Darren Kinnard/River Radio Sports Central
A complete overhaul of the structure for high school football could be announced on Tuesday. IHSA member schools have had the past two weeks to cast their votes on 14 proposals to amend the organization’s by-laws.
Proposal 18 has garnered the most attention. That’s the one that would change football to be structured in districts set by class and location, effectively ending the current conference set up.
The proposal sets up 8, 8-team districts in each class. Schools can schedule whomever they wish for weeks 1-2, but weeks 3-9 will be district games. Those seven games will decide who qualifies for the playoffs as the top four teams will be postseason bound. Playoff seeding will be determined by teams’ overall records and playoff points–that’s the way it’s currently done, with the caveat that teams from the same district cannot be matched up in the first round under a new set up.
The district format concept is not new. An amendment to change to districts passed by a narrow vote in 2018, only to be rescinded, also by a narrow vote, the next year.
In our region, a change to district scheduling would help some schools and hurt others, while some would see very little change. With so few 1A schools in the proximity, Sesser-Valier would be looking at a large increase in travel for road games. Marion, on the other hand, has difficulty filling its schedule under the current set up, and has had to travel 3-4 hours and to other states to find games.
ADs on both sides of the issue agree there are definitely concerns, namely a lack of important information available prior to the vote and the sudden implementation if voted through. Should the district vote pass, the change will start with the upcoming season in fall of 2024.
The IHSA is scheduled to announce the results of the voting Tuesday, 255 days prior to kickoff for week 1 of the 2024 season.
