The Badger Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in south central
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. Established in 1952, the Badger Conference is a member of the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...
.
History
1952-1977
The Badger Conference was formed in 1952, and most of its members came from two conferences that disbanded the year prior:
Edgerton,
Fort Atkinson,
Monroe
Monroe or Monroes may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Monroe (surname)
* Monroe (given name)
* James Monroe, 5th President of the United States
* Marilyn Monroe, actress and model
Places United States
* Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...
,
Stoughton and
Wisconsin High from the
Southern Ten Conference, and
Evansville
Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in S ...
,
Jefferson,
Lake Mills and
Milton from the
Rock River Valley League.
Middleton, formerly of the
Madison Suburban Conference, rounded out the original membership roster at ten schools. Three years after joining the conference, three schools left for the Madison Suburban Conference: Evansville, Lake Mills and Milton. They were replaced by the recently opened
Monona Grove High School, who joined the conference in 1956.
Sun Prairie moved over from the Madison Suburban Conference in 1963, and University of Wisconsin High was closed the next year, with its students being moved to
Madison Central High School. The Badger Conference's membership roster would stay consistent until major realignment in the late 1970s.
1977–2001
In 1977, the Badger Conference underwent a significant realignment. Three schools left the conference: Edgerton and Jefferson for the
Rock Valley Conference and Sun Prairie for the
Big Eight Conference
The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...
. They were replaced that same year by
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
from the
Central Suburban Conference
The Central Suburban Conference was an IHSAA-sanctioned conference in the U.S. state of Indiana from 1971 to 1997. The conference can be considered a continuation of the Capital District Conference, as almost all of the schools involved in tha ...
and
Sauk Prairie from the
South Central Conference. Ten years later,
DeForest and
Waunakee joined from the
Capitol Conference. Middleton left to join the Big Eight in 1994, and their place was taken by
Verona
Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...
from the Capitol Conference. Fort Atkinson left for the
Southern Lakes Conference
The Southern Lakes Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership based in southeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 1953, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association ...
in 1997, and
Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart
Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school located in Madison, Wisconsin. Edgewood has been sponsored since its inception by the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. In the 2019–2020 s ...
in
Madison joined in 1999 after competing independently as a
WISAA member for most of their athletic history.
2001–present
In 2001, the Badger Conference expanded from nine to fourteen schools, adding three schools formerly in the South Central Conference (
Baraboo
Baraboo ( ) is the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States, located along the Baraboo River. The population was 12,556 at the 2020 census. The most populous city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo micropol ...
,
Portage
Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...
and
Reedsburg) and two who joined from the Capitol Conference (
McFarland McFarland may refer to:
People
*McFarland (surname)
Places in the United States
*McFarland, California, a city
*McFarland, Kansas, a city
*McFarland, Missouri, a ghost town
*McFarland, Wisconsin, a village
Other uses
* USS ''McFarland'' (DD-237) ...
and
Mount Horeb
Mount Horeb (; Hebrew: ''Har Ḥōrēḇ''; Greek in the Septuagint: , ''Chōrēb''; Latin in the Vulgate: ') is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God, according to the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible. I ...
). In order to accommodate this, the conference split its members into North and South Divisions:
In 2008, McFarland and Verona left the Badger Conference to join the Rock Valley and Big Eight Conferences, respectively. Their place in the South Division was taken by Fort Atkinson and Milton, who rejoined the Badger Conference from the Southern Lakes Conference.
Beaver Dam
A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators such as coyotes, alligators, cougars, foxes, eagles, wolves and bears, and holds their food during winter. These structures modify th ...
and
Watertown joined from the dissolved
Wisconsin Little Ten Conference in 2017 and were placed in separate divisions (Beaver Dam in the North, Watertown in the South). In 2021, the Badger Conference realigned its divisions by East and West for most sports:
This alignment only remained in place for two years, as it was replaced by Large School and Small School divisions in 2023. During this same year, McFarland and Monroe swapped conference affiliations: McFarland rejoined the Badger Conference and Monroe went to the Rock Valley Conference. Monroe's departure left Stoughton as the only school to have been a member of the conference for its entire history.
Football-only alignment
In February 2019, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. The Badger Conference remained at sixteen schools and adopted the large/small school divisional alignment three years before doing so for all sports, but with some changes to membership.
Janesville Craig and
Janesville Parker moved over as football-only members from the Big Eight Conference and were placed in the large-school division, with Edgewood and Monroe moving over to the Rock Valley Conference. The two Janesville schools returned to the Big Eight Conference for the 2022 football season, exchanging affiliations with
Sun Prairie East and
Sun Prairie West. Baraboo and Reedsburg moved over to the Mississippi Valley Conference and DeForest took their place in the small-schools division to give the Badger Conference fourteen members in two seven-team divisions for football. In 2024, Edgewood made their return to the Badger Conference as a football member, joining from the
Capitol Conference along with
Lakeside Lutheran in
Lake Mills. They replaced Beaver Dam and Watertown, who left to join the
East Central Conference
The East Central Conference is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Originally founded in 1970, it was disbanded in 2001 and remained defunct until its reconstitution in 2015. It will be dissolved again after 2024-25 school year, and al ...
as football-only members. Three schools moved over from the small-school division (DeForest, Fort Atkinson and Monona Grove) to give the large-school division eight members and the small-school division (who play an interlocking schedule with the East Central Conference) six members. The Badger Conference will be expanding to sixteen football members for the 2026-2027 cycle, welcoming back Beaver Dam and Watertown from the shuttered East Central Conference. Portage will also be swapping affiliations with McFarland, with the former joining the Rock Valley Conference.
List of member schools
Current members
Notes
Current football-only members
Former members
Notes
Former football-only members
Membership timeline
Full members
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bar:8 color:coral from:2021 till:2023 text:
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bar:9 color:red from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:9 color:yellowgreen from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1964 text:Wisconsin High (1952-1964)
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bar:11 color:red from:2021 till:2023 text:
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bar:13 color:green from:2023 till:2030 text:
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bar:14 color:coral from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:14 color:yellowgreen from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1987 till:2001 text:DeForest (1987-present)
bar:15 color:blue from:2001 till:2021 text:
bar:15 color:red from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:15 color:green from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:16 color:tan1 from:1987 till:2001 text:Waunakee (1987-present)
bar:16 color:blue from:2001 till:2021 text:
bar:16 color:red from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:16 color:green from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:17 color:tan1 from:1994 till:2001 text:Verona (1994-2008)
bar:17 color:skyblue from:2001 till:2008 text:
bar:18 color:tan1 from:1999 till:2001 text:Edgewood (1999-present)
bar:18 color:skyblue from:2001 till:2021 text:
bar:18 color:coral from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:18 color:yellowgreen from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:19 color:blue from:2001 till:2021 text:Baraboo (2001-present)
bar:19 color:coral from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:19 color:yellowgreen from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:20 color:skyblue from:2001 till:2008 text:McFarland (2001-2008)
bar:20 color:yellowgreen from:2023 till:2030 text:(2023-present)
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bar:23 color:coral from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:23 color:yellowgreen from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:24 color:blue from:2017 till:2021 text:Beaver Dam (2017-present)
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bar:24 color:green from:2023 till:2030 text:
bar:25 color:skyblue from:2017 till:2021 text:Watertown (2017-present)
bar:25 color:red from:2021 till:2023 text:
bar:25 color:green from:2023 till:2030 text:
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Football members (since 2020)
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bar:11 color:lavender from:2020 till:2026 text:Portage (2020-2025)
bar:12 color:lavender from:2020 till:2022 text:Reedsburg (2020-2021)
bar:13 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Sauk Prairie (2020-present)
bar:14 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Stoughton (2020-present)
bar:15 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2024 text:Watertown (2020-2023)
bar:15 color:lightpurple from:2026 till:2030 text:(2026-future)
bar:16 color:lightpurple from:2020 till:2030 text:Waunakee (2020-present)
bar:17 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2030 text:Sun Prairie East (2022-present)
bar:18 color:lightpurple from:2022 till:2030 text:Sun Prairie West (2022-present)
bar:19 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Edgewood (2024-present)
bar:20 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Lakeside Lutheran (2024-present)
bar:21 color:lavender from:2026 till:2030 text:McFarland (2026-future)
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Membership map
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
References
External links
Badger ConferenceBadger Conference realignment information
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
Sports organizations established in 1952
1952 establishments in Wisconsin