Big 12 Championship winner prize money: How much will Texas Tech get after making CFP? Breakdown explained

Texas Tech beat BYU Cougars 34-7 to win the Big 12 Championship game on December 6, and in the process have made the College Football Playoff.

Published on: Dec 7, 2025, 03:01:29 IST

By Shuvrajit Das Biswas

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Texas Tech beat BYU Cougars 34-7, winning the Big 12 Championship game on December 6. They've now made the College Football Playoff.

Texas Tech Red Raiders players celebrate after the team's win over the BYU Cougars for the Big 12 Championship at AT&T Stadium on December 6, 2025. (Getty Images via AFP)

Texas Tech reportedly spent $25 million building the team roster and many might be wondering how much they will get from their win.

Here's an explanation of the prize breakdown after winning the Big 12 Championship game.

Big 12 Championship Prize Money

Teams do not get any prize money for winning conferences. Those who win the national championship also do not get any prize money.

Thus, there is no money specifically set aside for the winner of the Big 12 Championship game, in this case, Texas Tech. However, this does not mean they'll go home empty handed.

Also Read | Jon Pardi Big 12 Championship game halftime performance slammed; ‘tanking entire career’

Texas Tech prize breakdown explained

All revenue is pooled at the conference level and then member schools get it as part of the annual operating budget. The primary financial benefits come from overall conference revenue share and College Football Playoff (CFP) participation payouts.

Texas Tech gets the full share of the conference's total revenue as one of the original members of the Big 12. For the 2024-2025 year, this pool stood at $558 million. Thus full member schools got something between $35-$40 million.

Winning the championship has reportedly earned Texas Tech a CFP place. This leads to additional money for the Big 12 conference. For each team that makes the playoff's first round, the conference gets $4 million. Another $4 million payout comes for reaching the quarterfinals. For semis and the final, the conference gets $6 million per team.

Thus, while the success of Texas Tech will benefit the pool and thus themselves, there is no direct gain. An increased pool size means Texas Tech will get more money, but internal distribution policies dictate how it'll be divvied up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shuvrajit Das Biswas
Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More

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