by Jon Franklin
Prior to the 2021 realignment period, fans of North Carolina high school athletics were hoping for a reasonably expanded set of classifications to help provide relief to the antiquated and engorged, four-classification system.
The cries of the fans & schools concerning the creation of a 5A and 6A class were granted four years later, despite being clamored for at least 15 years. But the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) went in excess by not just creating a 5A and 6A – instead, they went above and beyond by expanding all the way to 8A.
The NCHSAA is now emulating the same approach that was formerly used by the South Carolina High School League. Before their own change last season, South Carolina used to have a singular super-league of the state’s 16 largest highest schools, previously known as the “Big 16”. The SCHSL now uses a two-division approach for its largest division, 5A, to crown two separate sets of state champions in all sports.
As of the start of the 2025-2029 realignment cycle in North Carolina, the 32 largest high schools have formed 8A, the state’s largest division. These schools are primarily located in the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte areas with outliers based in Fayetteville, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. Cedar Ridge just recently defeated its first 8A opponent as the Red Wolves’ volleyball team defeated Jordan, while the Orange volleyball Panthers dropped a pair of 8A decisions to Green Hope and Green Level.
Per the NCHSAA, the remainder of the classes in 1A-7A will have approximately 60 teams and will not have more than 64 schools in those classes. For Cedar Ridge and Orange, their Average Daily Membership (ADM) have placed them into the 5A classification.
Come postseason, the Association will mandate each tournament to 48 teams as opposed to 64-team bracket from the four-classification system. This will result in the top 16 teams receiving a first-round bye. In the 8A classification, the state playoffs would be a 24-team tournament as the top eight teams will receive a free pass to the second round.
Yet again, we’re singing the same song as before with the same empty notes. It remains lip synced to make it sound like a Grammy-winning performance. But let’s get serious, it’s still Milli Vanilli. If you don’t understand the reference, Google it.
This new format will be no different than the days of the bifurcated football playoffs that I’ve mentioned previous editions of The Franklin Mint. I noted where the NCHSAA allowed too many teams into the playoffs and a good number of them will have sub-.500 records. In the past, these inferior teams received better seedings than teams with better records, and even got home games in the next round instead of receiving first-class tickets to early winter sports practices. The only difference between those football playoffs and today, is that this will apply to all sports.
Most likely, the tiered seeding approach that we’ve seen in previous years will continue where conference champions are seeded first, second & third place teams are seeded in order, and the wild cards are seeded last. This means if you slipped up in the regular season and had a singular loss against an undefeated conference regular season champion, depending upon your RPI ranking – you might get a very low seed, miss out on a first-round bye, and go on the road for a first-round game.
The NCHSAA has stated that allowing 32 teams in the 1A-7A playoffs is too little and allowing all teams in a classification is extreme. While a first-round bye is beneficial for rest or recovery purposes, having a 48-team tournament in a classification of nearly 60 teams is quite excessive.
Another verse to this dirge is that the value of the regular season now means absolutely nothing when nearly every team in a class qualifies for the postseason. I’m still of the mindset to realize that expanding the playoffs doesn’t always equate to a better playoff experience. Often, it has the capabilities of the opposite.
For years, Major League Baseball only had two league champions as decided in the regular season that advanced to the World Series. This changed in 1968 when then divisions were created. The division winners would face off in the league championship series and the league champions advanced to the Fall Classic. Thanks to COVID, today’s baseball postseason has exploded to a twelve-team fracas with three wild card recipients. Gone are the days of the late season playoff chases which now only requires a team to be good enough for a wild card berth should they not win their division.
The College Football Playoff was once a hotly contested four-team soiree, now it’s a circus involving twelve teams and the continual argument as to who automatically qualifies and gets in as an at-large team. The 2024 expansion agreement expires in 2031 and will likely see an expansion to 16 teams, maybe more. To be fair, the 2024 CFP didn’t have the same shine as the four-team dance did. After all, the final four teams were seeded 5-8, and national champion Ohio State was seeded 8th.
But if you want to see how engorged a postseason can get, look no further than to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. Once upon a time, this marvel only featured the conference champions. No matter how good you were, if you were upset in the conference tournaments, you wound up in the NIT. Despite increases from 1974 to 1984, from 25-53 teams, the tournament changed in 1985 when March Madness was expanded to a content, yet even, 64 teams.
But in 2001, an extra team was added, and a play-in game was approved by the NCAA. It was expanded again into the “First Four” in 2010 by adding three more teams, totaling today’s current number of 68. According to reports, the NCAA is considering another insatiable expansion of March Madness for both the men’s & women’s tournaments by expanding to 72 or 76 teams.
What did the expansion of all these tournaments have in common? Yep, you guessed it. Revenue. Moolah. Cash. Advertising, TV rights, streaming contracts – it’s all about the money.
Back to North Carolina high schools. I’m not certain having a tournament to where 75 to 81% of a classification qualifies for the state playoffs is beneficial nor benevolent. As I’ve stated in previous columns that if a team has a sub-.500 season record and DID NOT win their conference championship (regular season outright, regular season tiebreaker, or winning their conference tourney), they should never see the postseason.
With this current setup in both the classification and the playoff formats, it will now become commonplace that inferior, sub-.500 teams will get into the second season. When these unnecessary games take place, the risk of unnecessary injuries in the early round games is always a concern. Not to mention the quality of games always becomes a problem when inferior opponents get mercilessly destroyed by far superior teams. Can upsets happen? Sure, they are possible. But I’m curious as to the ratio of blowouts to upsets in order to justify having bad teams in the playoffs when they shouldn’t be there to begin with.
My take on this whole thing? It’s the same result in the one thing just like their collegiate and professional counterparts. The same chorus of stuff the NCHSAA has complained about before – MONEY. When you play extra games and charge money for them, the games generate revenue. More games scheduled equate to more revenue. While it allows for more scholarships, it also pays the bills to play state championships and select regional finals at collegiate campuses.
I understand why the money issue caught the ire of the North Carolina General Assembly in a failed attempt to dismantle the NCHSAA. Then again, they were singing a similar tune for a different reason, Power (laced with Greed).
This all reminds me of my days of going to a buffet as an obese kid and stuffing my face. I would pack it all in for about 15 minutes, become miserable, restart the stuff, resume misery – wash, rinse, and repeat I just couldn’t eat anymore. It certainly wasn’t a help to a weight problem, but it comforted me at the expense of my health.
Don’t get me wrong, expansion was required. Metaphorically, high school sports went from needing a new, comfortable pair of slacks in attending a nice dinner to settling for a pair of sweatpants to wear after eating a huge Thanksgiving dinner.
The NCHSAA continues to sing the same ole’ song. But good luck trying to get them to change their tune especially when their music is creating a gravy train.
