Big 12 Conference commissioner Brett Yormark announced this week that the agreement with AT&T Stadium to host the football championship game has been extended.
At the annual Big 12 Media Days event on Wednesday, Yormark said the extension will continue through the 2030 season, CBS Sports reported.
AT&T Stadium hosted the 2009 (the year in which the stadium opened) and 2010 Big 12 Championship Game events.
Big 12 extends deal with AT&T Stadium to host conference football championship game through 2030 seasonhttps://t.co/Qih3GSOul5
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) July 12, 2023
The NCAA requires 12 conference members in order to stage a football championship game, CBS Sports reported. Therefore, the Big 12 was unable to put a championship game on after Nebraska and Colorado left the conference in 2011-12 for the Big Ten and Pac-12. The league then had only 10 teams
In January 2016, legislation was passed allowing conferences with fewer than 12 members to play a title game, provided it was played on a round-robin schedule.
The Big 12 revived the championship in the 2017 season at AT&T Stadium.
In addition to the extension announcement, Yormark also revealed that, beginning with this year's Big 12 Championship Game, there will be a halftime show featuring a "major" artist. The show will air during the ABC broadcast, and name of the performer for the halftime show will be announced on Aug. 12.
The Big 12 will look much different in the fall when BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF join. This will also be the final season Oklahoma and Texas will be members of the conference before they depart for the SEC next year on July 1.
CBS Sports reported that last year's Big 12 Championship Game, Kansas State defeated previously undefeated TCU 31-28 in overtime. TCU went on to beat Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl before falling to Georgia in the CFP title game, while Kansas State was throttled 45-20 by Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
