uil

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 years, coaches and other stakeholders have requested a more equitable competitive structure for UIL sports other than football. This general concept is not new,” UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison wrote in a March 5 email to Legislative Council members. “For the last two years, UIL staff has communicated that we would evaluate multiple alternative alignment options once the 2024-2026 alignment was released. We have been true to our word.”

Through a spokesperson, the UIL declined to comment for this story.

“We prefer not to comment on potential changes to avoid confusion from the public and our member schools,” UIL spokesperson Julia Zachary said in an email.

As a result, the UIL has worked on an option that would alter the postseason format without changing the current alignment structure or adding any additional travel for district play, Harrison said.

He added in the email that UIL staff analyzed playoff data for team sports that have six conferences for playoffs and found that 57% of the playoff teams are Division I schools and 43% are Division II. Harrison said this shows the plan would create a more level playing field for Division II schools competing for state championships.

For all 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.