Playoff change?

[TheLegends64]

Did I hear correctly that the playoff pairings will be changed next year to play the opposite districts in the first and second rounds of the playoffs? I think it would be a very good idea, I'm not a big fan of playing inside your own district for the first two rounds. Anyone hear the same? I thought it might have come off an email to the list serve.

[OLDSCHOOL PATS]

That would be ausome.

[statmanhensley]

Well now what they need to do is to allow the schools to schedule the district games like the used to since they won't have to play within their district for the first round and maybe the second one as well. I really didn't like how the schools were forced to play each other in the weeks mandated by the KHSAA. I think some rivalry games weren't as good this year because of the scheduling issues.

[footballfever]

Julian Tackett said it would change back to the old way.He didnt say in the quote if it would be 2008 or 2009.

[HDE]

Wouldn't they also have to change the third round back too, which is what I hate the worst. We need true regions that don't rotate from year to year. You'd have teams traveling all across the state for EVERY round of the playoffs if you didn't change back to true regions.

[gchs_uk9]

I can't find the link, but I read an article that stated 1A-5A are probably going to change back to the old format for this upcoming season. They haven't decided exactly how 6A will be done (it might go back to normal like the other classes), so it is still in the open.

 

But from what I read, the changes will occur this fall.

[coldweatherfan]

I absolutely hate playing in your district in the first two rounds. I do however, like rotating regions. I don't think you can rotate all of the regions because of travel involved. But I personnally would like to see the west regions rotate and the east regions rotate. It would set up an east champion vs west champion in the championship. It's just my opinion, but I don't like static regions. I think you have a better chance of advancing the best teams by rotating regions.

[HDE]

You have static regions in every other sport. What makes football different?

Also, you would have District 8 traveling to District 5, or vice versa, for 3 rounds of the playoffs in some years if you don't change back to traditional regions. And the worst part is the fans have no understanding of who plays who in the playoffs under the new format. You need some tradition in the sport.

[coldweatherfan]

You also have intradistrict first rounds in every other sport, which nobody seems to care about. But everybody hates it in football.

 

I understand all of the arguments for static regions. They are all valid. I'm just saying I prefer rotating because I think it has a better chance of getting the best teams advanced.

 

For example. Let's say region 1 and 2 consistently have the two best teams in a particular class.(and this does happen) One of them is eliminated in the 2nd or 3rd round. The two best never get to go beyond that. I'm just in favor of what can reasonably get the best teams to the final two rounds.

[westsider]

I'm all for a change back to the old system, except now that we have six classes, there will be some ridiculous travel for Region 1 in Class A. District 1 is in far western Kentucky ... District 2 is the Louisville area.

 

Bottom line ... the system was fine in 2005. It wasn't broke, so why was the KHSAA so determined to fix it?

[HDE]

The travel could be unreal if you rotate districts. If Harlan's district is paired with the northern Kentucky district, for example, you could have three rounds of traveling over four hours, beginning with the FIRST round. That's one of the reasons for using geography to create districts and regions.

 

By rotating you fix or ensure nothing because you never know how it's going to fall. You could match up the two best districts in the state in the third round just as easily through a rotation plan.

[Watusi]

I would like to get a definitive answer on this. I've heard several different rumors and its obvious that so have a lot of us.

[leatherneck]

I would like to get a definitive answer on this. I've heard several different rumors and its obvious that so have a lot of us.

 

No action has been taken by the KHSAA on the discussed changes. The football coaches advisory committee wants the first two rounds to go back to the old way, but the supers have not officially weighed in on it......yet. There were cost savings reasons cited for going to the current system. If the data shows that there were indeed cost savings realized, I'd be surprised if the requested changes are made as I don't think the money situation at schools in Ky has improved. I'm told it will be discussed by the Board of Control in the Spring. If the supers are opposed to changing it back to the old way, my strong guess is that it won't be changed. Fuel prices are still high and going higher they predict. Not only does that increase the costs to the traveling schools, it can have an adverse effect on the number of fans making the trip which of course hurts the gate. Dollars are tight and will be getting tighter for the schools. Anything that could have an adverse financial impact on the schools (like the suggested changes probably would) is going to be a non-starter in my opinion. My guess is that when the supers start talking to their head coaches about possibly losing a paid assistant coach or two for financial reasons, the coaches will forget about pushing the playoff changes. Toots, that's about as definitive as I can get at this point.

 

And for the record, I don't have the heartburn with the current system that other folks do.

[Terp]

For what it's worth . . . I think the crowds (ie. revenue) for playoff games will be better for a game against an opponent from another district. Repeating games played a few weeks earlier lessens the appeal of the game. It may save on expenses, but I think it will hurt the bottom line overall to start the playoffs back in the district. Penny wise, pound foolish. IMHO

[leatherneck]

For what it's worth . . . I think the crowds (ie. revenue) for playoff games will be better for a game against an opponent from another district. Repeating games played a few weeks earlier lessens the appeal of the game. It may save on expenses, but I think it will hurt the bottom line overall to start the playoffs back in the district. Penny wise, pound foolish. IMHO

 

 

That's some of the data, the KHSAA is trying to collect from the last two years I believe. From the N. Ky districts perspective, the current system has probably worked better than the former system not only gate wise but expense wise. Thus from my perspective, I don't think its penny wise and pound foolish at all. If repeating games played a few weeks earlier involved close games between the 2 and 3 seeded teams, I'd think the first round district game between those two teams would be well attended (for example, I'm told the first round game this year between Dixie and CovCath was very well attended). The first round game between the 1 and 4 seeded teams probably isn't going to be a big gate, but it wasn't under the old system either (in fact, some of them were real dogs gate wise). Assuming the top seeded district teams win the first round, that means the second round is between the 1 and 2 seeded teams. Unless the first meeting between those two teams was a blow out, I'd have to believe that because of district rivalries and competition between nearby schools, that the gate would in most cases be larger than if one of the two teams had to travel far. I think we need to keep in mind that with gas being more and more expensive, the casual fan that might drive a couple of miles to watch a game is not going to drive and hour and a half or more to watch a game due to gas prices. Who knows the data may support your line of thinking, but I don't think it will.