MarshfieldAreaSports.com
STEVENS POINT – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control voted Wednesday against a proposal that would have changed the setup of high school football in the state.
The district proposal would have done away with conferences as is used in other sports, and created districts based on enrollments, negating many natural regional rivalries and causing extra travel for some teams.
The Board voted 8-2 to reject the proposal, and the WIAA Executive Staff has presented alternatives to address the issues of added travel and conferences that have only six or seven members.
The alternative plan includes football-only conference realignment to help conferences that have difficulty scheduling three or four nonconference games, schools that are independent in football and to those schools in conferences with large differences in enrollment figures.
Also addressed was the current scheduling that forces teams to play up to three games in 10 days at the end of the regular season through the first-round of the state playoffs. Alternatives to be examined prior to possible implementation for the 2011 season includes starting the season earlier, keeping the same start date and eliminating scrimmages during the second week of practice, or extending the season a week and having the state championship games played on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.
View the original proposal here.
