Big Rivers Conference
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.
History
1956-1989
The Big Rivers Conference was formed by five large high schools in northern and western Wisconsin. Four long-time independents joined with Wausau, who was forced out of the Wisconsin Valley Conference by the other league members to create greater parity in competition. The twin cities of Marinette and Menominee left the conference in 1963, primarily due to travel issues and lack of competitiveness in basketball. 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. The conference added an eighth member in 1970 when Wausau High School split into Wausau East and the new Wausau West High School. The two Wausau high schools would go back to the Wisconsin Valley Conference in 1973, and membership stayed consistent until realignment in the late 1980s.1989-present
In 1989, the two La Crosse high schools left the Big Rivers Conference to become charter members of the new Mississippi Valley Conference, along with other schools that were geographically closer than the Eau Claire-area schools. In 1986, Hudson of the Middle Border Conference and Rice Lake of the Heart O'North Conference joined the Big Rivers Conference as football-only members, attaining full membership three years later along with fellow MBC member River Falls. They replaced the two La Crosse high schools, who became charter members of the Mississippi Valley Conference in 1989. New Richmond briefly joined the Big Rivers in 1998 from the Middle Border Conference, which they returned to after a four-year stint. In football, New Richmond was replaced by Lake Superior Conference members Superior in 2002 after they joined as associate members. New Richmond would return to the Big Rivers in 2020, first as a football-only member and then as a full member in 2021.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. For the first competition cycle, the Big Rivers Conference lost River Falls to the Mississippi Valley Conference, replacing them with New Richmond of the Middle Border Conference. River Falls made their return to the Big Rivers for the 2022-2023 realignment cycle, replacing the departing Rice Lake, who became football-only members of the Middle Border Conference. For the 2024-2025 cycle, both Eau Claire schools joined the Wisconsin Valley Conference as football-only members and were replaced by Rice Lake after being shifted back from the Middle Border Conference. The BRC and WVC also entered into a scheduling partnership where each member would play a mandatory crossover game that would count towards their conference's standings. This alignment is set to remain in place through at least the 2026-2027 competition cycle.Membership timeline
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1956 till:2030
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1956 till:2030 text:Eau Claire, Eau Claire Memorial
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1989 text:La Crosse Central
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1963 text:Marinette
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1963 text:Menominee
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1970 text:Wausau
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1973 text:Wausau East
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1963 till:2030 text:Chippewa Falls
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1963 till:2030 text:Eau Claire North
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1989 text:La Crosse Logan
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1963 till:2030 text:Menomonie
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1973 text:Wausau West
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Hudson
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Rice Lake
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:River Falls
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2002 text:New Richmond
bar:14 color:tan1 from:2021 till:2030 text:
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1956
Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1956 till:2030
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id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1956 till:2024 text:Eau Claire, Eau Claire Memorial
bar:2 color:lavender from:1956 till:1989 text:La Crosse Central
bar:3 color:lavender from:1956 till:1963 text:Marinette
bar:4 color:lavender from:1956 till:1963 text:Menominee
bar:5 color:lavender from:1956 till:1970 text:Wausau
bar:5 color:lavender from:1970 till:1973 text:Wausau East
bar:6 color:lavender from:1963 till:2030 text:Chippewa Falls
bar:7 color:lavender from:1963 till:2024 text:Eau Claire North
bar:8 color:lavender from:1963 till:1989 text:La Crosse Logan
bar:9 color:lavender from:1963 till:2030 text:Menomonie
bar:10 color:lavender from:1970 till:1973 text:Wausau West
bar:11 color:lavender from:1986 till:2030 text:Hudson
bar:12 color:lavender from:1986 till:2022 text:Rice Lake
bar:12 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:
bar:13 color:lavender from:1989 till:2020 text:River Falls
bar:13 color:lavender from:2022 till:2030 text:
bar:14 color:lavender from:1998 till:2002 text:New Richmond
bar:14 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:
bar:15 color:lavender from:2002 till:2030 text:Superior
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1956
List of state champions
Fall Sports
| School | Year | Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1985 | Class A |
| La Crosse Central | 1988 | Class A |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 2014 | Division 1 |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 2015 | Division 1 |
Winter sports
| School | Year | Division |
| Hudson | 1998 | Division 1 |
| Hudson | 2002 | Division 1 |
| School | Year | Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1984 | Class A |
| River Falls | 2002 | Division 2 |
| River Falls | 2003 | Division 2 |
| River Falls | 2004 | Division 2 |
| River Falls | 2007 | Division 2 |
| River Falls | 2010 | Division 2 |
| River Falls | 2013 | Division 2 |
| Chippewa Falls | 2025 | Division 1 |
| School | Year | Division |
| Hudson | 2002 | Single Division |
| Hudson | 2003 | Single Division |
| River Falls/ St. Croix Central | 2009 | Single Division |
| River Falls/ St. Croix Central | 2010 | Single Division |
| River Falls/ St. Croix Central | 2011 | Single Division |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 2018 | Single Division |
| Chippewa Falls/ McDonell Central Catholic/ Menomonie | 2021 | Single Division |
Spring sports
| School | Year | Division |
| Eau Claire | 1959 | Single Division |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 1974 | Single Division |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 1977 | Single Division |
| New Richmond | 1999 | Division 2 |
| River Falls | 2002 | Division 1 |
| River Falls | 2004 | Division 1 |
| River Falls | 2005 | Division 1 |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 2022 | Division 1 |
| School | Year | Division |
| La Crosse Central | 1963 | Class A |
| Rice Lake | 2018 | Division 2 |
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball
Source:| School | Quantity | Years |
| Memorial | 33 | 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2016, 2022, 2024, 2025 |
| Eau Claire North | 10 | 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018 |
| Rice Lake | 10 | 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
| Hudson | 7 | 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2019, 2023 |
| River Falls | 6 | 1991, 1994, 2005, 2011, 2019, 2021 |
| Chippewa Falls | 4 | 1980, 1983, 1988, 2020 |
| East | 4 | 1958, 1959, 1967, 1971 |
| La Crosse Central | 3 | 1968, 1979, 1987 |
| La Crosse Logan | 2 | 1981, 1982 |
| Menomonie | 2 | 1986, 2006 |
| Marinette | 1 | 1961 |
| Wausau West | 1 | 1973 |
| Menominee | 0 | |
| New Richmond | 0 |
Girls Basketball
Source:| School | Quantity | Years |
| Eau Claire North | 14 | 1984, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017 |
| Eau Claire Memorial | 12 | 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2008, 2025 |
| Hudson | 11 | 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023 |
| Chippewa Falls | 10 | 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 |
| Menomonie | 5 | 1985, 1986, 2010, 2022, 2024 |
| Rice Lake | 2 | 2007, 2008 |
| River Falls | 1 | 2020 |
| La Crosse Central | 0 | |
| La Crosse Logan | 0 | |
| New Richmond | 0 |
Football
Source:| School | Quantity | Years |
| Menomonie | 24 | 1984, 1985, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 |
| Memorial | 14 | 1958, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1995, 1998, 2011 |
| Chippewa Falls | 10 | 1964, 1968, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2015 |
| East | 9 | 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969 |
| La Crosse Central | 8 | 1962, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1986 |
| Hudson | 5 | 2009, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023 |
| River Falls | 5 | 1989, 1995, 2018, 2019, 2022 |
| Eau Claire North | 3 | 1974, 1980, 1991 |
| La Crosse Logan | 3 | 1972, 1973, 1975 |
| Rice Lake | 3 | 2000, 2015, 2021 |
| Marinette | 2 | 1956, 1960 |
| Menominee | 2 | 1958, 1959 |
| New Richmond | 1 | 2024 |
| Superior | 1 | 2014 |
| Wausau West | 1 | 1970 |