Big Rivers Conference Member School Locations in Wisconsin
The Big Rivers Conference is a high school athletic conference consisting of large high schools in western Wisconsin. Formed in 1956, its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
The Big Rivers Conference was formed by five large high schools in northern and western Wisconsin[1]. Four long-time independents (Eau Claire, La Crosse Central, Marinette and Menominee (MI)) joined with Wausau, who was forced out of the Wisconsin Valley Conference[2][3]. The twin cities of Marinette and Menominee left the conference in 1963, primarily due to travel issues and lack of competitiveness in basketball[4]. The two exiting schools were replaced by four newcomers: Chippewa Falls from the disbanded Mississippi Valley Conference, the newly opened Eau Claire North, and two former independents in La Crosse Logan and Menomonie[5]. The conference added an eighth member in 1970 when Wausau High School split into Wausau East and the new Wausau West High School[6]. The two Wausau high schools would go back to the Wisconsin Valley Conference in 1973[7][8], and membership stayed consistent until realignment in the late 1980s.
In 1989, the two La Crosse high schools (Central and Logan) left the Big Rivers Conference to become charter members of the new Mississippi Valley Conference[9], along with other schools that were geographically closer than the Eau Claire-area schools[10]. Three schools from the Middle Border Conference (Hudson, Rice Lake and River Falls) took the place of the La Crosse high schools[11] and made for a smaller geographic footprint for the Big Rivers. New Richmond briefly joined the Big Rivers in 1998 from the Middle Border Conference[12], which they returned to after a four-year stint[13]. That same year, Superior became a football-only member of the Big Rivers Conference[14]. New Richmond would return to the Big Rivers in 2020[15], first as a football-only member and then as a full member in 2021[16].
