PUBLISHED: October 22, 2008

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DEARBORN/DEARBORN HEIGHTS - The three Dearborn public high schools, plus Annapolis and Crestwood in Dearborn Heights, are joining several other schools to form a new athletic league, which should keep competitions closer to home.

Eight area high schools are pulling out of the Michigan MEGA conference to form their own league, according to Jeff Bartold, District 7 superintendent.

Besides Annapolis, the high schools include Crestwood, Dearborn, Edsel Ford, Fordson, Garden City, Redford Union and Thurston.

The new conference still needs an official name, but for now it is being called the Northern Suburban League.

"The new league is based on locations and the sport offerings they have," Bartold said.

All the schools are within about seven miles of each other, which could save the districts considerably on busing costs. The schools in the new conference also offer a similar number of sports. That means less common teams, such as softball or bowling, can probably still find opponents, Bartold said. Most sports competitions are played within a school's conference and scheduling usually starts a year in advance.

"It's not that we're leaving, it's that the (MEGA) conference broke apart,"said Dearborn Public School District Communications Coordinator David Mustonen.

The MEGA conference represents 27 schools this year spread across southeastern Michigan. Twelve of those schools, including Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Melvindale Taylor Kennedy and Taylor Truman, were already planning to leave MEGA and create their own downriver group.

To keep the schools, MEGA officials proposed dividing its schools by geography into four regions. Then teams would not have to travel as far for competitions.

The proposed North MEGA region, with the addition of Fordson, will become the new conference for most of the public schools in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Bartold said.

"It will keep our teams more localized," Mustonen said. "This should be agood thing for all our schools."

The conference is still being organized and could change over time, he said.

For now, Annapolis is the smallest school in the new conference, with only 815 students and 26 athletic offerings. Crestwood has the most sports, with 35 teams, while Fordson has the most students at 2,371.

Bartold said the schools planned to notify MEGA this week they would withdraw for next school year.

The new conference should make for a lot less travel for teams, Bartold said.

Annapolis' football team this Friday has an away game at Burton Bentley, which is closer to Flint, the superintendent said.

Nearby opponents could also increase ticket sales, as more fans from the other teams will be willing to drive over for a game, the superintendent acknowledged.

"You are going to have more visitors in the stands," Mustonen said.