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At Wednesday's WIAA Annual Meeting in Stevens Point, the membership approved four Constitutional Amendments, including the Competitive Balance Plan that will significantly alter the landscape in high school sports in Wisconsin. 

The discussion around competitive balance is nothing new, and has been a topic for debate going back to when the WIAA absorbed the former Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association (WISAA) schools back in 2000. From Multipliers to Free & Reduced Lunch Reducers to Success Factors and a Rural/Urban Plan, there have been numerous proposals and debates about how to address competitive equity over the last decade.

By a vote of 265-115, the Competitive Balance Plan features two parts that provide options for teams to be elevated in tournament play or to move down.

The Tournament Performance Factor piece of the proposal assigns points to each team based on their postseason success, and if a threshold of points is accumulated in a rolling three-year period, teams would be moved up a division, with an appeal option in place.

The second part of the plan allows all teams to request to move down a division, with certain factors they can base their appeal on to justify a change. These changes, and appeals of the Tournament Performance Factor, would go to a Classification Committee to review and approve or deny.

For full details on the Competitive Balance Plan, please click here. 

Stay tuned to WisSports.net in the coming days as we will be updating our analysis of the Tournament Performance Factor portion of this plan to give perspective on which teams could move up when this plan takes effect in the 2024-25 school year.

Three other proposed Constitutional Amendments passed, while one was defeated.

Approved amendments include:

• Tournament Substitution: Anytime that a team that advances in the tournament series is unable to continue, the team they most recently defeated may return to replace that team that is unable to continue. Passed 371-10.
• Senior Transfers: This affords a senior who transfers without a full family move the opportunity to participate at the non-varsity level as currently afforded to 11th grade students. Passed 354-27
• Coaching Contact: This change allows a coach at any level to have coaching contact with incoming 9th graders until the first day of fall practices or the first day of school. Passed 373-8.

Failing by a narrow 189-192 votes was a proposal that would allow transfer students who do not qualify for unrestricted eligibility to receive unrestricted eligibility in a sport they had not previously participated in (school or non-school) prior to the transfer.

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.