The original members of this conference were Athens, Bronson, Homer, Jonesville, Litchfield, Quincy, Reading, and Union City.

As the conference was founded during the Great Depression, the league schedule was developed to accommodate a short travel distance for each member school.

In addition to athletics are band, student council, forensics, debate, and agricultural activities along with administrative exchange and other functions that could benefit by inter-school relationships.

[1]The original members of the Big "8" were five of the six remaining Little "C" members Athens (who decided to remain despite voting down expansion), Homer, Jonesville, Quincy, and Union City along with Reading from the SCAA, Concord from the Cascades Conference and Springport from the Central Michigan Athletic Conference.

However, in 2016, Athens, who was the smallest member of the conference and suffering from declining enrollment, left the Big "8" after the 2016–17 school year to join the SCAA.

[2] Three weeks later, on July 18, Homer also accepted the Cascades invitation to join the conference beginning in the 2023–24 school year.

[4] Sand Creek joined the Big "8" as a football-only member starting in 2024 while remaining in the Tri-County Conference (TCC) in all other sports.