The month of March is finally upon us, and while all eyes are on Selection Sunday in a couple weeks and which teams will or won't make the NCAA Tournament, the madness begins in earnest with Championship Week — when nearly every Division I team puts its season on the line and goes for glory in their conference tournaments. Championship Week delivers high drama every year, and this season arguably no conference tournament carries as much intrigue as the Big 12.
While the SEC has established itself as clearly the most loaded conference in the country, with as many as three No. 1 seeds and as many as 14 teams overall in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, you could make the argument that the Big 12 is atop the list of the best of the rest. Top-end teams? Houston has the high-end guard play and tenacious defense to go toe-to-toe with any team in the country, while Iowa State, Arizona and Texas Tech each figure to find themselves among the top 16 seeds overall. Depth? BYU can beat anybody if Richie Saunders gets hot from deep, while Baylor boasts a high-end lottery pick in star freshman VJ Edgecombe. (Oh, and don't forget about Kansas, always dangerous with Hunter Dickinson despite some struggles of late.)
The Big 12 has blossomed into one of the best basketball conferences in the country, and that hasn't changed despite conference realignment reshaping its footprint a bit. With Houston potentially gunning for a No. 1 seed and several teams fighting for their tourney lives, just about anything can happen. Here's where you can catch the Big 12 Tournament, both this year and into the future.
Where is the 2025 Big 12 Tournament?
This year's Big 12 Tournament is being held at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, still the heart of Big 12 territory despite the changes wrought by conference realignment.
Originally known as the Sprint Center, the T-Mobile Center was completed in 2007 and has served as the home of the Big 12 Tournament ever year since save for 2009 (when the event was held in Oklahoma City) and 2020 (when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). As you might imagine given its proximity to campus (just a 45-minute drive), the 18,000-seat venue has played host to plenty of non-conference Kansas Jayhawks games over the years, and it can feel like Lawrence East come this time of year.
Fans attending the Big 12 Tournament should also check out the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, which is located on-site. The Hall of Fame is a blast, with plenty of interactive experiences and opportunities to learn about the history of college basketball.
Big 12 Tournament locations for 2026, 2027 and beyond
While plenty of conferences rotate their tournaments, either on various campuses or neutral sites, the Big 12 isn't one of them. Just as Madison Square Garden has served as the permanent host for the Big East Tournament, the T-Mobile Center has established itself as the only place to catch postseason Big 12 basketball in recent years.
Even before T-Mobile Center was built, Kansas City was the epicenter of Big 12 hoops, serving as the primary home for the Big 12 Tournament since Paul Pierce led the Jayhawks to the conference's inaugural tournament title in 1997 at Kemper Arena. And that doesn't figure to be changing any time soon: Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark announced last year that both the men's and women's tournaments would remain in K.C. through at least 2031.
“I think I said to many last year, when I came here the first time to the community, met with many of the leaders, it was a real easy decision when I went back to Dallas that we needed to double down on this community,” Yormark told reporters. “It feels like a Super Bowl each time we’re here. The fan support is tremendous. The community is tremendous.”
Grantd, given the Big 12's westward lean in recent years, it's fair to wonder whether that will change at some point in the next decade or so; more and more of the conference's football events are being in held in Las Vegas, and it's not hard to imagine the conference tournaments following suit. But Kansas City has a long history with this event, one it cares deeply about, and the atmosphere is always electric.
How to watch the Big 12 Tournament
ESPN has the broadcast rights to both the men's and women's Big 12 Tournaments. But that doesn't mean that every game will be live on television: Last year, the first round of the men's competition and the first three rounds of the women's competition streamed exclusively on ESPN+. A subscription to ESPN+ costs $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year, although you can save money by signing up for a Disney Bundle that includes ESPN+ along with Disney+ and Hulu.
For games that air on television, you can watch with a cable subscription or stream via WatchESPN by entering your login information.