(BLOOMINGTON) Illinois High School Association (IHSA) member schools approved all 12 amendment proposals that appeared on the all-school ballot during the annual by-law referendum process that concluded this past Monday, December 15th. There were several significant changes approved by the membership, including expansion of the IHSA Football Playoffs from 32 teams per class to 48 teams per class, increasing the number of total playoff qualifiers from 256 to 384. There are no changes to the number of playoff classes in football, which remains at eight. The season start date remains the same (August 10 in 2026), but the first regular-season games will be played one week earlier (August 20 in 2026), eliminating the Week Zero scrimmage. Other significant changes include the IHSA Board of Directors expanding from 11 elected members to 15 elected members, with four new seats being created specifically for Superintendents (or Presidents, Heads of School, etc.). Cooperative sports teams made-up of 3,500 students or more will no longer be eligible to compete for IHSA State Series team awards, while the IHSA’s no-contact period in the summer will be moved from early August to the week of the Fourth of July beginning this summer. A summary of the 12 proposals that were passed, along with all the voting numbers by each school, can be found on the ihsa.org website. All of the proposals will go into effect on July 1st, 2026, unless otherwise noted. Over 90% of the IHSA’s 802 member high schools took part in this year’s voting process.
