However, Iowa only participated in football and outdoor men's track and field for a brief period before leaving the conference in 1911.

[2] Just before the start of fall practice, the six schools announced they would retain the MVIAA name for formal purposes.

The three private schools – Drake, Grinnell, and Washington University – joined with Oklahoma A&M to form the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).

[8] Later that month, Reaves E. Peters was hired as "Commissioner of Officials and Assistant Secretary" and set up the first conference offices in Kansas City, Missouri.

Following a Supreme Court decision in 1984, the primary function of the CFA was to negotiate television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges.

In February 1994, the Southeastern Conference announced that they, like the Big Ten, Pac-10, and Notre Dame before them, would be leaving the CFA and negotiate independently for a television deal that covered SEC schools only.

This led The Dallas Morning News to proclaim that "the College Football Association as a television entity is dead".

[13][14][15] Though the name would not be made official for several months, newspaper accounts immediately dubbed the new entity the "Big 12".

Full membersOther conferenceBig Eight members who were among the founding members of the Big 12 Conference Following are the MVIAA/Big Eight regular-season conference champions from 1908 to 1996 (showing shared championships in italics):[1][37] Shared championships are shown in italics:[1][38] † Kansas would have won the 1960 title, but after found to be using an ineligible player they were forced to forfeit their victories over Missouri and Colorado, which meant that Missouri was awarded the 1960 Big Eight title.

‡ Oklahoma initially won the 1972 title, but after it was found that they used ineligible players, they were penalized by the NCAA, though they did not force OU to forfeit games.

The history of the Big Eight Conference straddles the era of racial segregation in the United States, particularly as it relates to African Americans.

[40] At the same time, the University of Nebraska football team had on its roster George Flippin, the son of a slave, beginning in 1891.

Notable among these NU players was Clinton Ross, who in 1911 apparently became the first African-American to participate in sport in the MVIAA, following the league's formation in 1907.

[41] Race relations in the United States, however, deteriorated in the early 20th century, and African-American athletes disappeared almost entirely from the conference in the four decades after Ross's final season at NU in 1913.

The modern era of full integration of league sports began at Kansas State, with Harold Robinson.

[44] Iowa State would be next, with Harold Potts and Henry Philmon reintegrating the Cyclone football team in 1953.

† The Colorado Buffaloes baseball program, which played home games at Prentup Field, was discontinued in June 1980.