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Tournament Management Committee narrowly approved proposal; final vote by Board of Directors in August
Special to the Advocate
The proposal for an MIAA football “Super Eight” took a major step toward fruition this past week. A proposal with the inclusion of a Div. 1A tournament had been agreed upon at the football subcommittee meeting in May. This meant that the next step was for the Tournament Management Committee to approve the proposal, and that step was narrowly cleared during the TMC’s virtual meeting last Thursday. The delegates approved the proposal 10-9 to send it to the Board of Directors meeting in August. If the proposal is approved at that meeting, it will be fully implemented for the fall 2027 season.
The “Super Eight” tournament is a major item within the proposal and would include the top eight programs via power rankings that are playing at the Div. 1 and Div. 2 levels. Teams that are Div. 3 and lower would be ineligible for the Div. 1A tournament.
The proposal also would cut the playoff field down from 16 to eight across all divisions, balance the divisions and have each have at least 30 teams in the field as well as eliminate the minimum win requirement (three) that is needed to qualify for the postseason.
At Thursday’s meeting, the TMC did discuss two amendments to the proposal. One would allow for three separate special tournaments (Div. 1A, Div. 3A and Div. 5A) that would have accompanied shrinking the divisions from eight to six and give all programs a chance to qualify for a “Super Eight” tournament at their school size. This motion did not pass, with three voting yes and 16 voting no. The other amendment would have eliminated the Div. 1 and Div. 2 only rule and instead opened up Div. 1A inclusion to all eight divisions with no opt-out option. This amendment did not pass either, with seven members voting yes and 13 voting no. The main reason for both amendments not passing were several committee members voicing concern over not having spoken to their districts about these concepts.
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Previously, the TMC and Board of Directors approved the revival of the Super Eight 1A Tournament in Baseball and is near the finish line for the same in Boys Hockey and Girls Hockey. Girls Hockey would be the first Super Eight 1A Tournament for Girls Sports.
