The Big 12 Conference will bring its Big 12 Homecoming to the UCF campus the week the Knights play their first conference home football game against Baylor (Sept. 30).
Big 12 Homecoming represents a conference-wide celebration of the Big 12 brand that will bring three days of entertainment and community engagement to campuses of Big 12 members.
Big 12 Homecoming will visit four campuses per fall, each during a home football game weekend. The first campuses visited by Big 12 Homecoming will be the four incoming members—UCF, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU--to celebrate their arrival to the Big 12. The remaining eight conference members will see Big 12 Homecoming visit their campuses in future years.
“We are thrilled to launch Big 12 Homecoming and debut this celebration of our conference on the campuses of our four newest members,” said Big 12 Chief Marketing Officer Tyrel Kirkham. “These four programs have waited years for this moment and, as a conference, we want to ensure their arrival is memorialized and celebrated. These events will bring a new level of entertainment and excitement to Big 12 campuses.”
Big 12 Homecoming will see activations take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of home football game weekends:
--Thursday will include a women’s empowerment event led by Sports Illustrated featuring panels and discussions alongside female student-athletes and female leaders impacting change across campus.
--On Friday, Big 12 student-athletes and coaches will visit an elementary school to unveil a $50,000 makeover for a new library/media center as part of the College Football Playoff Foundation’s signature program, CFP Extra Yard Makeover Project.
--Saturday will see the Big 12 enhance each school’s pre-game tailgating experience with live DJ performances, limited-edition merchandise giveaways, an armed forces pre-game flyover and more.
The inaugural Big 12 Homecoming weekend will take place in Houston (Sept. 14-16) as the Cougars host TCU. Big 12 Homecoming will visit Cincinnati (Sept. 21-23) as the Bearcats play Oklahoma and will travel to Orlando (Sept. 28-30) as UCF plays host to Baylor. The 2023 tour concludes with a trip to Provo (Oct. 19-21) as BYU takes on Texas Tech.