The worst kept secret in local high school sports is no longer a secret - the CMAC is coming starting in the 2020-21 school year.
The Jefferson City school board approved the by-laws for the Central Missouri Activities Conference at its meeting last week. The last I heard, Helias hasn't voted yet on the by-laws, but that's a mere formality.
The CMAC will be made up of three Jefferson City schools - Jefferson City, Capital City and Helias - along with the Columbia trio of Battle, Hickman and Rock Bridge, as well as Sedalia Smith-Cotton.
Jefferson City has been without a conference for decades, while Helias last was a member of the North Central Missouri Conference more than 15 years ago.
Helias has been searching for a conference home for the past few years. It was the middle of December in 2016 when Helias announced it was joining the Archdiocesan Athletic Association (AAA), comprised of private schools in St. Louis and eastern Missouri. It was supposed to join last fall. And then in early 2018, it announced it wasn't.
The CMAC is why. The timing wasn't exactly great for Helias, but in the long run, it will be the best decision for the school.
I think there were a couple of factors that pushed the seven to come together to form a conference.
Sedalia Smith-Cotton left the West Central Conference this school year and it was looking for a new home for its athletic programs.
Smith-Cotton was a big fish in a small pond in the WCC and from what I've been told, it was the school that got the talks started about forming the CMAC. I think there were some "maybe we can do something sometime in the future" discussions up and down Highway 63 in recent years, but Smith-Cotton got everybody into the same room to hammer out the details.
The decision to add a second public high school in Jefferson City.
When it opens this fall, Capital City will start all of it athletic programs on the varsity level, with the exception of football. As it grows into four classes of students in the next three years, it shouldn't take long for the school to be able to compete with the other schools in the CMAC. It will be a solid seventh school.
Seven members can seem like a odd number for a conference. But who else was a realistic option to join?
Hannibal is by far the largest school in the North Central Missouri Conference and annually have competitive athletic programs. But why would Hannibal leave the NCMC, to trade its longest trip to Marshall for an even longer trip to Sedalia? If Hannibal decides to move, it will be to a conference in the St. Louis area.
Camdenton and/or Rolla are located closer to the CMAC seven, but both seem very happy to be in the Ozarks Conference grouped with schools in the Springfield area.
The most realistic No. 8 would be when and if ever-growing Columbia ever decides to open a fourth public high school.
In talking with Jefferson City and Helias coaches in the last year about the positives of joining a conference, they all brought up two things:
It will give the kids something to play for during the season and they're not just marking games off the calendar until the start of districts.
It is an opportunity for the athletes to earn additional individual honors, i.e. being selected all-conference.
The CMAC will offer all sports, including swimming, which no Jefferson City school currently offers. The coaches in each of the sports met to decide scheduling and teams will meet once - meaning six regular-season games - instead of playing home and away each year.
And then there's football and the game most of us in town thought we'd never see.
On a Friday night in the middle of the 2020 season, Helias will head down Stadium Boulevard to Adkins Stadium to take on Capital City.
It will be the warmup for the next Friday, when the Crusaders will make a return trip to take on the Jays in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Go ahead and mark your calendars. I know I have.