Public League eyes contingency plan

Public League officials are looking at contingency plans for any athletic contests that may be called off because of the city’s first teachers strike in 25 years. Calvin Davis, the head of sports administration for Chicago Public Schools, said in a text that events other than football – boys and girls cross country, boys and girls golf, boys soccer, boys 16-inch softball, girls swimming and diving, girls tennis and girls volleyball – will be rescheduled “to the extent possible. “Dates have already been proposed,” Davis added. “Availability of facilities and possibly state playoff dates could be our challenges depending on the number of contests canceled.” The Public League has considerable flexibility for getting back on schedule for those sports, especially if the strike ends soon. Football, the only sport for which teams must qualify for the IHSA playoffs, is another story. “Football would be the most difficult to reschedule, but we are prepared to look at all possible scenarios, including midweek [games], Sunday [games] and Week 9 [originally reserved for the first round of the Public League playoffs],” Davis wrote. Each week of missed games would mean about 30 Public League games to reschedule. Last year, 17 Public League teams qualified for the IHSA playoffs; only Illini and Chicago section teams are eligible to make the IHSA field. Inter-City teams are not in the mix for a state playoff bid.