The Packerland Conference is an
athletic conference
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
of high schools located in northeastern
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 ...
. Formed in 1970, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with 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
1970-1979
The Packerland Conference was founded in 1970 by ten small- to medium-sized high schools in northeastern Wisconsin. It started with a five-school group informally referred to as the "Nuclear Five" (
Algoma,
Kewaunee,
Luxemburg-Casco,
Southern Door and
Sturgeon Bay
Sturgeon Bay is an arm of Green Bay extending southeastward approximately 10 miles into the Door Peninsula at the city of Sturgeon Bay, located approximately halfway up the Door Peninsula. The bay is connected to Lake Michigan by the Sturgeo ...
), which were the odd schools out during the flurry of conference realignment that took place in the region. Three Nuclear Five schools (Algoma, Kewaunee and Sturgeon Bay) were former members of the
Northeastern Wisconsin Conference and two schools (Luxemburg-Casco and Southern Door) previously belonged to the
Peninsula Conference, both of which ceased operations after the previous season.
After an unsuccessful attempt to join the
Bay Conference
The Bay Conference is a high school athletics conference made up of eight teams in northeastern Wisconsin, centering primarily around the Green Bay and Fox Valley metropolitan areas. The conference and its member schools are members of the Wisc ...
as a group, the Nuclear Five joined with five schools that were displaced by the ending of the
Eastern Wisconsin Conference
The Eastern Wisconsin Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership based in east central Wisconsin. It existed in two incarnations: the original conference from 1923 to 1970 and the current one since 1979. The conference an ...
(
Chilton,
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
,
New Holstein,
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
and
Sheboygan Falls) to form the original roster of the Packerland Conference.
Due to the large geographic footprint of its member schools, the conference was partitioned into Northern and Southern Divisions for most sports:
1979-2007
In 1979, the five schools of the Southern Division, along with
Two Rivers from the
Fox Valley Association
The Fox Valley Association is a high school athletic conference comprising ten high schools located within the Fox Valley region of northeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 1970, the organization and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsi ...
and
Valders
file:ValdersWisconsinVillageHall.jpg, Village hall
Valders is a village in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 952 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
Geology
The village is kn ...
from the
Olympian Conference, left the Packerland Conference to reform the Eastern Wisconsin Conference.
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
and
Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
, two
Door County
Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 30,066. Its seat of government is Sturgeon Bay.
It is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. T ...
high schools left without affiliation after the collapse of the
Bay-Lakes Conference,
replaced the five outgoing schools and the conference ended divisional play. The two
Door County
Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 30,066. Its seat of government is Sturgeon Bay.
It is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. T ...
schools would not be members of the Packerland for football, however. They traded affiliations with
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and
Mishicot of the Olympian Conference for five seasons before returning as a cooperative program in 1984.
That same year, the conference expanded to nine schools when
Oconto and
Oconto Falls joined after leaving the
Central Wisconsin Conference.
Membership in the Packerland Conference remained stable for the next fifteen years before Oconto Falls left to become charter members of the
Valley 8 Conference in 1999.
Replacing them were former Olympian Conference members Denmark and
Northeastern Wisconsin Lutheran, formerly of the
Midwest Classic Conference.
2007-present
In 2007, Denmark and Luxemburg-Casco exited the Packerland Conference for membership in the new
Eastern Valley Conference
The North Eastern Conference is a high school athletic conference based in northeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 2015, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
The North E ...
.
The conference also entered into a partnership with the Olympian Conference to create the new
Olympian-Packerland Conference for football. This arrangement ended when the Olympian was dissolved after the 2014-2015 school year, and the Packerland returned to football sponsorship with five members (Algoma, Kewaunee, Oconto, Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay).
The Packerland Conference would continue with eight schools for ten years until
Peshtigo left the
Marinette & Oconto Conference to join in 2017,
bringing the roster to its current total of nine schools. Football sponsorship was also ended that year, as the Packerland entered into a conglomeration with the
Marinette & Oconto and
Northern Lakes Conferences, forming the
Marinette & Oconto-Northern Lakes-Packerland Conference (MONLPC).
List of conference members
Current members
Former members
Former football-only members
Membership timeline
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1970 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:60 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:blue from:1970 till:1979 text:Algoma (1970-present)
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:
bar:2 color:skyblue from:1970 till:1979 text:Chilton (1970-1979)
bar:3 color:blue from:1970 till:1979 text:Kewaunee (1970-present)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:
bar:4 color:skyblue from:1970 till:1979 text:Kiel (1970-1979)
bar:5 color:blue from:1970 till:1979 text:Luxemburg-Casco (1970-2007)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2007 text:
bar:6 color:skyblue from:1970 till:1979 text:New Holstein (1970-1979)
bar:7 color:skyblue from:1970 till:1979 text:Plymouth (1970-1979)
bar:8 color:skyblue from:1970 till:1979 text:Sheboygan Falls (1970-1979)
bar:9 color:blue from:1970 till:1979 text:Southern Door (1970-present)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:
bar:10 color:blue from:1970 till:1979 text:Sturgeon Bay (1970-present)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Gibraltar (1979-present)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Sevastopol (1979-present)
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1984 till:2030 text:Oconto (1984-present)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1984 till:1999 text:Oconto Falls (1984-1999)
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1999 till:2007 text:Denmark (1999-2007)
bar:16 color:tan1 from:1999 till:2030 text:N.E.W. Lutheran (1999-present)
bar:17 color:tan1 from:2017 till:2030 text:Peshtigo (2017-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1970
Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1970 till:2017
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:60 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1970 till:2007 text:Algoma (1970-2006)
bar:1 color:lavender from:2015 till:2017 text:(2015-2016)
bar:2 color:lavender from:1970 till:1979 text:Chilton (1970-1978)
bar:3 color:lavender from:1970 till:2007 text:Kewaunee (1970-2006)
bar:3 color:lavender from:2015 till:2017 text:(2015-2016)
bar:4 color:lavender from:1970 till:1979 text:Kiel (1970-1978)
bar:5 color:lavender from:1970 till:2007 text:Luxemburg-Casco (1970-2006)
bar:6 color:lavender from:1970 till:1979 text:New Holstein (1970-1978)
bar:7 color:lavender from:1970 till:1979 text:Plymouth (1970-1978)
bar:8 color:lavender from:1970 till:1979 text:Sheboygan Falls (1970-1978)
bar:9 color:lavender from:1970 till:2007 text:Southern Door (1970-2006)
bar:9 color:lavender from:2015 till:2017 text:(2015-2016)
bar:10 color:lavender from:1970 till:2007 text:Sturgeon Bay (1970-2006)
bar:10 color:lavender from:2015 till:2017 text:(2015-2016)
bar:11 color:lavender from:1979 till:1984 text:Denmark (1979-1983)
bar:11 color:lavender from:1999 till:2007 text:(1999-2006)
bar:12 color:lavender from:1979 till:1984 text:Mishicot (1979-1983)
bar:13 color:lavender from:1984 till:2007 text:Oconto (1984-2006)
bar:13 color:lavender from:2015 till:2017 text:(2015-2016)
bar:14 color:lavender from:1984 till:1999 text:Oconto Falls (1984-1998)
bar:15 color:lavender from:1984 till:2005 text:Sevastopol/Gibraltar (1984-2004)
bar:16 color:lavender from:2005 till:2006 text:Sevastopol (2005)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1970
Membership map
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
Summer sports
List of conference champions
Source:
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
External links
Packerland Conference (official website)
References
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Sports organizations established in 1970
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
1970 establishments in Wisconsin