NYSPHSAA inching toward key change in playoff structure
Something “odd” is on the horizon for Section 6 schools and the hundreds of other New York State Public High School Association members. Our largest governing body for high school sports is contemplating adding at-large teams to its state tournaments in numerous instances and revising the number of regions that set the stage for semifinals.
The NYSPHSAA Executive Committee will kick the tires on the proposal early next month and potentially vote on it in May or late July. If approved – and there seems to be ample support – the changes could come next fall, though it’s more likely to launch for the 2026-27 school year.
The so-called “Three-Region Concept” expands upon the use of at-large teams already seen in the NYSPHSAA Division II hockey tournament and some classes of the state football playoffs, but only in sport classes in which an odd number of sectional champions are crowned across the state.
Those classes would still play down to quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals in a mostly familiar fashion. However, adding the single at-large team – sectional runners-up tabbed on a rotating basis among the 11 sections – to create an even number of teams will result in a notable change for Western New York and Finger Lakes schools.
In some cases, the Section 6 vs. Section 5 games become sub-regionals rather than usual state quarterfinals. When that happens, the survivor’s ensuing state quarterfinal matchup will be against the winner of a contest between the Section 4 champion and the at-large representative.
How did the idea land on the NYSPHSAA’s radar?
Standing still is not in the NYSPHSAA’s DNA. Whether addressing an existing problem, heading off a potential issue, or looking to expand a policy that’s working well, various committees are constantly at work.
At any given time, several of the 31 sports committees are planning the brackets for the next five years or more of state tournaments, determining host sections and pairings for the early rounds as well as semifinal pairing rotations for sports with final four championship weekends.
The sport committee, the Championship Advisory Committee, and the Executive Committee all sign off on the final plan, sometimes after making tweaks when one of the 11 sections raises concerns over some aspect. The process chews up meeting time even when everything goes seamlessly.
One long-standing concern has been mid-week travel for sub-regional games. Another is that a typical tournament with 11 participants – a champion from each of the 11 sections – requires three sub-regional games to pare the field to eight. Evening out the first-round byes and hosting opportunities can be nightmarish; adding a 12th team makes for four sub-regionals to set the field of eight quarterfinalists and balances out the hosting opportunities in four years.
Not every section plays every sport in every class. The Three-Region Concept applies to sports and classifications with nine or more participating sections and adds an at-large team when there are only nine sectional champions. Again, the rotations work out reasonably well over time.
“Some of the rotations were recently approved for the next decade,” said NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas, “so I think there's a lot of understanding that we got approval for the current rotation, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we were going to see it through its entirety before moving to a potentially different system.”
Even before the latest discussion last October, the NYSPHSAA was deep into contemplating new approaches. Expanding brackets to 16 teams was briefly considered, but the consensus formed around the Three-Region Concept. It’s worth noting that the minutes from last fall’s NYSPHSAA Championship Advisory Committee meeting indicate Section 6 adamantly opposed any change.
More about the nuts and bolts of the Three-Region Concept
Holding off implementation of the proposed change until the 2026-27 school year would give the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee more time to flesh out specifics, such as the at-large rotation order for the sections in each sport.
One element that may get worked out at the February meeting is how many teams a section must field in a class in order to qualify for an at-large berth. The number currently in play is four, but Zayas said some sections are lobbying for a higher number.
That threshold is no small matter. With just three schools (Lancaster, Niagara Falls, and Jamestown) in the largest class, Section 6 might be facing decades without qualifying to send an at-large team to the basketball tournament to turn a nine-team Class AAA bracket into the desired 10-team bracket. With just six Class AAA teams in soccer, Western New York’s ability to fill at-large openings is similarly uncertain.
Should the Three-Region Concept gain approval, Zayas envisions a timeline for each season for sections to declare which classifications that they will have a representative for the state tournament. At that time, the sport committees will also need to know which sections will have enough teams to fill the at-large positions. That means that sections with committees that can reclassify private and charter schools likely will have to complete their work earlier than some do now.
The aspect of the Three-Region Concept that will raise the most questions as more people learn about it is why all at-large teams will play their opening game against a Section 4 opponent in New York’s Southern Tier. The short answer is “location, location, location.”
“They're the most centrally located section and the one section that doesn't have a consistent geographic partner,” Zayas said.
A classic example of the excessive travel the NYSPHSAA wants to curtail came in November 2022, when Alexander from Section 5 filled the at-large slot and had to travel 230 miles each way to Broadalbin in Section 2 to play a Class D football quarterfinal against Cambridge/Salem.
The proposed new approach won’t solve the travel issue entirely – and it may not apply to football since they have fewer than nine sections participating (Sections 7 and 10 are treated as a single section) -- but it will help in many instances.
What’s next?
The Three-Region Concept is still being discussed at the local level, and sectional feedback will be shared at the Feb. 5 meeting of the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee in Saratoga Springs.
Barring any unexpected resistance then, the proposal could be put to a vote by the 22-member panel at its May meeting or the broader Central Committee’s annual summer meeting.
John Moriello has covered New York high school sports for more than four decades and blogs on an assortment of topics at NewYorkSportswriters.org.