the addition of Argentina's Jaguares and Japan's Sunwolves for 2016, plus a sixth franchise for South Africa, the competition reorganised into a new four-conference system. In 2016 and 2017, Australia and New Zealand formed separate conferences within an Australasian group;
1208-509: A failed attempt to seek a significantly larger rights fee from ESPN to renew its existing agreements. This came to fruition in 2006, when the conference announced the formation of a dedicated cable network, Big Ten Network , in a 20-year partnership with Fox Sports , which would officially launch in 2007. The network carries coverage of Big Ten athletics (including events not carried by the Big Ten's other media partners), studio shows, as well as other original programs and documentaries profiling
1359-535: A football-only move. Indicates a non-football move. This list includes all institutions that joined or have announced that they will join the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, Big 10, or SEC after the establishment of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998, and that had previously been independent or had affiliated with a non-power conference. It also includes all institutions that joined the original Big East between 1998 and 2013, and teams that joined
1510-606: A former Big Ten Conference member, was a member of the CIC from 1958 to June 29, 2016. 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
1661-512: A group of teams (generally eight to twelve colleges and/or universities, occasionally as high as sixteen) that regularly play against each other within a national governing body, the most significant of which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Most of these groups (including the "Power Five" conferences that are primary partners in the College Football Playoff ) refer to themselves as conferences, although
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#17327802335261812-487: A lesser extent their own conference; NBA and NHL teams play at least two games (one at each home arena ) against every other team in their league in a regular season, MLB teams play at least one 3-game series against every other team (as of the 2023 season ), but the NFL teams do not. In college sports , the terms "league," "conference" and (generally at lower levels) "athletic association" can be used interchangeably to refer to
1963-467: A major influence on collegiate athletics conference membership, and athletic conference membership can impact a university's fundraising, academics, and overall reputation. Membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU), a 71-member organization of research universities in the United States and Canada, has frequently been discussed as a factor in conference realignment, particularly for
2114-608: A member of Hockey East , and the move would save travel time and renew rivalries with former CCHA and WCHA members. In 2013, the conference moved its headquarters from its location in Park Ridge, Illinois to neighboring Rosemont . The office building is situated within Rosemont's Parkway Bank Park Entertainment District (then named MB Financial Park Entertainment District), alongside Interstate 294 . On June 30, 2022, UCLA and USC announced that they would be joining
2265-405: A nationwide trend as part of the 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment . On June 11, 2010, the University of Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten and was unanimously approved as the conference's 12th school, which became effective July 1, 2011. The conference retained the name "Big Ten". This briefly led to the interesting and ironic result of the Big Ten consisting of twelve teams, and
2416-632: A possible membership that would include Notre Dame. Although Notre Dame's faculty senate endorsed the idea with a near-unanimous vote, the school's board of trustees decided against joining the conference. (In 1926, Notre Dame had briefly considered official entry into the Big Ten but chose to retain its independent status. ) Notre Dame subsequently joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports except football, in which Notre Dame maintains its independent status as long as it plays at least five games per season against ACC opponents. This
2567-431: A power conference opponent for such purposes; the Big Ten and SEC also count Army as such an opponent. Though not required to do so, all Power Four conferences hold conference championship games following the conclusion of the regular season and prior to the College Football Playoff. The power conferences previously each had two divisions and matched the winner of each division in the conference championship game, but all of
2718-474: A power conference. In basketball and some other sports, the Division I programs that are not part of the power conferences are often referred to as " mid-major " programs, although the appropriateness of the term has been criticized since some mid-major programs have resources equal to that of some power conference programs. Most notably, Gonzaga , a member of the mid-major West Coast Conference but set to join
2869-683: A proposed private tournament that would have invited such teams. By contrast, the NCAA did not use this method of setting the field for the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament , which it launched in the 2023–24 season as a direct parallel to the NIT. It instead followed the pre-2024 NIT practice of inviting all regular-season conference champions that failed to make the NCAA tournament, if otherwise eligible for postseason play. The overall institutional profiles and academic prestige of colleges and universities have
3020-930: A season, such as in the case of the college sports leagues, the Philippine Football League , and the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League . Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G , formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference , among others) is the oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States . Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates
3171-514: A secondary trophy called a "shield" (Irish, Scottish/Italian, South African, Welsh), with the overall league table used to determine playoff participants. The winner of each shield, however, is assured a place in the following year's European Rugby Champions Cup regardless of its overall league position. The now defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association , where teams are represented by companies instead of geographical entities, and there are multiple tournaments held sequentially in
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#17327802335263322-662: A team from that conference won the national championship as determined by the BCS or the College Football Playoff, while a ^ indicates a team from that conference was the runner-up in the national championship game. Statistics reflect conference membership at the time of the game. Note that the American filled the Big East 's automatic bid in 2013 . Ten "non-AQ" teams appeared in the nine following BCS games, with an overall record of 5-3: Of these appearances, all were via automatic qualifying bids, except Boise State's participation in
3473-565: A team in the CFP for seven years contributed to the exodus of most of its programs following the 2023 season. Bowl games declined in prestige as more focus went to the playoff, and even the New Year's Six bowls frequently saw top players opt out. Like the BCS, the new system endured a series of controversies related to teams being left out of the championship process, both among the Power Five and
3624-437: Is divided into an American Football Conference (AFC) and a National Football Conference (NFC). Both conferences have 16 teams, and each conference is divided into 4 divisions of 4 teams each. These conferences, for the most part, derive from the fact that they were once separate organizations: the original National Football League and the 1960s American Football League ; the two entities merged in 1970, with each league forming
3775-569: Is membership in the Association of American Universities . The office of the commissioner of athletics was created in 1922 "to study athletic problems of the various member universities and assist in enforcing the eligibility rules which govern Big Ten athletics." All Big Ten members are members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance , formerly known as the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. The University of Chicago ,
3926-613: Is part of NCAA Division I (specifically the Football Bowl Subdivision ), but is itself also subdivided into an East and West division. In English association football, the top level of non-League football —i.e., the level below the Premier League and the three tiers that make up the English Football League (EFL)—was known as the Football Conference from the 1986–87 season through the end of
4077-577: Is the highest level of provincial competition in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the highest domestic level in Japan, and the only professional domestic level in Argentina. From the creation of Super Rugby in 1996 through 2015 , only Australia, New Zealand and South Africa participated; the competition added teams in the latter two countries in 2016 . Since the 2011 season , it has operated on
4228-569: Is the only full member to have permanently left the Big Ten Conference. Full members Full members (non-football) Sport affiliate Other conference Other conference As intercollegiate football rapidly increased during the 1890s, so did the ruthless nature of the game. Tempers flared, fights erupted, and injuries soared. Between 1880 and 1905, college football players suffered more than 325 deaths and 1,149 injuries. To deal with mounting criticism of
4379-646: Is unknown where the term "Power Conference" originated; it is not officially documented by the NCAA, though it has been used since at least 2006. The top conferences in the college football are called the "Power Four conferences": the Big Ten Conference , the Big 12 Conference , the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Since 2014, the power conferences have held some autonomy from
4530-407: The 2012 BCS National Championship Game brought the opposition to the BCS to a head, and helped spur the adoption of the College Football Playoff beginning with the 2014 season. Like the BCS, the four-team College Football Playoff took place after the conference championship games and contemporaneously with several other bowl games. It rotated among six bowl games, with two bowl games used each year as
4681-483: The 2021 season . In the United States and Canada , the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) are divided into Eastern ( NHL , NBA ) and Western ( NHL , NBA ) Conferences, with multiple divisions within each conference (two in each NHL conference, three in each NBA conference). In both leagues, a total of sixteen teams (eight from each conference) qualify for
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4832-471: The Association of American Universities is "an important part of who we are." All current members of the Big Ten, other than the University of Nebraska-Lincoln , are members of the AAU. Nebraska was a member of the AAU when it was admitted to the Big Ten, but lost this status shortly afterwards. The following table shows National University rank by U.S. News & World Report as of 2023 . Also indicated
4983-815: The Big East Conference , the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), or the Metro Conference , each of which were founded in the 1970s as non-football conferences. In 1962, several members of the Skyline Conference and the Border Conference founded the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Although generally not considered a power conference, four of the six founding WAC members would ultimately join one of
5134-569: The Big Ten Academic Alliance and the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium. Out of all Power Four schools, only five are religiously affiliated: Baylor, Boston College, BYU, Notre Dame, and TCU. Seven Power Four schools that are now officially nonsectarian were founded as faith-based institutions—ACC members Duke, SMU, Syracuse, and Wake Forest, Big Ten members Northwestern and USC, and SEC member Vanderbilt. Most became officially nonsectarian in
5285-633: The Big Ten Academic Alliance , formerly the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. Although the Big Ten was primarily a Midwestern conference for nearly a century, the conference's geographic footprint has extended from the Mid-Atlantic to the Great Plains since 2014. In 2024, the conference gained a presence in the West Coast with the addition of four former Pac-12 Conference schools. Notes: Notes The University of Chicago
5436-427: The College Football Playoff (CFP) and its predecessors, and generally have larger revenue, budgets, and television viewership than other college athletic programs. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference , Big 12 Conference , and Southeastern Conference (SEC) are currently recognised as power conferences. For decades, the most prominent conferences sent their teams to postseason bowl games , but
5587-920: The FA Cup (open to teams from all levels), the EFL Cup (open only to teams from the Premier League and the English Football League), and the FA Trophy (open only to teams in the broader definition of the National League, plus the two tiers below it). The Kontinental Hockey League has a Western Conference and an Eastern Conference . This is similar to the NHL 's conferences in North America . In rugby union , Super Rugby
5738-438: The Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport. Big Ten member institutions are major research universities with large financial endowments and strong academic reputations. A large student body is a hallmark of its universities, as 15 of the 18 members enroll more than 30,000 students. They are all public universities except Northwestern University and
5889-569: The Horizon League , Ivy League , Patriot League , Pioneer League and Summit League use the word "league" instead, and another conference calls itself the Coastal Athletic Association . The NCAA itself is divided into divisions and subdivisions based on athletic scholarship eligibility, which can lead to redundancy when these conferences also have divisions of their own. For instance, the Southeastern Conference
6040-889: The Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference (MW), and the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The term "Power Four conferences" is often shortened to "P4", while the Group of Five Conferences are often referred to as the "G5". The FBS has three independents as of the 2024 season: the Notre Dame Fighting Irish , the UConn Huskies , and the UMass Minutemen . Notre Dame is considered equal to
6191-677: The United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2022–23 academic year. The following table shows revenue specifically from NCAA / Conference Distributions, Media Rights, and Post-Season Football reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year. Commissioner Jim Delany began to explore the formation of a Big Ten-specific channel in 2004 after
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6342-528: The University of Southern California , both private universities . Collectively, Big Ten universities educate more than 520,000 total students and have 5.7 million living alumni. The members engage in $ 9.3 billion in funded research each year; 17 out of 18 are members of the Association of American Universities (except Nebraska) and the Universities Research Association (except USC). All Big Ten universities are also members of
6493-413: The main men's basketball tournament . The move drew controversy from mid-major universities and conferences, as the previous NIT structure had awarded automatic bids to all Division I conferences whose teams with the strongest regular season record had not qualified for the main tournament. The awarding of the majority of home court games to the Power Five prompted St. Bonaventure University , which had for
6644-716: The 1990s. The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was founded in 1915, but disbanded in 1959 following a "pay-for-play" scandal. Some of the former members of the Pacific Coast Conference formed the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) that same year, and by 1968 the AAWU had renamed itself as the Pac-8 and contained most of the former members of the PCC. Several of the larger schools split off from
6795-572: The 2006 season) or played as a separate game. The BCS succeeded in bringing an end to split national championships, except in the 2003 season , when LSU won the national championship game and was crowned national champion by the Coaches Poll , but USC was selected as the national champion by the AP poll . While the number of AQ conferences was technically variable, the BCS always had six AQ conferences for its entire history between 1998 and 2013. Following
6946-562: The 2007–08 season and ending with the 2016–17 season that would split Big Ten coverage among the ESPN networks, CBS Sports, and Big Ten Network, thus ending Comcast Chicago's regional coverage of the conference. In 2010, the Big Ten announced the creation of the Big Ten Football Championship game starting with the 2011 season and signed a broadcast deal with Fox to broadcast the game from 2011 through 2016. In 2016,
7097-534: The 2014–15 season. In turn, from 2004, the Conference was divided into three leagues—Conference Premier, at the fifth tier of the English football pyramid , and Conference North and Conference South, which made up the sixth tier. Starting with the 2015–16 season, the Football Conference and its component leagues were renamed. The Football Conference and Conference Premier were both renamed "National League", and
7248-548: The 2023–24 academic year, ending an association between the conference and ESPN dating back to the 1980s. A major goal for the new contracts was to establish specific broadcast windows for Big Ten football games across its three partners, with Fox, CBS, and NBC primarily holding rights to Noon ET, 3:30 p.m. ET, and primetime games, respectively, and the three broadcasters alternating first pick of games. The contracts were estimated to be worth at least $ 7 billion, but also reportedly includes an "escalator clause" that will raise
7399-702: The 2024 season. During a period of less than two months in 2021, the Big 12 both gained and lost members. First, on July 30, the conference lost two of its mainstays when Oklahoma and Texas announced that they would leave for the SEC no later than 2025; the two schools later reached a buyout agreement allowing them to join the SEC in 2024. The Big 12 reloaded by announcing four new members on September 10, initially announcing that American members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF plus FBS independent BYU would join no later than 2024. BYU's initial announcement stated that it would join in 2023, and
7550-411: The 2024–25 academic year are listed. For the Power Four, the members of each conference are also listed: The power conferences are all part of NCAA Division I , which contains most of the largest and most competitive collegiate athletic programs in the United States, and the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which is the higher of the two levels of college football within NCAA Division I. It
7701-428: The 20th century, claiming numerous national championships . Motivated in large part by fatalities and injuries sustained in college football, President Theodore Roosevelt worked with various collegiate athletic programs to establish the NCAA in 1906. The NCAA was preceded by the earliest athletic conferences, including the Big Ten, which was founded in 1896 as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives and
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#17327802335267852-428: The 20th century; the main exceptions are Northwestern, which committed itself to a nonsectarian admissions policy at its 1851 founding, and SMU, which won a legal battle to separate itself from the United Methodist Church in 2021. Athletic conference The AFL Women's competition used a non-geographic conference system in 2019 and 2020 . The league was divided into two conferences, based on ladder position in
8003-564: The AAC for the 2013 season, since that conference inherited the Big East's BCS automatic qualifying status for that season. The following table lists the number of times that a member of each conference appeared was selected to appear in a BCS bowl game (from 1998 to 2013), a New Year's Six bowl game (from 2014 to 2023), or the College Football Playoff (since 2014). From the 1998 to 2005 seasons eight teams were selected, from 2006 to 2013 ten teams were selected, and since 2014 twelve teams have been selected to appear in these games. A * indicates
8154-418: The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC as the Power Four Conferences, with the Pac-12 relegated to "de facto Group of 5 status". The FBS has undergone several waves of realignment since the 1990s, when the Bowl Coalition was established. The first realignment occurred in the 1990s, and resulted in the demise of the Southwest Conference, which was a member of the Bowl Coalition and at times considered equal to some of
8305-465: The ACC. The Fiesta Bowl was initially founded in 1971 to host the WAC champion, but later rose to prominence in the 1980s while frequently hosting games involving independents, including the 1987 Fiesta Bowl , which served as the de facto national championship game for that season. From 1968 to 1992, the number one and number two ranked teams in the AP poll met only eight times in a bowl game, frequently leading to situations in which multiple teams claimed
8456-433: The Atlantic Coast Conference), other schools competing as independents in some cases concluded that the inability to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament was becoming a more serious competitive disadvantage in scheduling and recruiting. On March 23, 2016, the Big Ten Conference and Notre Dame announced the Fighting Irish would become a men's ice hockey affiliate beginning with the 2017–18 season. Notre Dame had been
8607-460: The Big 12 consisting of ten teams (with fellow former Big 12 member Colorado 's move to the Pac-12 Conference ). As part of the agreement to join the Big Ten, Nebraska would not receive a full share of the media revenue for the first six years of its membership, until fall 2017. On September 1, 2010, Delany revealed the conference's football divisional split, but noted that the division names would be announced later. Those division names, as well as
8758-447: The Big 12. Former Big East members Temple and South Florida became part of The American; another former Big East member, UConn , left American Conference football after the 2019 season to become an FBS independent while otherwise joining the Big East. Of these, only Temple was a founding member of the Big East in football. The most recent major realignment is ongoing , though there is no future planned power conference realignment after
8909-535: The Big Ten Conference alongside UCLA and USC. Unlike UCLA and USC, the two schools would receive a reduced media revenue share of $ 30 million each, with the share increasing by $ 1 million for each school each year, through the 2029–30 season. Rather than reducing the other conference members' revenue shares, Fox is contributing the necessary money. The schools will receive a full share with the next media deal. In June 2023 – after UCLA and USC were confirmed as incoming members but before Oregon and Washington were added –
9060-550: The Big Ten Conference effective August 2, 2024, enabling both schools to remain in the Pac-12 Conference for the duration of the Pac-12's existing media rights agreements. Unlike the prior expansion with Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland, USC and UCLA would join with a full share of the media revenue from the start of their Big Ten tenure. In August 2022, the conference reached new media rights deals with CBS, Fox, and NBC totaled at an estimated $ 7 billion. On August 4, 2023, Oregon and Washington announced that they would join
9211-450: The Big Ten and the SEC might ultimately emerge as the "Power Two" conferences. The realignment also generated much commentary regarding the lack of geographical proximity within conferences. In a 2022 article, FiveThirtyEight described the Big Ten as the first "major college athletics league" to be bicoastal (the Big Ten would later be joined by the ACC in this distinction after the latter conference added Stanford and California), adding that
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#17327802335269362-453: The Big Ten as its 14th member school. Like Nebraska, both schools would not receive full shares of the media revenue until six years after they joined. However, both schools took loans from the conference, thus pushing back the date they would receive full shares. On April 28, 2013, the Big Ten presidents and chancellors unanimously approved a football divisional realignment that went into effect when Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014. Under
9513-416: The Big Ten), and South Carolina (to the SEC) joined major conferences. In the 1996 NCAA conference realignment , the SWC dissolved, and four Texas teams from that conference joined with the Big 8 schools to form the Big 12 Conference . During another phase of realignment in 2005 , three schools ( Boston College , Miami-FL and Virginia Tech ) jumped from the Big East to the ACC, and Temple also left
9664-403: The Big Ten. About half of the Power Four schools are in the AAU, with most of those schools in the ACC or Big Ten, although several are members of the Big 12 or the SEC. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education , a classification system of universities based on research activity, lists nearly all Power Four schools as "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity";
9815-409: The CFP participants in the four-team era, and the remaining FBS programs. Responding in part to the possibility that the Power Five might split off to form its own organization, in 2014 the NCAA Division I Board of Directors granted the Power Five conferences autonomy over rules such as stipends and staff sizes. The CFP also led to changes in stature among the Power Five, and the Pac-12's failure to place
9966-412: The College Football Playoff, is held at a separately determined neutral site. College football originated in the Northeastern United States in the final third of the 19th century, with the 1869 Princeton vs. Rutgers football game often considered to be the first college football game. The schools that would eventually form the Ivy League dominated college football in the 19th century and for parts of
10117-429: The East, was first played in 1902 and became a yearly tradition in 1916. As college football grew beyond its regional affiliations in the 1930s, it garnered increased national attention. Four new bowl games were created: the Orange Bowl , Sugar Bowl , and Sun Bowl in 1935, and the Cotton Bowl in 1937. In lieu of an actual national championship, these bowl games provided a way to match up teams from distant regions of
10268-529: The G5 conferences. Compared to the Group of Five, power conference schools have significantly higher revenue, due to television deals with major networks and streaming services. In 2022, the power conferences generated a combined $ 3.3 billion in revenue. College football games often draw strong television ratings, and, along with the NFL , college football was one of the few television properties to grow in live ratings between 2013 and 2023. In 2022, college football games between power conference teams made up five of
10419-399: The Group of Five, leading many to call for a playoff . The 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats were the only Group of Five team to ever play in the College Football Playoff prior to the playoff's expansion to twelve teams in 2024; the Bearcats were defeated in the semi-final 2021 Cotton Bowl Classic . Another Group of Five team, the 2017 UCF Knights , was left out of the CFP, but proclaimed themselves
10570-433: The Ivy League sponsors more sports. Power Four schools dominate the list of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships ; of the top fifteen schools, only the University of Denver , which last played football in 1960, does not play in a Power Four conference. Power Four schools also generally dominate the standings in the Division I NACDA Directors' Cup and the Capital One Cup , two awards honoring schools with
10721-416: The NCAA took control of television broadcast rights in 1951 and restricted the number of games that a program could air on television. The 1984 Supreme Court case NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma spurred a round of conference realignment by ending the NCAA's monopoly on television rights of college football games, instead granting the rights to individual schools and conferences. With
10872-427: The Pac-12 on August 4, 2023; Oregon and Washington joined the Big Ten and Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah joined the Big 12. Less than a month after this exodus, California and Stanford announced their departure from the Pac-12 to join the ACC in 2024, with American Conference member SMU also joining the ACC. This realignment led to Pac-12 being considered a de facto member of the Group of Five, and fueled discussion that
11023-497: The Power Four conferences have scrapped divisions, and conference championship games take place between the two highest-ranking teams. The College Football Playoff takes place after the conference championship games and contemporaneously with several other bowl games. Following several changes after the 2023 college football season, the playoff consists of 12 teams, with the top five conference champions receiving automatic bids to
11174-770: The Power Four conferences play an eight or nine-game conference schedule, and play an additional three or four non-conference games to fill out their 12-game regular season schedule. Teams from the Power Four and the Group of Five often play non-conference games against each other during the season, and sometimes also play against teams from the FCS , the lower tier of division one football. However, many coaches of power conference schools have argued that power conference schools should only be allowed to schedule games against other power conference schools. All Power Four conferences that require their members to schedule at least one power conference opponent in nonconference play consider Notre Dame to be
11325-478: The Power Four conferences, and the 1984 BYU Cougars football team won the national championship. NCAA divisions were created in 1973 when the largest schools were placed in Division I, and in 1978, Division I football programs were further sub-divided into Division I-A (later Division I FBS) and Division I-AA (later Division I FCS). The Rose Bowl , a postseason game matching top teams from the West with top teams from
11476-474: The Power Four schools, being a full (with the exception of football) member of the ACC with an annual five-game football scheduling agreement with that conference; Notre Dame also has its own national television contract and its own arrangement for access to the CFP-affiliated bowl games should it meet stated competitive criteria. The other independents are generally considered to be on the same level as
11627-703: The Rose Bowl, contributing to split national championships during some seasons in the 1990s. In 1998, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was created by the Big 10, Pac-12, and the former members of the Bowl Alliance. The Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and the Fiesta Bowl all took part in the system, with a national championship game either rotating among the four bowl sites (prior to
11778-600: The SEC, the Pac-12, and the Big Ten, while the Big Ten also gained one former ACC member. The remaining members of the Big East split into two conferences : the American Athletic Conference (the American) and a new Big East Conference that does not sponsor football (only three of the original 10 members of the Big East sponsor football, all at the second-tier Division I FCS level). The American,
11929-675: The SIAA in 1921 to form the Southern Conference , and the SIAA ultimately dissolved in 1942. The Southern Conference in turn later experienced the departure of its most prominent teams, first with the secession of 13 schools located south or west of the Appalachians to form the SEC in 1932. Most of the remaining large schools departed the Southern Conference in 1953 to form the ACC, and after losing its top programs,
12080-525: The South African teams were joined by the Jaguares and Sunwolves in a "South African" group, with that group also being divided into two conferences. The winner of each conference continued to receive a playoff spot, with additional berths going to the next three best Australasian teams and the next best team of the South African group. For 2018, Super Rugby will revert to a 15-team format, following
12231-526: The Southern Conference ultimately became part of the FCS. The Ivy League was officially founded in the 1950s, but the football programs of Ivy League schools declined in stature after World War II , and the conference ultimately dropped down to Division I-AA in 1982. Until the 1990s, many top programs, particularly in the Northeast, played as football independents. Many of these independents were affiliated with
12382-643: The WAC or Conference USA during the 1990s. By the middle of the 20th century, the Rose Bowl matched up the Big Ten champion against the champion of the PCC and its successors, the Sugar Bowl generally hosted the conference champion of the SEC, and the Cotton Bowl generally hosted the conference champion of the SWC. The Orange Bowl often hosted the champion of the Big Eight, though it would later develop close ties with
12533-419: The average distance between FBS conference members was set to increase from 336 miles to 412 miles. Indicates a football-only move. Indicates a non-football move. This list includes all institutions that have either left or announced their departure from the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Pac-12, Big 10, or SEC since the establishment of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998. Indicates
12684-518: The basis of the NFC and AFC respectively. The NFL allocates seven teams from each conference for the NFL playoffs ; the four division winners (guaranteed one of the top four seeds, based on winning percentage), and the three best-non division winners, also known as wild cards . Major League Baseball (MLB) does not use the word "conference." Instead, it is divided into two separate leagues which are identical to
12835-610: The bowls had a historical link with one or more of the six BCS conferences with the exception of the former Big East, and the bowl games selected a team from each of these conferences if it was eligible for a BCS bowl and not playing in the national title game. Notre Dame remained an independent in football, but had guaranteed access to the BCS bowls when it met certain defined performance criteria. The conferences automatic qualifying conferences and their traditional bowl links were: The other conferences (listed below) were non-AQ conferences because they did not receive an annual automatic bid to
12986-449: The collapse of the Big East and the end of BCS automatic qualifying status for conferences; the Power Five conferences consisted of the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12, and the SEC. Each conference champion from the Power Five and the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion were guaranteed a spot in a New Year's Six Bowl. Because there were four spots in the playoffs and five power conferences, at least one Power Five champion
13137-528: The competition's rebranding as the United Rugby Championship. For the first season under the URC name in 2021–22, the competition reorganized into four regionally based pools, though no longer using the word "conference". Three of the pools are made up of teams from one country—Ireland, South Africa, and Wales. The fourth features the teams from Italy and Scotland. Each regional pool competes for
13288-447: The conference (before eventually returning in 2013). The Big East responded by adding former basketball-only member Connecticut and three schools from CUSA. College football underwent another major conference realignment from 2010 to 2014, as the Big Ten and Pac-10 sought to become large enough to stage championship games. Members of the original Big East left the conference to join the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC. The Big 12 lost members to
13439-538: The conference after a nine-year absence. The conference was again known as the Big Nine after the University of Chicago decided to de-emphasize varsity athletics just after World War II. In 1939 UChicago President Robert Maynard Hutchins made the decision to abolish the football program, based on his negative views of big-time college football's excesses and associated problems of the time. Chicago withdrew from
13590-457: The conference and its members. The impact of Big Ten Network influenced the conference's expansion in the 2010s, with some of its newer members being located in proximity to major media markets such as Baltimore and Washington, D.C. (Maryland) and the New York metropolitan area (Rutgers). Accompanying the new network announcement was a new ten-year media rights agreement beginning with
13741-421: The conference announced a new six-year media rights deal worth $ 2.64 billion with Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and ESPN to take effect with the start of the 2017–18 season and ending with the 2022–23 season. The size of the deal translated to a near tripling of the per-school media revenue share. The new deal would see regular season Big Ten football games airing on Fox and Fox Sports 1 for the first time. As part of
13892-509: The conference announced that starting in 2024, the East and West divisions for football would be eliminated. Each team would play nine conference games and three non-conference games, as before. Within a four-year period, each team would play at least two games against every other team – one at home and one away. This plan called for 11 protected matchups to take place every year; these included Michigan-Ohio State and ten other regional rivalries. At
14043-436: The conference in 1946 after struggling to obtain victories in many conference matchups. It was believed that one of several schools, notably Iowa State , Marquette , Michigan State , Nebraska , Notre Dame , and Pittsburgh would replace Chicago at the time. On May 20, 1949, Michigan State ended the speculation by joining and the conference was again known as the Big Ten. The Big Ten's membership would remain unchanged for
14194-548: The conference was officially incorporated as the "Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives". In April 1907, Michigan was voted out of the conference for refusing to adhere to league rules limiting football teams to no more than five games and players to three years of eligibility. Ohio State joined in 1912. The first known references to the conference as the Big Ten were in December 1916, when Michigan rejoined
14345-401: The conference's new logo, were made public on December 13, 2010. For its new logo, the conference replaced the "hidden 11" logo with one that uses the "B1G" character combination in its branding. Delany did not comment on the logo that day, but it was immediately evident that the new logo would "allow fans to see 'BIG' and '10' in a single word." For the new football division names, the Big Ten
14496-447: The conferences are identified individually under NCAA rules as "autonomy conferences", which grants them some independence from standard NCAA rules. The power conferences also compete in other collegiate sports, but are not necessarily the most prominent in each sport; for example, in men's college basketball, the modern Big East – which does not sponsor football – is also considered to be a power conference. The ten FBS conferences as of
14647-749: The conferences listed above in all but name (which, although their operations have been integrated via the Commissioner of Baseball in modern times, were originally separately managed organizations with an intense rivalry). These are the American League (AL) and National League (NL), with 15 teams each. Each league is divided into the Eastern ( AL , NL ), Central ( AL , NL ), and Western ( AL , NL ) divisions, with all six divisions having 5 teams each. Each league produces six teams for postseason play , with each division winner also guaranteed one of
14798-586: The country that did not otherwise play. In 1936, the Associated Press began its weekly poll of prominent sports writers, ranking all of the nation's college football teams. Since there was no national championship game, the final version of the AP poll was used to determine who was crowned the national champion of college football. The first college football game was televised in 1938, and as universities began to widely televise their games after World War II,
14949-496: The deal, Fox would retain its coverage of the Big Ten Championship as well as obtain priority over ESPN when drafting regular season football games prior to each season. It would also put an end to ESPN's coverage of the Big Ten men's basketball tournament. On August 18, 2022, the Big Ten announced that it had reached seven-year broadcast rights deals with Fox, CBS , and for the first time, NBC Sports , beginning in
15100-501: The departure of several Big East members to the ACC, the non-football schools of the Big East known as the "Catholic 7" chose to withdraw from the conference, ultimately creating a new conference that took on the Big East name. The rump Big East renamed itself as the American Athletic Conference and took the Big East's automatic bid for the 2013 season. The Mountain West Conference , formed in 1998 by several former WAC members,
15251-516: The dropping of two teams from South Africa and one from Australia. The new format features three conferences—Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, each with five teams; the Sunwolves will join the Australian conference and the Jaguares will play in the South African conference. The conference winners will continue to receive playoff berths, with additional berths going to the top five teams in
15402-626: The end of each season, the top two teams in the conference standings would oppose each other in the Big Ten Football Championship Game . The addition of Oregon and Washington added one more protected matchup to this count, bringing the total to 12 protected matchups: Illinois-Northwestern , Illinois-Purdue , Indiana-Purdue , Iowa-Minnesota , Iowa-Nebraska , Iowa-Wisconsin , Maryland-Rutgers, Michigan-Michigan State , Michigan-Ohio State , Minnesota-Wisconsin , Oregon-Washington and UCLA-USC , leaving Penn State as
15553-530: The exception of Notre Dame, all of the major independent programs joined a conference in the early 1990s. Many of the independents in the Northeast and elsewhere on the Eastern Seaboard joined the Big East, which began playing football in 1991. Other independent schools joined the Big Ten, the ACC, or the SEC, and in 1992 the SEC became the first Division I conference to hold a conference championship game for football. The Southwest Conference dissolved in
15704-403: The exceptions are Wake Forest, TCU, BYU, and SMU, each of which are listed as "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". Of the 30 U.S. universities with the greatest research expenditures in 2022, nearly two-thirds were members of one of the power conferences. Some of the Power Four conferences share academic resources among conference members through related academic consortiums such as
15855-414: The finals (one from each conference/league) and the records of teams outside a conference/league are ignored, which can allow teams with inferior records to make the playoffs while teams in the other conference with better records do not get in. An extreme example of this has occurred three times in the NFL, when the 2010 Seattle Seahawks , 2014 Carolina Panthers , and 2020 Washington Football Team reached
16006-488: The football successor to the Big East, is no longer considered a power conference. Despite the major conference realignment from 2010 to 2014, relatively few schools dropped out of or joined the ranks of the power conferences. Two of the three non-AQ schools that had appeared in multiple BCS bowls left the Mountain West Conference and joined a power conference, as Utah joined the Pac-12 and TCU joined
16157-624: The founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA . It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois . For many decades the conference consisted of ten prominent universities, which accounts for its name. On August 2, 2024, the conference expanded to 18 member institutions and 2 affiliate institutions. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in
16308-652: The four most prominent bowl games – the Fiesta , Orange , Rose and Sugar Bowls – formed the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), with conference champions awarded Automatic Qualifying (AQ) status to the bowl games and, provisionally, the National Championship Game . The defection of three Big East members to the ACC after the 2005 conference realignment saw its stature gradually diminish, and it eventually split into two following
16459-408: The game, Purdue University president James Henry Smart invited the presidents of the University of Chicago , University of Illinois , Lake Forest College , University of Minnesota , Northwestern University , and University of Wisconsin to a meeting in Chicago on January 11, 1895, to create policies aimed at regulating intercollegiate athletics. The eligibility of student-athletes was one of
16610-481: The greatest collegiate athletic success across all sports. For example, the top ten of the 2022-2023 Division I NACDA Directors' Cup standings consisted entirely of power conference programs. The Power Four conferences are not necessarily the most prominent conferences in all sports in which they compete. For example, in men's college basketball, the Big East Conference is also generally considered to be
16761-460: The highly controversial 2010 Fiesta Bowl in which the Broncos were selected via at-large bid and played fellow BCS Buster TCU. College Football Playoff semifinal in bold . Group of Five team in italics . Asterisks denotes years in which Group of Five teams won the game. Each power conference sponsors at least 22 sports, with the Big Ten sponsoring the most at 28; among all NCAA conferences, only
16912-581: The last remaining members of the Pac-12. Although the Football Bowl Subdivision requires conferences to have at least eight members, the conference continued operating with just two members because conferences are allowed a two-year grace period after losing members. In early 2024, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors stripped the Pac-12 of its autonomous conference status. In light of the changes, various sources began referring to
17063-419: The league season, the teams that top each conference table received berths in the semifinals, with the next two teams in each conference playing off for semifinal berths. After the 2020–21 season, South Africa fully aligned its club rugby structure with that of Europe. The then-existing Pro14 franchises from South Africa were replaced by the country's four Super Rugby franchises, which moved into Pro14 and led to
17214-896: The league's postseason playoffs. In the NHL , since the 2013–14 season, the top 3 in each division are guaranteed to qualify and division winners are awarded the highest seeds, meaning they will have home-ice advantage in a given round, with the two best remaining teams in each conference receiving wild card spots. In the NBA, starting with the 2015–16 season, the playoff spots go to the eight top teams in each conference by overall record, with home-court advantage in each playoff series based solely on record. Major League Soccer (MLS) also divides itself into an Eastern and Western Conference , though it does not have divisions within them; it too allocates an equal number of teams from each conference to play for its MLS Cup Playoffs (since 2019, this has been seven teams each). The National Football League (NFL)
17365-406: The lone school with no protected matchups. The schedule was also updated so that teams will play every other conference opponent at least twice – once home and once away – and will play rotating opponents no more than three times in a five-year period. All current members of the Big Ten are doctorate-granting universities. Former conference commissioner Jim Delany said in 2010 that membership in
17516-428: The main topics of discussion. The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives was founded at a second meeting on February 8, 1896. Lake Forest was not at the 1896 meeting and was replaced by the University of Michigan . At the time, the organization was more commonly known as the Western Conference , consisting of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Chicago, Purdue, and Northwestern. These schools were
17667-500: The national champion after going undefeated in the regular season and winning the 2018 Peach Bowl . In 2022, the College Football playoff board voted to expand the playoff to twelve teams, with the new system taking effect for the 2024 season. As part of the early-2020s NCAA conference realignment , ten schools departed from the Pac-12 following the 2023 college football season , leaving Oregon State and Washington State as
17818-472: The national championship. Seeking a more definitive way to determine the national champion, the SEC, Big 8, SWC (prior to its dissolution), ACC, Big East, and independent Notre Dame joined with several bowls to form the Bowl Coalition , which was later succeeded by the similar Bowl Alliance . The Big Ten and Pac-10 declined to join either group in favor of continuing to send their respective champion to
17969-544: The national semi-finals, and four other bowls matching the remaining top teams in the country. These six bowl games were collectively labeled as the " New Year's Six " bowl games. The New Year's Six consisted of the four BCS bowls, the Cotton Bowl, and the Peach Bowl , the latter of which was established in 1968 but had been considered a minor bowl for much of its history. Although the term "Power Five conferences" had been used by at least 2006, it gained prominence following
18120-466: The new "Legends" and "Leaders" divisions were not met with enthusiasm. Some traditional rivals, including Ohio State and Michigan, were placed in separate divisions. For the football season, each team played the others in its division, one "cross-over" rivalry game, and two rotating cross-divisional games. At the end of the regular season the two division winners met in a new Big Ten Football Championship Game . The Legends and Leaders divisional alignment
18271-532: The new divisions was which of the two Indiana schools would be sent to the West; Purdue was chosen because its West Lafayette campus is geographically west of Indiana's home city of Bloomington . The divisional alignment permanently protected the cross-divisional football rivalry Indiana–Purdue . As before, the two division winners played each other in the Big Ten Football Championship Game. The West and East divisional alignment
18422-689: The new plan, the Legends and Leaders divisions were replaced with geographic divisions. The West Division included Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin (of which all but Purdue are in the Central Time Zone ), while the East Division included Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers (all of which are in the Eastern Time Zone ). The final issue in determining
18573-591: The next 40 years. The conference's official name throughout this period remained the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives. It did not formally adopt the name Big Ten until 1987, when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation. In 1990, the Big Ten universities voted to expand the conference to 11 teams and extended an invitation to Atlantic 10 Conference member and football independent Pennsylvania State University , which accepted it. When Penn State joined in 1990, it
18724-537: The only existing participants. Coincident with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers, Michigan agreed to upgrade its successful club team to varsity status, giving the Big Ten five sponsoring schools, one short of the minimum six for an automatic bid. Johns Hopkins University opted to join the conference as its first affiliate member beginning in 2014. Johns Hopkins had been independent in men's lacrosse for 130 years, claiming 44 national championships. As long-time independents joined conferences (for example, Syracuse joining
18875-481: The original seven members. The conference is one of the nation's oldest, predating the founding of the NCAA by a decade and was one of the first collegiate conferences to sponsor men's basketball. The first reference to the conference as the Big Nine was in 1899 after Iowa and Indiana had joined. Nebraska first petitioned to join the league in 1900 and again in 1911, but was turned away both times. In 1905,
19026-399: The other three schools' 2023 entry date was confirmed after they reached a buyout agreement with The American. On June 30, 2022, Pac-12 mainstays UCLA and USC announced they would move to the Big Ten in 2024. The Pac-12 lost another member a little more than a year later when Colorado returned to the Big 12 in 2024 after an absence of 13 years. Five more schools announced their departure from
19177-506: The overall competition table that were not already qualified. In the same sport, Pro14, now known as the United Rugby Championship , adopted a conference system effective in 2017–18 , following the addition of the two South African teams dropped from Super Rugby. The competition split into two conferences, each featuring two teams from Ireland and Wales, plus single teams from Italy, Scotland and South Africa. Following
19328-558: The playoffs by winning their respective divisions despite losing records (7–9 for the Seahawks and Washington, 7–8–1 for the Panthers). These are the only teams ever to qualify for the playoffs with losing records in seasons that were not shortened by strikes (as in 1982 , which was shortened from 16 to 9 games). In addition, a team's regular season schedule is weighted towards more games against other teams within their own division and to
19479-418: The playoffs. At least one Group of Five Conference will be awarded one of the automatic bids in each playoff. The College Football Playoff requires that a conference have at least eight teams in order to be eligible for an automatic qualifying bid, so the two-member Pac-12 is not eligible to receive an automatic bid. Under the new system, the four highest-ranked conference champions receive first-round byes, while
19630-528: The power conferences; as well as many schools giving up independent status to join conferences. In the early 1990s, Arkansas left the Southwest Conference for the SEC; the original Big East Conference began sponsoring football, with eight former football independents joining either for all sports or football only; and other major independents such as Florida State (to the ACC), Penn State (to
19781-411: The previous decade declined bids to private postseason tournaments for financial reasons but had accepted NIT bids, to preemptively rule itself out of the 2024 NIT, with the university stating that it could not justify entering a tournament that effectively required its team to go on the road with no opportunity for home games. The NCAA admitted the maneuver was done as an anti-competitive measure against
19932-401: The previous season. Not every team could play each other due to the limited number of rounds, so conferences were introduced so that teams were only measured against the teams they played. The system was controversial because it allowed some weak teams to make finals, and strong teams from the other conference missed out on finals. It was because of this that the conference system was removed for
20083-529: The reimagined Pac-12 in 2026, is generally considered a power program in men's basketball. In 2024 , the National Invitation Tournament , an annual men's college basketball tournament, was restructured such that the then-Power Five conferences, along with their former BCS counterpart the Big East, received two automatic bids and home court advantage , with the two bids selected from teams in those conferences that were not selected for
20234-401: The remaining eight teams play in the opening round of the playoffs at the home fields of the higher seeds. The " New Year's Six " bowls, which have held an important role in the college football postseason since before the establishment of the College Football Playoff, host the quarterfinals and semifinals on a rotating basis. The College Football Playoff National Championship , the final game of
20385-593: The rest of Division I in regard to issues such as stipends and recruiting rules. Roughly half of the schools in the FBS play in one of the Power Four conferences. The remaining schools are either independent , play in the Pac-12 Conference , or play in one of the conferences known as the Group of Five conferences , which consists of the American Athletic Conference (AAC or "The American"), Conference USA (CUSA),
20536-508: The season frequently ended with multiple teams claiming the national championship. After the 1990 and 1991 seasons ended with consecutive split championships, several of the most prominent conferences and bowl games formed the Bowl Coalition (1992–94) – and later the Bowl Alliance (1995–97) – to provide a definitive national champion; in 1998, the six largest conferences – the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East , SEC, and Pac-12 – and
20687-1103: The ten most-watched non-NFL sporting events among U.S. viewers. With 22.56 million viewers, the 2022 national championship game ranked as the most watched college football game of the year, and as the 33rd most-watched sporting event in the United States; only NFL games ranked higher. Almost every Power Four school has a home stadium capacity of at least 40,000, and the power conferences all had an average attendance of at least 44,000 in 2022. This compares to an FBS average attendance of just under 42,000 and Group of Five average attendance that ranged between 14,000 and 29,000 for each conference. This revenue advantage allows Power Four conferences to pay higher salaries to coaches and invest in expensive athletic facilities and amenities. Although schools cannot directly pay student athletes, since 2021 school boosters and other third parties can pay student athletes for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. Much of this NIL money goes to Power Four conference athletes, although numerous athletes from other conferences have also received NIL compensation. Teams in
20838-484: The top three seeds, even if their record is lower than the league's top wild card teams . In all five sports, the champion of one conference (or league in MLB's case) plays the champion of the other conference for the final round championship, this is guaranteed to occur because the rules for the playoffs require play to be exclusively within the conference/league in all rounds before the final round, leaving only two teams for
20989-451: The two conferences with the largest media contracts and many of the most prestigious programs – currently form a "Power Two" tier above the ACC and Big 12. As of the 2024 season, the FBS has 134 members , divided between the Power Four, five other conferences known as the Group of Five (G5), the Pac-12, and three independent schools. The term power conference is not defined by the NCAA, but
21140-407: The two regional leagues were renamed National League North and National League South . This does not strictly meet the definition indicated in the previous sections of this article, as each individual league mentioned in this section is a separate competition. The only times that teams from different leagues compete against one another in meaningful matches are in knockout cup competitions, such as
21291-476: The value of the contracts if the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were to specifically join the Big Ten. Following the deal's signing, it was later revealed that several schools had issues with playing football games at night in November, with some having formal clauses allowing them to veto games in that timeslot. The conference would also have to compensate Fox $ 40 million for the 2026 Big Ten championship game, as
21442-413: The wake of a series of scandals and concerns over an insufficiently large television market, and four teams from that conference joined with the Big 8 to create the Big 12 Conference in 1994. The remaining SWC schools joined the WAC or the newly-formed Conference USA, though most would later join one of the Power Four conferences; other future power conference schools such as Louisville and BYU also played in
21593-409: Was always left out of the playoff. In some seasons only two or three P5 champions were selected to the playoff, though the 2023 Florida State Seminoles were the lone undefeated P5 champion to be passed over for selection. The new playoff system drew strong television ratings, helping to boost the profile of college football and specifically to the Power Five conferences, who constituted all but one of
21744-401: Was believed to be the major stumbling block to Notre Dame joining the Big Ten, as Notre Dame wanted to retain its independent home game broadcasting contract with NBC Sports , while the Big Ten insisted upon a full membership with no special exemptions. In December 2009, Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany announced that the league was looking to expand in what would later be part of
21895-403: Was decided the conference would continue to be called the Big Ten, but its logo was modified to reflect the change; the number 11 was disguised in the negative space of the traditionally blue "Big Ten" lettering. Missouri showed interest in Big Ten membership after Penn State joined. Around 1993, the league explored adding Kansas , Missouri and Rutgers or other potential schools, to create
22046-584: Was formed in 1907, and in 1928 the MVIAA split into two conferences, with the larger schools from the MVIAA forming the Big Six Conference. The Big Six later expanded to eight teams in 1957, becoming known as the Big Eight Conference . The Southwest Conference (SWC) was formed in 1914 by several schools in Texas and neighboring states, and after some early defections would maintain stable membership into
22197-531: Was in effect for ten football seasons, from 2014 through 2023. On June 3, 2013, the Big Ten announced the sponsorship of men's and women's lacrosse. For any conference to qualify for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, at least six member schools must play the sport. In women's lacrosse, the addition of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten brought the conference up to the requisite six participants, joining programs at Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State and Penn State. In men's lacrosse, Ohio State and Penn State were
22348-450: Was in effect for the 2011 , 2012 and 2013 football seasons. On November 19, 2012, the University of Maryland's Board of Regents voted to withdraw from the ACC and join the Big Ten as its 13th member effective on July 1, 2014. The Big Ten's Council of Presidents approved the move later that day. One day later, Rutgers University of the Big East also accepted an offer for membership from
22499-467: Was often referred to as the "Western Conference". The conference became known as the Big Ten after expanding to ten teams in 1917, though it would not legally adopt the "Big Ten" name until 1987. The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), founded in 1894, at its peak consisted of 28 schools across almost every Southern state, and was the predecessor to both the SEC and the ACC. The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA)
22650-527: Was perhaps the closest of the other conferences to getting AQ status, but its request for AQ status was denied in 2012. In addition to creating a national championship game, the BCS also created a set format for other major bowls. After the two top teams in the BCS rankings were matched up in the BCS National Championship Game , the other three or (after the 2005 season) four bowls selected other top teams. The BCS ranking formula used
22801-529: Was unable to use geographic names, because they had rejected a geographic arrangement. Delany announced that the new divisions would be known as the "Legends Division" and "Leaders Division". In the Legends division were Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. The Leaders division was composed of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Conference officials stated they had focused on creating competitive fairness rather than splitting by geographical location. However,
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