New Football Playoff Plan Approved in Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (WIAA) Board of Control has approved a new football playoff plan that will take effect for the 2025 season. The plan, proposed by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA), was backed by the Board with a significant 10-1 vote for qualification and seeding and an 8-3 vote for regional groupings.

One of the big changes involves expanding the eight-player playoff to include 32 teams. These updates come after the WIAA acknowledged an error last fall, which had unfortunately left Greenfield and Madison West out of the playoff lineup.

The new playoff structure will be based on a matrix system that the WFCA introduced. This matrix not only encompasses areas like team distribution across seven divisions, ranking wins based on opponents’ success, but also includes a scoring system to determine playoff seeds. In a survey conducted by the WFCA, 87.5% of the 400 head football coaches polled showed their support for this new playoff structure.

The matrix works by assigning points to wins based on the division of the opponent, with higher divisions awarding more points. For example, defeating a Division 1 team is worth 6.5 points, while a win over a Division 7 team is valued at 3.5 points. The total points accumulated by a team during the regular season will then be used to calculate their overall score for playoff qualification. The top 32 teams in each division will earn a spot in the playoffs, with teams seeded from 1 to 8 within various geographic regions.

An important aspect of this new plan is the focus on minimizing travel for teams, which has been a concern in the past. Teams will be placed in regions to limit how far they have to travel for games, making for a more manageable experience during the playoff rounds.

The Board’s decision comes after careful consideration and is expected to lead to a fairer, more transparent, and efficient playoff process in Wisconsin. With this new playoff matrix, the hope is to create better opportunities for all teams and to enhance the overall competition in high school football across the state.