On Monday, the Badger Conference announced that its 16 member schools would re-align to an East/West configuration beginning in the Fall of 2021.
From the Badger Conference's press release:
In the Fall of 2018, the Badger Conference principals directed the athletic directors to review the alignment, taking into account geographic locations (distance each school travels), school size, and competitive balance.In the Spring of 2019, the athletic directors brought forth the East/West Division format for consideration and was approved by the principals at the April meeting.
The new alignment was selected based on the following conclusions, when comparing the new alignment to the current alignment:
1) The East/West alignment creates a more equitable distribution of total miles traveled throughout the conference.Reduced travel on school nights was a priority to minimize time lost from class to maximize study time for student athletes.
2) The divisional component creates more “close” contests, also decreasing travel and minimizing time missed from class.
3) The East/West Divisions better aligns schools according to enrollment with the East containing 7 of the 8 “large” schools and the West containing 7 of the 8 “small” schools.Oregon and Fort Atkinson are the exceptions.
Over the course of the 2019-2020 school year, the athletic directors will create the specific scheduling concepts to utilize the four school divisional format, aligning it to the specific scheduling details for each sport.The realignment will take effect in the Fall of 2021
You can read the full press release here.
Badger West
North Division
Baraboo – 939
Portage – 765
Reedsburg – 881
Sauk Prairie – 834
South Division
Edgewood – 497
Monroe – 723
Mount Horeb – 776
Oregon – 1149
Badger East
North Division
Beaver Dam – 1067
DeForest – 1017
Watertown – 1302
Waunakee – 1303
South Division
Fort Atkinson – 957
Milton – 1126
Monona Grove – 1076
Stoughton – 968