Big Ten Conference
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| Formerly | Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (officially, 1896–1987) Western Conference (1896–1917) Big Nine (1899–1917, 1946–1950) |
|---|---|
| Association | NCAA |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Commissioner | Tony Petitti (since 2023) |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division I |
| Subdivision | FBS |
| No. of teams | 18 |
| Headquarters | Rosemont, Illinois, U.S. |
| Region | |
| Broadcasters | |
| Streaming partners | |
| Website | bigten.org |
| Locations | |
 | |
The Big Ten Conference (formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA; it is the oldest NCAA Division I conference. It is based 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 two affiliate institutions.[1][2] The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 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 members enroll more than 30,000 students. They are all public universities except Northwestern University and 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.[1] The members engage in $9.3 billion in funded research each year;[2] 17 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 the Big Ten Academic Alliance, formerly the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.[3]
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.[4]
Member universities
[edit]Full members
[edit]Notes:
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- ↑ The overall university administration is in Urbana; the athletic administration is in Champaign.
- 1 2 Athletic teams started competing in the conference effective with the 1900–01 school year.
- ↑ 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. Consequently, its athletic teams were independent from 1907–08 to 1916–17.
- ↑ Non-football teams started competing in the conference effective with the 1950–51 school year, while football later joined in 1953–54.
- ↑ The campus administration and most athletic facilities are in Minneapolis and have a mailing address in that city. The "St. Paul" portion of the campus is physically in the separate city of Falcon Heights, but both "St. Paul" and "Falcon Heights" are accepted as mailing addresses for that portion.
- ↑ Northwestern was initially affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), but committed itself to a nonsectarian admissions policy from its founding.
- ↑ "University Park" is the mailing address for the entire Penn State campus, which spreads across three communities—State College, which houses the university administration and most undergraduate operations; College Township, home to most athletic facilities; and Ferguson Township, location of most agricultural operations.
- ↑ Most sports teams started competing in the conference in the 1991–92 school year; football started Big Ten play in 1993–94.
- ↑ The university administration and its historic core campus are in New Brunswick. The athletic department headquarters and virtually all athletic facilities are in Piscataway. Small parts of its sub-campuses are in other adjacent communities.
- ↑ USC is historically affiliated with the Methodist Church until 1952.
Membership map
[edit]
Affiliate members
[edit]| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment (fall 2023)[5] |
Nickname | Joined[a] | Colors | Big Ten sport(s) |
Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, Maryland | 1876 | Nonsectarian[b] | 30,362 | Blue Jays | 2014 | Men's lacrosse | Centennial[c] | |
| 2016 | Women's lacrosse | ||||||||
| University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, Indiana | 1842 | Catholic[b] (CSC) |
13,174 | Fighting Irish | 2017 | Men's ice hockey | ACC |
Notes
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- 1 2 Also a not-for-profit institution.
- ↑ Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
Former member
[edit]The University of Chicago is the only full member to have permanently left the Big Ten Conference.[a]
| Institution | Location | Founded | Type | Enrollment (fall 2023)[5] |
Nickname | Joined[b] | Left[c] | Colors | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois | 1890 | Nonsectarian[d] | 18,339 | Maroons | 1896 | 1946[e] | UAA[f] |
- Notes
- ↑ Lake Forest College attended the original 1895 meeting that led to the formation of the conference, but never participated in athletics or any other activities.
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
- ↑ Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.
- ↑ Also a not-for-profit institution.
- ↑ The University of Chicago was a co-founder of the conference. The school dropped football after the 1939 fall season (1939–40 school year), but remained a member in other sports until the end of the 1945–46 academic year.[11]
- ↑ Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
Membership timeline
[edit]
Full members Full members (non-football) Sport affiliate Other conference Other conference
History
[edit]1890s: The conference's founding
[edit]On January 11, 1895, 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, to create policies aimed at regulating intercollegiate athletics. The eligibility of student-athletes was one of the main topics of discussion, with it being decided that student-athletes must be full-time students in good standing. The conference was officially founded at a second meeting on February 8, 1896.[12] Lake Forest was not at the 1896 meeting and was replaced by the University of Michigan. Henceforth the seven attendees of this second meeting would be the founding members of the organization more commonly known as the Western Conference.[13]
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 following the admission of Iowa and Indiana.[14]
1900s: Becoming the Big Ten
[edit]Nebraska first petitioned to join the league in 1900 and again in 1911, but was turned away both times.[15] Notre Dame applied twice as well, first at the conference's founding and again in 1908, but like Nebraska was rejected both times.[16] In 1905, the conference was officially incorporated as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives.[12]
In 1906, Michigan president James Burrill Angell called for a series of conference meetings to further regulate football, leading to new rules such as limiting football teams to no more than five games and players to three years of eligibility.[17] One of the new rules would require the football coach to be a full-time employee of the university, leading to Michigan's football head coach, Fielding Yost, to oppose the changes. Ultimately Yost won out and convinced Michigan's board to support him over Angell and against the conference.[18] In April 1907, Michigan was voted out of the conference for refusing to adhere to the new league rules.[19] Ohio State joined in 1912, and as a result could no longer play Michigan until the school rejoined the conference after a nine-year absence.[20] The first known references to the conference as the Big Ten were then made in December 1916 as a result.[21][22]
In 1926, Notre Dame was again rejected for admittance to the conference.[23]
1940s: Chicago leaves and Michigan State joins
[edit]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.[24] Chicago completely withdrew from the conference in 1946 after struggling to obtain victories in many conference matchups.[25]
Several schools sought to replace Chicago and obtained support from current members: Michigan State with support from Minnesota, Nebraska with support from Iowa, and Pittsburgh with support from Ohio State.[26] Ultimately, on December 12, 1948, it was announced that the conference had voted 9–0 to approve Michigan State's joining the conference, which would again be known as the Big Ten.