Northern Michigan Football League


The Northern Michigan Football League is an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association. It is located in Northern Michigan and contains seventeen teams that encompasses fourteen counties: Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Crawford, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Mackinac, Ogemaw and Otsego.

History

The League formed from the merger of the Lake Michigan Conference and the Northwest Conference, for football only. The schools were then split up based on enrollment and competitiveness, with the larger schools forming the Legends Division, and the smaller ones forming the Legacy Division. Mesick, who was a member of the Northwest Conference, declined to join the league, leaving the Legacy Division with one school less than the Legend Division. Before the 2015 season, it was announced that the six members of the Ski Valley Conference not dropping to Eight-man Football as well as Cheboygan, Onekema and Traverse City Christian High Schools would join the league during the 2016 season, causing the league to expand to three divisions; the Leaders, Legends, and Legacy divisions. The league is also considering the applications of several other schools, and the possibility of further divisions to help with travel costs. On October 6, 2015, Traverse City Christian announced that it would not be joining the NMFL and that Mesick would be replacing them in the conference on a two-year trial basis.
For the 2017 season, more changes will be happening, as four schools will be making the move to eight-man football. In the last few months of 2016, Central Lake, Mesick, Onekama, and Suttons Bay all announced moves to the eight-man game. However, for the 2018 season, Newberry, from the former Mid Eastern Football Conference, was brought into the league. This did not last long, however, as for the 2019 season, Newberry, along with Gaylord St. Mary announced their own move to the 8 man game as well. Starting in 2020, the league will welcome Sault Ste. Marie and West Branch-Ogemaw Heights, who both previously were independent. In corresponding moved Kalkaska and Boyne city will move from the Legends Division to the Leaders Division, and Frankfort will move from the Leaders Division to the Legacy Division. This aligns the league, with the exception of Traverse City St. Francis, to divisions based on enrollment sizes, with the Legends being the largest, Leaders being the middle, and Legacy being the smallest schools.
Effective 2021, the NMFL added 2 new schools, Tawas & Oscoda. Tawas was added to the largest division, Legends, while Oscoda was added to the smallest division, Legacy. Former North Star League foes Rogers City & Lincoln-Alcona were both originally set the join the Legacy Division, but opted instead to drop to 8-Man Football.
In September 2021, following the departure of the two Traverse City high schools to the Saginaw Valley League, the four remaining Big North Conference high schools: Alpena, Gaylord, Cadillac, and Petoskey, were denied entry into the league, despite approval of the conferences athletic directors. The eight superintendents of the then Legends Division declined the addition of the four schools, Citing how the league has grown fast and changed so much in the last six years it might be best to slow down before overhauling the league. The addition of the four schools would have seen the creation of a new 4th division, the Liberty Division and would have included the 6 biggest schools, Alpena, Petoskey, Gaylord, Cadillac, Sault Ste. Marie, and Cheboygan. The following 18 teams would have been divided into 3 equal divisions of 6 teams based on size and success. Instead, the conference kept its 3 division format, but saw Tawas moved to the middle Leaders division and Glen Lake moved to the smaller Legacy Division.
In September 2022 it was announced that effective Fall 2023, the Big North Conference would add Marquette, Escanaba and NMFL member, Sault Ste. Marie, as football members only. Also in 2023, St. Ignace left the conference and moved to 8-man football, while Kalkaska left as well to become an 11-man football independent. With these changes, Benzie Central and Oscoda moved to the middle Leaders division from the larger Legends and smaller Legacy divisions respectively, while Mancelona moved from the Leaders division to the Legacy division
In October 2025, it was announced that the Northern Shores Conference would sponsor football starting in the 2026 season. Harbor Springs opted to remain in the NMFL, while Boyne City, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Elk Rapids, Grayling, and Kingsley would depart after the 2025 season. Traverse City St. Francis will also depart after the 2025 season, leaving the NMFL as a 9-team league with no divisions. The nine schools will play a non-league game to open the season, then one team will play a non-league game each week during weeks two through nine.

Membership Timeline


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Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Lgn value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member of the Legends Division
id:Lead value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member of the Leaders Division
id:Lgcy value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member of the Legacy Division
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bar:1 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2022 text:Benzie Central
bar:1 color:Lead from:2022 till:2024 text:
bar:2 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2019 text:Boyne City
bar:2 color:Lead from:2019 till:2023 text:
bar:2 color:Lgn from:2023 till:2024 text:
bar:3 color:Lead from:2014 till:2024 text:Charlevoix
bar:4 color:Lgn from:2016 till:2024 text:Cheboygan
bar:5 color:Lead from:2014 till:2016 text:East Jordan
bar:5 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2024 text:
bar:6 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2018 text:Elk Rapids
bar:6 color:Lead from:2018 till:2024 text:
bar:7 color:Lead from:2014 till:2020 text:Frankfort
bar:7 color:Lgcy from:2020 till:2024 text:
bar:8 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2016 text:Glen Lake
bar:8 color:Lead from:2016 till:2021 text:
bar:8 color:Lgcy from:2021 till:2024 text:
bar:9 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2024 text:Grayling
bar:10 color:Lead from:2014 till:2016 text:Harbor Springs
bar:10 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2024 text:
bar:11 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2024 text:Joburg
bar:13 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2024 text:Kingsley
bar:14 color:Lead from:2016 till:2023 text:Mancelona
bar:14 color:Lgcy from:2023 till:2024 text:Mancelona
bar:16 color:Lgcy from:2021 till:2023 text:Oscoda
bar:16 color:Lead from:2023 till:2024 text:Oscoda
bar:18 color:Lgn from:2014 till:2024 text:St. Francis
bar:20 color:Lgn from:2021 till:2022 text:Tawas Area
bar:20 color:Lead from:2022 till:2024 text:
bar:21 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2017 text: Central Lake
bar:22 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2019 text: Gaylord St. Mary
bar:23 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2020 text: Inland Lakes
bar:12 color:Lead from:2014 till:2016 text:Kalkaska
bar:12 color:Lgn from:2016 till:2020 text:
bar:12 color:Lead from:2020 till:2022 text:
bar:24 color:Lead from:2016 till:2017 text: Mesick
bar:25 color:Lgcy from:2018 till:2019 text: Newberry
bar:15 color:Lgn from:2020 till:2023 text:Ogemaw Heights
bar:26 color:Lead from:2016 till:2017 text: Onekama
bar:17 color:Lgn from:2020 till:2022 text:Sault Area
bar:19 color:Lgcy from:2016 till:2022 text:St. Ignace
bar:27 color:Lead from:2014 till:2017 text: Suttons Bay
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pos: tabs:
text:^"Northern Michigan Football League Membership History"
  1. > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#