As I have stated in other threads I am not a fan of the 8 Classes with 16 Districts per class. Because of geography and amount of teams playing football in Illinois I do not feel it is sustainable over the long haul for IHSA football.
My proposal still has 8 title games and classes come playoff time but they are broken down Class 1A-4A, Division 1 & Division 2 in each class (like Texas does it).
During the regular season teams will play in a District in Classes 1A, 2A, 3A & 4A.
Districts can have 6, 7, or 8 teams in them based on geography.
In my example below I have 17 Districts in Class 4A. If you are in an 8 team District you will have 4 playoff qualifiers, 7 team District will have 4 playoff qualifiers and 6 team Districts will have 3 playoff qualifiers. (Note only your District record counts to playoff qualification).
In my proposal CPS will always only be in a District with other CPS teams.
Based on the above 64 qualifiers Private schools and the next largest schools to fill the first 32 teams will be 4A Division 1 and the following 32 schools will be 4A Division 2.
These are the largest 125 schools based on the 500 schools that played IHSA 11 man football in 2023. This does not include CPS schools from the Blue Divisions that were not eligible for the IHSA playoffs.
My proposal still has 8 title games and classes come playoff time but they are broken down Class 1A-4A, Division 1 & Division 2 in each class (like Texas does it).
During the regular season teams will play in a District in Classes 1A, 2A, 3A & 4A.
Districts can have 6, 7, or 8 teams in them based on geography.
In my example below I have 17 Districts in Class 4A. If you are in an 8 team District you will have 4 playoff qualifiers, 7 team District will have 4 playoff qualifiers and 6 team Districts will have 3 playoff qualifiers. (Note only your District record counts to playoff qualification).
In my proposal CPS will always only be in a District with other CPS teams.
Based on the above 64 qualifiers Private schools and the next largest schools to fill the first 32 teams will be 4A Division 1 and the following 32 schools will be 4A Division 2.
These are the largest 125 schools based on the 500 schools that played IHSA 11 man football in 2023. This does not include CPS schools from the Blue Divisions that were not eligible for the IHSA playoffs.