The Mississippi Valley Conference could grow to 16 teams in the next few years if Liberty High School and Western Dubuque join the league, but there are more questions than answers at this point.

Liberty High School is undoubtedly headed to the Mississippi Valley Conference at some point, but it might take a few years after the school opens in 2017.

Western Dubuque would consider the possibility of leaving the Wamac Conference for the MVC, according to its athletic director, but no official overtures have been made.

John Hlubek, the athletic director at Western Dubuque, said he would listen if somebody called.

"Oh, sure," he said. "We want to keep our options open and see what they're thinking."

Western Dubuque is the biggest school in the Wamac Conference and will be competing at the Class 4A level in football in 2016 and 2017, making it the only Wamac school in 4A football.

Liberty High School is scheduled to open in North Liberty for the 2017-18 school year, but not all of the students who live in the district will be required to attend the new school in the first two years. Freshmen and sophomores will be expected to enroll, but juniors and seniors that year will have the option of staying at Iowa City West for the rest of their high school days.

As a result, the Iowa City school district - which will be running Liberty High School - has no idea how many students they'll have at the new school for the first two years. They know they'll probably have about 250 freshmen and 250 sophomores in the fall of 2017, but they don't know how many juniors and seniors will be attending the school.

"They'll have the option to stay at West or go to Liberty High School," said Matt Degner, the director of secondary schools for the Iowa City school district. "So that will really affect our upper grades, as to how many kids are actually starting at that school."

The number of students will affect what's offered in Year 1 for academics and athletics. "It's kind of up in the air for us," he said.

Consequently, school administrators are not ready to apply for conference affiliation and are not ready to tell the Iowa High School Athletic Association what they plan to do for varsity sports in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years.

"At some point next school year we're going to have to ask families for a commitment," said Degner. "We haven't set a firm deadline for what that's going to look like yet."

Liberty High School will have room for 1,000 students when it opens and will accommodate 1,500 students when the project is completed. Degner anticipates hitting 1,500 in the near future, once everyone has been sorted out and the school has been operating for a few years.

Degner said joining the Mississippi Valley Conference is probably a "fair" conversation at this point.

"Of course the Mississippi Valley has to accept us," he noted. "We can apply, but they're going to have to accept us and make sure it works for them, too."

The MVC currently has 14 schools in the league, including Iowa City West and Iowa City High. There are six schools from Cedar Rapids and Marion in the league, three from Dubuque, two from Waterloo and one from Cedar Falls.

(There has been speculation that Waterloo West and Waterloo East might join forces for one overall sports program, but it's just speculation at this point. The two Waterloo schools already have joint programs in some sports, but not all.)

If the Mississippi Valley Conference does expand to 16 teams, it would make scheduling a lot easier with two eight-team divisions instead of two seven-team divisions. It's probably a question of when, not if, the league gets bigger.

Liberty High School would be a natural fit some day with 1,000 to 1,500 students, and Western Dubuque could fit comfortably into the conference if enrollment at the Epworth school keeps growing.

"We're just in the initial discussions in-house with our administrators to see what our population trend looks like," said Hlubek.

The Bobcats are currently a Class 3A school for football, but the IHSAA plans to put the 48 largest schools into 4A next year and the Bobcats have been told they've made the cut. Previously, a school had to have a certain number of students to reach 4A for football, but that will not be the case in 2016 and 2017.

Western Dubuque has successfully competed against larger schools in several sports and has a tradition of seeking tough competition. "I think we've been fortunate enough to hold our own," said Hlubek. "We've been blessed with some talent here, so that helps out."

Liberty High School will be constructed in phases. All of the indoor athletic facilities will be ready when the school opens in 2017, but the outdoor facilities - including a stadium for football, track and soccer - will not be ready until 2019. The school will not have a swimming pool.

It remains to be seen if Liberty High School will be able to field a varsity football team when the school opens in 2017, especially if a large number of upperclassmen decide to finish their high school careers at Iowa City West.

"If football is viable, then we'll do football," said Degner. "I think all those things are on the table. Long term, we know they'll have their varsity football team."

The Iowa City school district plans to communicate with families that live in the new Liberty school district to get their input and gauge their feelings about enrollment for 2017-18 and 2018-19. Degner said the district plans to have a rough estimate of student enrollment by approximately June 1, then will work toward a final number during the next school year.