The University of Chicago helped found the Big Ten Conference in 1895; although it dropped football in 1939 (as inconsistent with its academic vision), its other teams remained members until 1946.

In the 2018–19 school year, Chicago added baseball to its MWC membership, and elevated its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status, with that sport competing in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).

[3] The league initially consisted of Chicago, Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern.

[7] In explaining the reason to drop football, Robert Maynard Hutchins, the university’s president, had written acidly in The Saturday Evening Post “In many colleges, it is possible for a boy to win 12 letters without learning how to write one.” [8] On March 7, 1946 the University of Chicago withdrew from the Big Ten Conference.

[10] All championships listed here were won when the league was known as the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, and only sponsored men's sports.