WIAA passes competitive balance plan for 2024-25 school year. Here's what it means.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association voted to pass a new competitive balance plan for high school athletics during the association's annual meeting Wednesday morning in Stevens Point. The motion passed, 265-115.
Five constitutional amendments were on the association's agenda with the competitive balance plan being the hot topic. The accepted plan focuses on elevating programs to a higher division using a points-based system from postseason success and allowing others to move to a lower division if they struggle to maintain a true competitive level.
The changes are set to be instituted before the start of the 2024-25 school year.
How will the points system work?
In September, the WIAA's competitive balance ad hoc committee discussed and proposed a "tournament performance factor" at a meeting in Mauston. The factor would use a points-based system to determine if teams will move up a division based on past success, similar to the "success factor" that was voted down in 2016. Points would be applied equally to programs from public and private schools.
The points system would be applied as follows: four points for winning a state title, three points for advancing to the championship game, two points for advancing to the state semifinals and one point for advancing to the state quarterfinal or sectional final. Teams also would receive one point for reaching Level 3 of 11-player football or Level 2 of 8-player football.
Programs that accumulate six or more points in the previous three seasons would be placed up a single division from their previous categorization. No program would be moved up more than one division per year.
Programs that accumulate fewer than six points would be designated to move down a division if they were competing in a division higher than what their enrollment dictated.
Swimming and diving and track and field would continue to use enrollment totals for division placement.
For example, the Pewaukee girls basketball program has participated in the last two Division 2 state championship games (2022, 2023) with a regional final appearance in 2021. If the plan were in place, the Pirates would have accumulated six points in a three-year period and would be required to move to Division 1 for the 2023-24 season.
For the Pirates to go back to Division 2 using the three-year window in this example, they would have to accumulate fewer than six factor points from the preceding three seasons. If Pewaukee accumulated two or fewer total tournament performance factor points in the following two seasons, they would be eligible to play in Division 2 for the 2025-26 season.
What options do programs have?
Programs designated for elevation under the competitive balance plan will have an appeal opportunity to a WIAA classification committee to be formed at a later date. Some of the factors that would be under consideration for the committee to approve or deny an appeal include the school's geography, enrollment trends, competitive history and the demographics of the school's population.
The accepted proposal will also allow schools to submit a request to the future WIAA classification committee indicating the division the school would prefer to compete in each sport.
The only notable exception to the appeal requests is for football, which has a limited playoff field and shorter time between playoff seedings and first-round games. Those programs would have the opportunity to submit an appeal to take affect the following season, but not for an ongoing season.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WIAA passes competitive balance plan for 2024-25 school year
