IHSA announces that high school football district proposal has failed

Illinois high schools voted against the implementation of a district system for football, the Illinois High School Association announced on Tuesday.

The new format would have divided the state’s football-playing schools into 64 eight-team districts, eight per class. Schools would have played seven district games in Weeks 3-9 and would have been able to schedule any opponent for non-district games in Weeks 1-2.

The vote wasn’t very close with 272 schools voting for it and 379 schools voting against. Seventy-six schools had no opinion. It was the highest voting total for an IHSA legislative process in more than a decade, with 89.2% of the state’s high schools participating.

“The IHSA Board of Directors has already had discussions about the potential of forming a Football Ad Hoc Committee in 2024 in the event that this district proposal failed to pass,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “They want to be proactive in trying to address the issues that are at the root of different football proposals seemingly being brought forth each year. They recognize the myriad issues in IHSA football are unique and can be based on geography, school size, conference affiliation, and the traditional success of a program, which is why no recent proposals have garnered enough support to pass. There is likely no singular answer to these issues, but the Board wants to explore the idea that a large and diverse group from around the state might be able to find some solutions that the high school football community in the state would support.”

IHSA administrators would have been in charge of drawing up the district alignments based on geography. The changes would have gone into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

A similar plan was approved in 2018 but was rescinded the next year before going into effect after intense blowback. This year’s proposal was submitted by Mahomet-Seymour athletic director Matt Hensley on behalf of the Apollo, Big 12, DuPage Valley and Interstate Eight conferences.

Most schools in the Chicago area appeared to be against the districts proposal, especially in the Chicago Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic Conference. The districts format likely would have ended many long-running rivalries.

“We have worked very hard to develop regional conferences and rivalries,” Batavia football coach Dennis Piron said. “That took a lot of effort and work. For me, I didn’t like the idea of someone scheduling for me and not knowing who I’m going to play.”

One football-related proposal did pass. Schools will be allowed to conduct preseason scrimmages against other schools. The games can be held the weekend before the regular season begins. That proposal passed by a vote of 410 to 232.

Contributing: Mike Clark