The UIL plans to vote Tuesday on a proposal to drastically restructure the basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball playoffs by splitting them into two divisions, resembling the format for football.
Here are the possible consequences of splitting the postseason into two divisions, according to emails and draft proposals obtained by The Dallas Morning News last week through a public records request
For all five sports
The top four teams from each district would advance to the playoffs. The two schools with the largest enrollments as of October 2023, when enrollment figures were submitted for the 2024-26 reclassification and realignment process, would compete in the Division I bracket and the other two in the Division II bracket. Both divisions would play for separate state championships.
For basketball and soccer
For all classifications, the changes could decrease the number of games and eliminate the regional quarterfinal round.
State tournaments could include only state finals and not state semifinals.
If the state tournament continued to include state semifinals, 48 teams would participate in 36 games over would be scheduled over a week for soccer, Saturday to Saturday, and from Monday to Saturday for basketball.
Under the current single-division format that includes state semifinals in the state tournament, 24 teams participate in 18 games over three days from Thursday through Saturday.
For softball, baseball and volleyball
The playoff structure would remain the same for Class 1A, with the top two teams (for softball and baseball) and top three teams (for volleyball) from each district making the postseason and competing for one state title.
For Classes 2A to 6A, the proposed changes could decrease the number of games and eliminate the area round.
For baseball and softball, the state semifinals could change from a one-game playoff to a best-of-3 series the week before the state tournament. For all three sports, the state tournament would then include only 11 games from Thursday through Saturday.
If the state tournament continued to include the state semifinals, 33 games would be scheduled over a week for baseball and softball, Saturday to Saturday, and from Monday to Saturday for volleyball.
The current state tournaments each have 18 games, scheduled from Tuesday to Saturday for softball and Wednesday to Saturday for baseball and volleyball.
Greg Riddle contributed to this story.
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
