Aurora – A large number of proposed changes concerning all seven classifications of football highlight the Colorado High School Activities Association’s first of two annual board of control meetings this morning at the Radisson Hotel Southeast.
With the new two-year cycle ready to begin for the 2006 and 2007 football seasons, the committee will sort through an unusually high number of proposals. Included among the suggestions are: new formats for Class A 8-man and 6-man, a seeding/selection process for the 4A and 1A playoffs, fewer automatic qualifiers for the playoffs in 2A and a 32-team playoff bracket in 5A.
“The number of changes in the football playoffs is the biggest deal. The two that stand out are the 1A and 4A selection committees to fill out the brackets,” CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann said. “But for the most part, (the meeting) is relatively routine, pretty cut and dried.”
The year’s first meeting for the 64-member board also will discuss shortening the 5A football season to nine weeks, requiring five officials for all playoff games regardless of classification, and the addition of wild-card point tables in 2A and 1A. A change in determining home sites for semifinal games will be considered.
In other sports, the committee is recommending playoff qualifiers be reduced from 24 teams to 16 in 3A soccer, and that no measuring devices be allowed on cross country championship courses the day of and prior to the race. The group also will consider the automatic qualification to state for the top two golf teams in each region.
Redistribution of district pairings in 5A and 4A, along with a revised district format in 3A, are the major proposals for softball. District and regional tweaks in all classifications of volleyball will be voted on, as will the placement into leagues of new lacrosse teams.
Looking ahead to 2007, a playoff format has been recommended for the first season of 1A baseball, as well as a double-elimination format for 3A.
