I can't help but think if the "suburb" schools had wanted to be in league with the Springfield city schools, it would have been done ages ago. It seems the suburbs have hated the city, and I'm not sure hate is a strong enough word. Letting R-12 finally have a foothold on the COC may work or it may not in the long run. The whole thing seemed like a mad dash to "respond" to CJ and Branson leaving more than thinking logically. If there had been a desire for non-conference games, why did they add the Ozark schools? With the departing schools, there would have been space in the schedules. I don't know. I just don't think this current setup will stick too long. I'm kind of jumping on board with separate football leagues or even simply 8 team districts, although MSHSAA still has to prove they can put common sense into forming those, and they haven't always accomplished that. I will say as I live in the Jasper district, and their conference setup in the WEMO has long road trips for a small school, and now the district is asking us to raise the tax levy for operating expenses next April. I'm still trying to decide if I want to vote for that when I know they could do some things differently, such as not going two hours to Cass Midway for junior high basketball. A separate, geographically friendly league for all other activities (outside football) would help definitely.
