The Missouri River Conference (also called MRC) is a high school athletic conference whose members are located in the metropolitan areas of western Iowa, with all of the schools being from either Sioux City or Council Bluffs.
The metro-based conference includes 6 teams, five of which compete at the Iowa High School Athletic Association's highest level, 4A. The exception, Sioux City Heelan and Sergeant Bluff-Luton, competes in 3A, the next largest class.
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The six members:
| Institution | Location | Founded | Affiliation | Enrollment | Mascot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux City North | Sioux City | 1980 | Public | ???? | Stars |
| Sioux City West | Sioux City | 1972 | Public | 1,404 | Wolverines |
| Sioux City East | Sioux City | ???? | Public | ???? | Black Raiders |
| Heelan | Sioux City | 1949 | Private | ???? | Crusaders |
| CB AL | Council Bluffs | ???? | Public | ???? | Lynx |
| CB TJ | Council Bluffs | ???? | Public | ???? | Yellow Jackets |
| Sergeant Bluff-Luton | Sergeant Bluff | ???? | Public | ???? | Warriors |
For most of their athletics histories, the schools of the Missouri River Conference were in other conferences. Beginning in the early 1970s, Sioux City schools began to compete with schools in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as a members of the boys-only Sioux Interstate Conference. In the late 1970s, the Sioux Delta Conference was formed between the Sioux City schools, LeMars Community, and Hull Western Christian to facilitate girls' athletic competition. A separate intra-state conference was necessary because the South Dakota High School Athletic Association conducted its girls' basketball tournament in the fall and volleyball tournament in the winter, opposite of many bordering states.
In Spring 1997, the South Dakota High School Athletic Association effectively closed its borders to interstate athletic competition, forcing the dissolution of the Sioux Interstate Conference. The Sioux Delta Conference also dissolved that spring as both LeMars Community and Hull Western Christian had by this time found homes in the Lakes Conference, leaving the four Sioux City schools out in the cold.
The Council Bluffs schools, meanwhile, were once part of the Omaha metro league which included numerous schools in Nebraska. After bowing out of the Omaha metro league, the two schools became charter members of the River Cities Conference, a league that included Nebraska schools such as Beatrice, Ralston, South Sioux City, Omaha Gross, Omaha Roncalli, and Omaha Skutt.
With few options due to their size as 4A football schools, the Sioux City schools and Heelan sought out and were denied membership in both the Central Iowa Metro League and the River Cities Conference. Undaunted, the schools petitioned the Iowa Department of Education for placement in an athletic conference. As a result of those proceedings, the Missouri River Conference was formed to meet the needs of the Sioux City schools, pulling the Council Bluffs schools out of the River Cities Conference to complete the six-school lineup.
Since the founding, Heelan has dominated the conference in just about every sport despite being the smallest school in the conference. They have also won numerous state championships, including football and basketball titles. Heelan does not play football in the conference, but does play every other sport in the conference.
In 2010, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, a founding member of the War Eagle Conference in 1979, began competing as the league's seventh school.
The conference offers the following sports: