Fox Valley Association

The Fox Valley Association was formed in 1970, resulting from a split within the Fox River Valley Conference. Four schools along the western shore of Lake Winnebago (Appleton East, Appleton West, Neenah and Oshkosh) joined with three schools formerly of the disbanded Mid-Eastern Conference (Kaukauna, Kimberly and Menasha) to form the initial membership roster.^[1][2] Oshkosh North became the eighth member of the conference when it opened its doors in 1972, with the original Oshkosh High School being renamed to Oshkosh West.^[3] The FVA briefly grew to nine schools with the addition of Two Rivers in 1977,^[4] before they made their exit to join a reconstituted Eastern Wisconsin Conference in 1979.^[5] Membership increased back to nine schools in 1989 when Fond du Lac (formerly of the FRVC) became part of the FVA,^[6] joining for most sports that year. Their football program joined the conference for the 1993 season.^[7] In 1995, Appleton opened a third high school on the city's north side, and Appleton North became the FVA's tenth member that year.^[8] The roster has stayed at ten schools ever since, with the only change since Appleton North's addition was the affiliation swap between Menasha and Bay Conference members Hortonville in 2014.^[9] In November 2025, Appleton West filed a formal request with the WIAA to move to the Bay Conference in time for the 2027-28 school year, where it is hoped that they would be more competitive. The move is supported by the remaining FVA schools but is opposed by the nine current Bay Conference members. The process will go through the WIAA Conference Realignment Task Force Committee starting in December 2025, with their request formally approved by the Board of Controls in March 2026.^[10][11]