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This!No!!! Fix the current issues FIRST (1-32 in AT LEAST Class 5-8A, explore having odd class final on Friday, even classes on Saturday..rotate annually, higher seed hosts semi final). More drastic...move to 6 classes, 1-32, computer rankings.
Could not have said it better myself....I’m a fan of automatic qualification in other sports but football would be a bad idea. In soccer, you can park the bus and hope for penalty kicks. In basketball, you can play stall ball. There’s viable strategies for massive upsets in other sports.
Why aren’t there in football? Cause at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can to stop 11 dudes who are faster, bigger and stronger from running by, through and over the underdog.
Most importantly: expanded playoffs means a reduced regular season. At least week 9 would have to go, possibly more. Think of all the havoc that will cause on conferences for starters.
The travel is not just about the cost it's more about the time it will take to travel.1-32 across ALL classes. Enough of the championship being played during the semifinal games as what occurs too frequently. And before comments arguing about the expense of travel percolate, we have 2A & 3A teams installing turf fields. They can afford the fuel costs for 1-5 games.
And the idea of including ALL teams as the thread initially reported would be worse. This is why a 1-32 classification is appropriate.The travel is not just about the cost it's more about the time it will take to travel.
Lets say Lena-Winslow draws a team like Carlyle or Sesser Valier in the 1st round. That is a 5 hr 30 minute drive by car with 1 stop, make it a bus full of kids and it is at least a 6 to 7 hour drive. Need to arrive 1.5 to 2 hours before kickoff to get unloaded, taped, and warmed up. So if the game starts at 2, that is leaving between 5 and 5:30 AM with a home arrival time around 11pm or 12 am. Now, how many fans would travel for that trip? Of course parents/family would but the student body would absolutely not take that trip and that is hurting the gate which is a concern of the IHSA>
They could stay the night somewhere but that is another additional cost that some (not all) schools cannot afford and families may not as well. Schools may also be unwilling to accept the risk of placing 20 - 50 teenagers in a hotel with a handful of adults for supervision.
Some teams may look at their draw, and see it is not worth the time or the travel to get 40+ pointed so maybe they forfeit and LW loses the opportunity to play a 1st round game.
I think a reduction from 8 classes to 7 would be reasonable. Looking at the IHSA "HOw the Playoffs are Determined" page, 2009 had 548 eligible schools. 2018 had 523, along with 18 5-4 teams not qualifying. Each year, the number of eligible schools has decreased. In 2018, there were 46 5-4 teams which qualified, 4 of which made it out of the 1st round. There is a single outlier in my argument, but the haters will have to research it for themselves.Don't expand the playoffs. CONTRACT them!
Either go to a single 1-16 bracket across 8 classes or go back to 5 or 6 classes. My preference would be fewer classes and keep a 32-team playoff field.
According to NFHS participation data, Illinois had 549 schools and 47,179 participants playing 11-man football in 2001, the year that the IHSA expanded the playoff classes from 6 to 8. In 2021, the most recent year available for NFHS participation data, Illinois had 509 schools and 35,708 participants playing 11-man football. When the IHSA football playoffs began in 1974 with FIVE classes, Illinois had basically the same number of participants then as now, and there were 59 more football playing schools back then as now. It is well past time to reconsider the need for 8 football classes.
Unless, of course, the real reason for class expansion was to increase IHSA playoff revenue...
I think a reduction from 8 classes to 7 would be reasonable.