FHSAA approves new football playoff format -- Observer Preps

In a landmark vote for high-school football in Florida, the Florida High School Athletic Association’s board of directors voted 14-2 Sept. 26 to accept a proposed playoff format that tweaks how teams earn a playoff berth in larger classifications and eliminates districts in smaller classifications entirely.

The proposal — which will be instituted beginning with the 2017 season — was formed and revised over more than a year by a team led by FHSAA administrator Frank Beasley, who afterward expressed his excitement for what’s ahead for the sport.

“This is a landmark day for high school football in the state of Florida,” Beasley said in a statement. “It’s been a long, ongoing process.”

The new format most dramatically affects teams competing in classes 1A through 4A. 

Within those classifications, districts will be eliminated in favor of a points system to decide which teams make the playoffs in each of the four respective regions. 

Without scheduling requirements mandated by districts, teams will be free to build their own regular-season schedules.

In classes 5A through 8A, a compromise was reached after Beasley conducted numerous interviews with coaches and athletic directors around the states. Those larger classifications will retain districts, and district champions will automatically make the playoffs, as has long been the case. Champions also will be seeded No. 1, 2, 3 or 4 within the eight-team regional playoffs, guaranteeing a home game in the first round.

However, district runners-up no longer will be guaranteed a playoff spot, and the other four playoffs spots in each region (each respective region has four districts and eight playoff spots) will be determined at-large by the same points system used in the lower classifications. Those “wild-card” entrants will be seed No. 5, 6, 7 and 8.

In December, region and district (for 5A-8A) assignments will be updated.

Part of the hope of the change in the smaller classifications is to lure back some of the more than 70 programs who have left district competition to play in independent conferences.

Unburdened by un-winnable districts and the freedom to schedule according to their needs, FHSAA representatives are hopeful some of those schools will take a look at returning.

The change in earning seeds five through eight in the higher classifications is expected to create more excitement toward the end of the season.

“We have the best high school football in the nation, and this is only going to enhance that,” Beasley said.

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].