A new Madison-area school is set to join the Big 8 Conference.
On Friday, the Big 8 Conference announced it had unanimously decided to allow Sun Prairie West to join the Big 8 as a non-football member beginning in 2022. The new school will have to submit applications with the WIAA to join the Big 8, as well as to find a conference home in football. From the Big 8's announcement:
A motion passed to unanimously to accept Sun Prairie West to the Big 8 conference for non-football beginning in the 2022-23 school year. Sun Prairie will submit the Fast track application for this and is working on a conference realignment proposal for football-only conference consideration.
Sun Prairie West will have a wolf mascot and will open in September of 2022. Meanwhile, the existing Sun Prairie high school will be renamed Sun Prairie East and remain the Cardinals.
Football-only conference consideration is separate due to the WIAA's statewide realignment, which is set to begin for the 2020-21 school year. Approvals for 11-player and 8-player football are done on an every-two-year basis, which times out well with the new school's opening as 2022-23 is the next cycle for realignment.
Also, the Big 8 announced no updates to its plans to begin practices on April 27 and Big 8 Conference play on May 7, should the current timelines hold for Stay At Home orders in the state of Wisconsin. That's because no changes have been made to the prior orders.