The Big 12 Conference sponsors championships in 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's,^[2] with two women's sports to be added in the 2024–25 school year.^[3] The first conference championship awarded was the 1996 softball postseason tournament championship, which was won by Oklahoma.

From 2011 through 2016, the football champion was decided by regular-season play. Previously divisional titles were awarded based on regular-season conference results, with the teams with the best conference records from the North and South playing in the Big 12 Championship Game for the Big 12 title. Following changes in NCAA rules, the Big 12 will reinstate its football championship game in 2017, with the top two teams in the final conference standings advancing to the title game. Baseball, basketball, soccer, and tennis titles are awarded in both regular-season and tournament play. Cross country, golf, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and diving, track and field, and wrestling titles are awarded during an annual meet of participating teams. The volleyball and softball titles are awarded based on regular-season play. Softball previously held a post season tournament.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor baseball except Iowa State, which dropped the sport after the 2001 season, and Colorado, which never sponsored baseball during its first conference tenure and still does not sponsor the sport.^[5]

Beach volleyball, organized by the NCAA only for women, is the first of two women's sports to be added in 2024–25. Current full member TCU will be joined by incoming members Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. The Big 12 plans to add other schools in that sport to meet the sponsorship level required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but gave no timetable for any additions.^[3]

All current and future Big 12 schools sponsor men's cross country except UCF, Utah, and West Virginia.

All current and future Big 12 schools sponsor women's cross country.

Four schools participate in equestrian—full members Baylor, Oklahoma State, and TCU, plus associate member Fresno State. Kansas State discontinued its equestrian team after the 2016 season.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor men's golf. The most recent school to add the sport while a Big 12 member is West Virginia, which added that sport starting in the 2015–16 season.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor women's golf except Utah and West Virginia.

The Big 12 currently has five women's gymnastics members—full members BYU, Iowa State, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, plus Denver, an affiliate since the 2015–16 season. After the 2023–24 season, Oklahoma will leave for the SEC, while Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah will join.

Women's lacrosse is the other women's sport to be added in 2024–25. At the time of announcement, Cincinnati was the only full member that sponsored the sport, joined by incoming members Arizona State and Colorado. As in the case of beach volleyball, the other new sport for 2024–25, the Big 12 planned to add other schools to meet the sponsorship level required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but gave no timetable for any additions.^[3] In February 2024, the conference announced the arrival of three associates for its first women's lacrosse season—Florida, San Diego State, and UC Davis.^[16]

In the 2014–15 school year, rowing was the only Big 12 sport with affiliate members. Before that school year, the Big 12 and Conference USA (CUSA) had a rowing alliance in which all Big 12 rowing schools would participate in the CUSA championship as well as the Big 12 championship. CUSA dropped rowing after the departure of most of its rowing members for other conferences. The Big 12 then took in the three remaining schools from the CUSA rowing league (Alabama, Old Dominion, and Tennessee) as single-sport affiliates. Old Dominion left Big 12 rowing after the 2017–18 season to join the American Athletic Conference, but will return to Big 12 women's rowing in 2024–25. Full American Conference member Tulsa will also join for women's rowing in 2024–25.^[16]

Since 2015–16, the Big 12 has also had affiliates in women's gymnastics and wrestling.

The departure of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024 for the SEC would allow that conference to begin sponsoring women's rowing. Both current affiliates (Alabama and Tennessee) are charter SEC members, and SEC bylaws allow it to hold a championship in any sport sponsored by four schools. The SEC has not yet announced whether it will sponsor the sport.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor women's soccer. The most recent to add the sport was Kansas State, which announced in 2015 that it was adding the sport. The Wildcats played their first season in 2016 as an independent, and began playing a full Big 12 schedule in 2017.^[17]

Ten Big 12 schools currently sponsor softball; Cincinnati, Kansas State, TCU, and West Virginia do not. Of the four schools joining in 2024, the only one that does not sponsor softball is returning member Colorado, which never sponsored softball during its first conference tenure.

Reference:^[19]

Five Big 12 schools currently sponsor men's swimming & diving: BYU, Cincinnati, TCU, Texas, and West Virginia. The Big 12 men's swimming membership will increase to seven in 2024 with the addition of Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah, plus the departure of Texas.

Eight Big 12 schools currently sponsor women's swimming and diving: BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, TCU, Texas, and West Virginia. Texas will leave after the 2023–24 season to join the SEC, but the number of teams will increase to 10 with the arrival of Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah.

Eight current Big 12 members sponsor men's tennis; Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, the Kansas schools, and West Virginia do not. The Big 12 men's tennis league will remain at eight members after 2023–24, with Oklahoma and Texas replaced by Arizona and Arizona State.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor women's tennis.

Reference:^[22]

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor men's track and field except UCF, Utah, and West Virginia.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor women's track and field.

All current and future Big 12 members sponsor women's volleyball except Oklahoma State, which has never sponsored women's volleyball as a Big 12 member.^[23] Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt are the only two schools in the Power Five conferences that do not sponsor women's volleyball, and Vanderbilt (which dropped women's volleyball after the 1979 season) will reinstate the sport in the 2025 season. The only current or future member with a varsity men's team is BYU.

Nebraska left the conference in 2011.

Wrestling crowned regular-season champions in 2011–12 and 2012–13 only.

In 2015, the Big 12 absorbed the Western Wrestling Conference, with that league's six final members becoming Big 12 affiliates effective with the 2015–16 school year. Fresno State and Northern Iowa became affiliates in 2017–18. Missouri became an affiliate during the 2021-22 season after Fresno State dropped its program, and California Baptist became an affiliate in 2022–23 once it completed its transition from NCAA Division II to Division I.

Big 12 wrestling may lose a member when Oklahoma leaves for the SEC; however, given that current SEC (and former Big 12) member Missouri is a Big 12 wrestling member, Oklahoma may stay in Big 12 wrestling. Of the four incoming members, only Arizona State sponsors wrestling.

• List of Big Eight Conference champions – previous conference of 8 charter members of Big 12
• List of Southwest Conference champions – previous conference of 4 charter members of Big 12

^†denotes shared title