Parkland Conference

The Parkland Conference is a former high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in southeastern Wisconsin. It was in existence from 1963 to 2006 and all member schools were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. It was revived in 2020 as a football-only conference with most of its member schools in Waukesha County.

The Parkland Conference was formed in 1963 as a result of population growth and new school districts being formed in the Milwaukee area during the previous decade. Most of the high schools in these new districts joined the Braveland Conference, which was founded in 1953 and grew to seventeen members after only a decade of competition.^[1] The eight schools located south of Interstate 94 (Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Muskego, New Berlin, Oak Creek, St. Francis and Whitnall) split from the Braveland and became the original members of the Parkland Conference.^[2][3] A ninth member was added in 1970 when New Berlin Eisenhower opened as the New Berlin district's second high school.^[4] The Parkland Conference competed as a nine-member loop for the next decade before major changes would occur.

In 1980, the high school athletic conferences in southeastern Wisconsin went through a comprehensive realignment after years of discussion and failing to reach agreements. Two conferences were disbanded (the Scenic Moraine and South Shore),^[5] and four of the schools that were displaced (Kettle Moraine, Pewaukee, Racine Case and Slinger) became Parkland Conference members.^[6][7] Mukwonago also moved over from the Southern Lakes Conference that year,^[8] and the conference split into Eastern and Western divisions:^[9]

Racine Case left the Parkland Conference for membership in the Suburban Conference in 1983,^[10] and the league would compete with thirteen members in two divisions for two more seasons.

A second extensive realignment occurred in 1985 after failing to fix some of the issues with travel and competitive balance that the 1980 realignment was supposed to remedy. This time, the Suburban Conference met its demise with one of the displaced schools, West Milwaukee, joining the Parkland Conference. Brown Deer also moved over from the Braveland Conference as part of the realignment, swapping affiliations with Mukwonago in the process. Most significantly, the Parkland Conference lost five members to the new Suburban Park Conference: Greendale, Greenfield, Kettle Moraine, Muskego and Oak Creek.^[11] These were some of the largest schools in the conference, and the new-look Parkland emerged with a larger geographic footprint and a smaller average enrollment than some of the other new conferences created. The Parkland Conference continued with this roster until 1992, when West Milwaukee High School closed its doors.^[12] Shorewood joined from the North Shore Conference to take their place.^[13] Another change occurred in 1993, when Franklin left to join the new Woodland Conference with Sussex Hamilton replacing them after being displaced from the shuttered Braveland Conference.^[14]

In 1997, the Parkland Conference lost four member schools: three joined the Woodland Conference (New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West and Whitnall) and Sussex Hamilton became a charter member of the Greater Metro Conference.^[15] Taking their place were four private schools who were in the process of joining the WIAA as part of the merger with their previous organization, the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association.^[16] Dominican in Whitefish Bay and Martin Luther in Greendale joined in 1997,^[17] while Kettle Moraine Lutheran in Jackson and Luther Prep in Watertown entered the year after.^[18] Aside from Martin Luther returning to the Midwest Classic Conference in 2003,^[19] the Parkland Conference continued with this membership roster until it was disbanded in 2006. Four schools joined the Woodland Conference (Brown Deer, Pewaukee, Shorewood and St. Francis),^[20] Dominican entered the Midwest Classic Conference,^[21] Kettle Moraine Lutheran became a charter member of the Wisconsin Flyway Conference,^[22] Luther Prep joined the Capitol Conference^[23] and Slinger shifted to the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference.^[24]

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.^[25] As part of this realignment, the Parkland Conference name returned for use by an eight-team football-only conference featuring Catholic Memorial in Waukesha, Milwaukee Lutheran, New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West, Pewaukee, Pius XI in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa West.^[26] The new conference was originally referred to as the Woodland West in preseason realignment materials, since five members had all-sport affiliation in the Woodland Conference (Milwaukee Lutheran, New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West, Pewaukee and Pius XI). Membership remained intact for the first four seasons of play before three schools left the conference: Milwaukee Lutheran fully aligned with the Woodland Conference, Pewaukee became football-only members of the Classic 8 Conference and Pius XI joined the Midwest Classic Conference in the large-schools division. Two former Classic 8 members (Waukesha North and Waukesha South) along with West Allis Central (formerly of the Greater Metro Conference) replaced the three outgoing members.^[27] For the 2026-2027 cycle, West Allis Central will be exiting to join the Woodland Conference, giving the Parkland Conference seven football members. The Parkland and Woodland Conferences will be entering into a scheduling partnership during this period with one interlocking game per member school that counts in their respective conference standings.^[28]

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