WIAA BOARD VOTES DOWN DISTRICT PROPOSAL
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 -- 1:34 PM
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control voted this morning against a proposal that would have placed the state's football teams in eight-team districts that, in some cases, would have taken schools away from their natural rivals.Instead, the board passed a motion directing the WIAA's executive staff to create football-only conference realignment in time for play in 2011. The board also directed the executive staff to modify the football calendar to eliminate the three playoff games teams play in a 10-day period at the end of the season.
This realignment plan is much smaller in scope than the idea the WIAA presented last summer, which would have created extensive travel for some teams. The goal is to provide relief to schools that have trouble scheduling games because they play in small conferences or have trouble competing because of the enrollment disparities in their current conference.
Those schools and conferences are the ones the WIAA was directed to target for 2011. It is possible that some conferences will be unaffected. Goals mentioned by associate director Deb Hauser during the meeting were: adding a couple of teams to the Wisconsin Valley Conference; moving Merrill back to the Great Northern; and adding Ashland to the Great Northern. She also mentioned providing relief to Rice Lake, as well as finding solutions for the Coulee, South Central and Southwest Wisconsin conferences, leagues that fall short of the optimal eight-team membership.
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