The Big Ten Conference is the oldest college athletic conference of Division I of the United States. Its members are mainly located in the Midwestern part of the country with Nebraska in the western part and Pennsylvania in the eastern part. The Big Ten Conference competes in the Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA competition. The member universities of the Big Ten Conference are also members of a leading educational consortium called Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC).

The conference currently has 12 members. These are the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (Fighting Illini), Indiana University (Hoosiers), University of Iowa (Hawkeyes), University of Michigan (Wolverines), Michigan State University (Spartans), University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Golden Gophers), University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Cornhuskers), Northwestern University (Wildcats), The Ohio State University (Buckeyes), Pennsylvania State University (Nittany Lions), Purdue University (Boilermakers), and University of Wisconsin–Madison (Badgers).

Male players from the university members of the Big Ten Conference compete for baseball, basketball, cross county, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, indoor track, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, outdoor track, and wrestling. Female players from the university members of the Big Ten Conference compete for basketball, cross county, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, indoor track, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, outdoor track, and volleyball.