After a flurry of activity earlier in the week, things appear to be a little more peaceful today in regards to conference realignment. Maybe people are winding down for Super Bowl weekend.

The week began with a second meeting of reps from eight metro conferences. Initially, “frustration” was the word to come out of that meeting. But within a day or so, there was more optimism that positive changes could happen. And on Wednesday, the Wright County Conference voted to accept Hutchinson as a member beginning in 2010-2011. That got people excited, because it was something concrete. Finally.

And then John Currie, superintendent of Apple Valley, Eagan, Eastview and Rosemount high schools, told me personnel at those schools would begin investigating what it would take for a new conference of Dakota County schools to be formed.

After many interviews with many people — most of them off the record — here’s what I think could happen.

1) Apple Valley, Eagan, Eastview, Rosemount, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Burnsville, Bloomington Jefferson and Bloomington Kennedy (all from the Lake Conference) ask Farmington (from the Missota) to join them in a new league.

2) Chaska and the soon-to-open Chanhassen join the Missota.

3) Eden Prairie, the odd Lake team out, joins the four Classic Lake schools (Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata) in a new league, along with two or three schools from the Northwest Suburban. Champlin Park and Blaine would be the best fits based on enrollment. This new league would include six of the largest eight schools in the state, and it could somehow, someway be formatted for football only. That’s problematic, but as I have written previously, the elephant in this room is wearing football cleats.

Meetings are being held around the metro, formally and informally. Conferences are getting together to discuss the future, and administrators are meeting for coffee with their colleagues from other schools to discuss the possibilities.

The Lake Conference schools will meet next week, as will the MSHSL board of directors. The Lake gathering will be behind closed doors, while MSHSL board meetings are public. The MSHSL board might discuss conferences informally, but that group has no power to change conference lineups. These decisions belong to the schools themselves.

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