Beginning in 2016, football teams in Class 7A and 6A will separate after competing in blended conferences the past two years. That was one of the proposals passed last week at the Arkansas Activities Association's annual meeting of the governing body.
So, what does it mean?
It will mean the end to all-play in 6A, where every team regardless of record is allowed to participate in the state tournament. The absurdity of that rule received national attention two years ago when a Little Rock Fair girls that lost one game by 88-0 still played in the state tournament.
It means 12 of the 16 teams in Class 7A won't advance to the playoffs. It means the top two teams in each conference won't get a bye in the first round.
Beginning in 2016, football will return to a more traditional format with the top four teams in each conference advancing to the playoffs. The final weeks of the regular season will be exciting again because teams will actually have to earn their way into the postseason.
No more freebies.
The biggest drawback will be increased travel for football for schools like Siloam Springs, which moves from the 7A/6A-West to the 7A/6A-Central this season. Depending on enrollment figures, Siloam Springs could play in a league with Texarkana and Lake Hamilton or with West Memphis, Marion and Jonesboro if the split in 2016 goes east to west.
That's acceptable to the Panthers, who won a 6A state playoff game last year after going 1-6 in the 7A/6A-West.
"We're OK with playing other 6A schools," Siloam Springs athletic director Kevin Downing said. "Going to Marion every other year, you can do that in football. It's hard to do in other sports."
AAA members rejected a do-pass recommendation for an earlier start for football beginning with the 2016-2018 reclassification cycle. Had it succeeded, the football season would've started one week earlier and ended with three state championship games being played on Thanksgiving weekend.
High school coaches were strongly against the plan that was a knee jerk reaction to championship games being played in bad weather last year.
Voters were able to get more done this summer by leaving football out of the equation. Conferences will combine classes for sports like basketball, baseball, and softball before splitting for postseason play. That'll cut down down on travel time and give conferences a more regional feel. Farmington, for instance, could play in a district with Siloam Springs, Greenwood, Alma, Clarksville, Russellville and Harrison, but stay in the 5A-West for football with schools like Morrilton and Clarksville.
"When they eliminated football, then people seemed to be a little more tolerable," Farmington athletic director Brad Blew said.
A 4A/3A district for sports other than football could consist entirely of teams from Benton and Washington County with Gravette, Gentry, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Shiloh Christian, Elkins, Greenland, West Fork and Haas Hall Academy. The 7A-West will also be mostly Benton and Washington County with the arrival of Bentonville West in 2016.
Oh, and don't try to convince me that schools with slightly smaller enrollments can't compete with bigger schools in sports other than football. The best basketball teams that last few years have been in 6A, not 7A, and there are many strong programs in 5A and 4A.
We won't know exactly how the landscape for high school athletics will look in 2016 until the attendance numbers are gathered and schools are place in their classifications nearly two years from now. But changes are coming that appear reasonable and that's a significant achievement for an organization as unpredictable as the AAA.
For me, 2016 can't get here soon enough.
RICK FIRES IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR NWA NEWSPAPERS
Sports on 08/10/2014