Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference, formerly Western Conference and Big Nine Conference, is the oldest Division I college athletic conference in the United States. Its twelve member institutions (which are primarily flagship research universities in their respective states, well-regarded academically, and with relatively large student enrollment) are located primarily in the Midwest, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east, and from Illinois in the south to Minnesota in the north. The conference competes in the NCAA's Division I; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport. Member schools of the Big Ten (or, in two cases, their parent university systems) also are members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a leading educational consortium.

Despite the conference's name, the Big Ten actually consists of 12 schools, following the addition of Pennsylvania State University in 1993 and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2011. In 2014, the conference will expand to 14 members with the additions of the University of Maryland, College Park and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is not to be confused with the Big 12 Conference, which has only ten schools and represents a different region of the country.