The Mississippi Valley Conference (also called MVC) is a high school athletic conference whose members are located in the metropolitan areas of eastern Iowa, including Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City and Waterloo-Cedar Falls.
The conference is divided into two segments: the Mississippi division and the Valley division. At present the MVC comprises all 4A schools with the exception of Dubuque Wahlert, which is categorized as 3A school. Cedar Rapids Xavier, when admitted to the MVC, was a 3A school, but became a 4A school beginning with the 2008-09 school year.
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There are 14 members of the Mississippi Valley Conference:
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Mascot | Division |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Falls | Cedar Falls | 1900 | Public | 1,164 | Tigers | Mississippi |
| Jefferson | Cedar Rapids | 1958 | Public | 1,651 | J-Hawks | Valley |
| Kennedy | Cedar Rapids | 1967 | Public | 1,887 | Cougars | Valley |
| Washington | Cedar Rapids | 1956 (orig. 1875) | Public | 1,626 | Warriors | Valley |
| Prairie | Cedar Rapids | 1954 | Public | 1,052 | Hawks | Mississippi |
| Xavier | Cedar Rapids | 1998 | Catholic | 759 | Saints | Valley |
| Hempstead | Dubuque | 1970 | Public | 1,718 | Mustangs | Mississippi |
| Senior | Dubuque | 1866 (orig. 1858) | Public | 1,551 | Rams | Valley |
| Wahlert | Dubuque | 1959 | Catholic | Appx. 600 | Golden Eagles | Mississippi |
| City | Iowa City | 1938 | Public | 1,526 | Little Hawks | Mississippi |
| West | Iowa City | 1968 | Public | 1,838 | Trojans/ Women of Troy | Mississippi |
| Linn-Mar | Marion | 1959 | Public | 1,731 | Lions | Mississippi |
| East | Waterloo | 1874 | Public | 1,298 | Trojans | Valley |
| West | Waterloo | 1955 | Public | 1,804 | Wahawks | Valley |
Since its founding, the Mississippi Valley Conference was a league composed of metropolitan schools in eastern Iowa. Until 1969, the MVC (as it is known to some locals) also included Quad-City area schools in both Iowa and Illinois; this list included Davenport High (since 1960, Davenport Central) and Davenport West in Iowa; and Illinois Quad-City area schools East Moline (now United Township), Moline and Rock Island. Clinton High School was also a member of the conference, as were Jefferson and Washington of Cedar Rapids, Iowa City High and Dubuque Senior (known for years simply as Dubuque). Cedar Rapids Kennedy joined immediately upon its opening in 1967.
The league was reorganized in 1969, with the five Quad-City area schools leaving to form a new league (the Quad-City Metro Conference, along with Catholic schools Davenport Assumption and Rock Island Alleman). The six remaining schools were joined by newcomers Bettendorf, Muscatine and Iowa City West (the latter which opened in 1968). Early in 1970, the newly opened Dubuque Hempstead was admitted to the conference.
One member - Muscatine - gained infamy during the 1970s when it lost 44 consecutive football games, including 40 straight league games between 1973 and 1977.1
The league reorganized again in 1978 when Bettendorf, Clinton and Muscatine left to join the newly formed Mississippi Athletic Conference; Dubuque Wahlert joined at that time to make the MVC an eight-team conference.
Since the 1980s, the MVC's membership has grown and has been at its current 14-school membership since the mid-1990s. The most recent additions have been Waterloo East, Waterloo West, Cedar Falls, and Cedar Rapids Regis in 1992. Regis joined the conference at the beginning of the 1992-1993 school year and was subsequently closed and merged with Cedar Rapids LaSalle High School to form Cedar Rapids Xavier High School. Periodically conference membership is reviewed based on school population trends.2
The conference offers the following sports:
Although the member schools field freshman — and in some cases, junior varsity — teams in many of the above-mentioned sports, conference championships are determined at sophomore and varsity levels only.
Two other states have high school athletic conferences named Mississippi Valley Conference. In Illinois, the Mississippi Valley Conference (Illinois) is a conference based in the Metro East area, the eastern suburbs of Saint Louis, Missouri. In Wisconsin, the Mississippi Valley Conference (Wisconsin) is a conference based in the La Crosse, Wisconsin area, commonly known as the Coulee Region.