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The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) will host its 2025 Annual Meeting on Friday, April 25th at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, with a number of noteworthy items on the agenda, including proposed Constitutional changes that would bring significant change to the association and high school athletics.

The Annual Meeting serves as an opportunity for all member schools, of which there are 513 high school members, to come together to review and celebrate the previous year in high school athletics, discuss issues facing the association moving forward, and vote on Constitutional changes that come forward through the WIAA's processes.

Some years, the Annual Meeting is relatively low-key, with no significant changes on the agenda. Other years, there can be fireworks at the meeting, as we saw in 2015 when a petition introduced a private school multiplier and there was considerable heated debate with roll call votes, questions about Robert's Rules of Order, and a meeting that extended well beyond the normal timeframe.

This year, there are several proposals that the membership will vote on, with a simple majority of respondents (each school in attendance gets one vote, regardless of how many representatives a school sends) needed to pass any measure.

This article isn't meant to provide judgement or opinion on the various proposals, but rather to provide a prediction of what I think will happen. Each of the Constitutional Amendments along with a possibility that could arise at the meeting will be examined.

To see the full list of proposed Amendments and the rationale behind them, please click here. The meeting begins Wednesday at 9 am in Stevens Point, and we'll have full coverage at the proceedings and following. Follow me on Twitter @travisWSN for live updates throughout the day. The meeting can also be livestreamed here.

Number 1 - SPECTATOR NFHS SPORTSMANSHIP CLASS

Summary: In addition to the current one-game suspension requirement, this amendment would require a spectator who has been ejected from a contest to complete the free, online NFHS Sportsmanship course available on the NFHSLearn.com website
and submitting the completed course certificate to school officials before attending any future home athletic events.

Prediction: Sportsmanship, and frustrations with increasingly negative sportsmanship issues, continues to be a source of discussions for many in high school sports. The WIAA already has a rule that any spectator ejected from a contest must serve a one-game suspension. This proposal would add a requirement that any spectator that is ejected must also complete a sportsmanship learning course before attending any future home events. I believe this will pass.

Number 2 – SUMMER COACHING CONTACT

Summary: This amendment would expand the opportunities for coaching contact in all WIAA sponsored sports throughout the months of June and July, with a "dead period" for all sports coach contact from July 1 through July 6, as well as a football coach dead period the week before practice starts. 

Prediction: This proposal is the result of the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee to review contact and calendar for the WIAA. Currently, all sports except football allow for five unrestricted contact days as well as unlimited nonschool contact during the summer. This has caused increasing confusion about how to apply each type of contact, and there is a desire to simplify summer coaching contact while also attempting to provide more coaching opportunities for high school coaches, as opposed to players spending large sums of money with club programs or private trainers. This plan has been discussed across numerous levels of the membership, from coaches to administrators to schools. The WIAA even commissioned a survey of players, parents, coaches, and administrators to gauge their feedback. I believe it will pass, though there are understandably concerns by many coaches and administrators about the need for coaches from different sports to work and communicate together to avoid over-taxing multi-sport athletes. That will need to be an intentional and continual dialogue within schools, with leadership needed from Athletic Directors.

Number 3 - ELIMINATING GAME MAXIMUM LANGUAGE SPECIFIC TO 9TH GRADE TEAMS

Summary: This amendment would allow 9th grade teams the ability to play the same number of contests as allowed in season regulations for JV and Varsity teams.

Predictions: Young players in all sports enter high school having played considerably more games than previous generations, and limiting freshman teams' game contests no longer seems to make sense. I think this will pass pretty easily.

Number 4 - COMPETITIVE BALANCE - PETITION

Summary: This amendment brought forward by members of the Association would include Cross Country as the only team state qualifying sport to be excluded from competitive balance. When the competitive balance plan was implemented following a vote at the 2023 Annual Meeting, coaches in cross country were quite vocal in their opposition to its application, as they felt too many cross country teams were impacted and the potential splitting of boys and girls teams to different regional and sectional meets meant coaches, who often work with both genders, would not be able to coach at both.

Prediction: This will be an interesting one to follow, for a number of reasons. There have not been any changes to the Competitive Balance system since it was implemented, and some feel that it needs to be tweaked, either in the number of years of review (currently three), the number of points needed to be elevated (currently six), or the number of teams that it is impacting. Could this be the first step towards making changes? It impacts only the sport of cross country, but could provide a good bell-weather about how the membership feels the plan they passed in 2023 by a vote of 265-115. The schools wanted it then, how do they view it now? I think this ultimately fails, but could kick off the first significant reviews of the Competitive Balance system for possible change.

Number 5 - NAME, IMAGE AND LIKENESS

Summary: This change would allow student-athletes to enter into Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities for those activities not associated with their school team, school, conference or the WIAA. Taking into consideration the current NCAA landscape and member concerns, intentional language has been included to address undue influence. 

Prediction: This is probably the toughest one to gauge. A nearly identical proposal was brought forth at last year's Annual Meeting, only to be defeated 219-170. We've seen the impacts of NIL at the college level, and while that is not expected to be what happens in high school, there are nonetheless plenty of potential pitfalls that have many administrators concerned. However, more and more states are instituting NIL options at the high school level, and there's a fear that the Wisconsin state legislature or the court system could force it upon schools regardless. WIAA leadership would prefer to be in front of any potential forcible implementation and guide how it is constructed, which is why it is being brought back again after being defeated last year. There is also concern that top athletes have or will leave the state for other schools where NIL is available at the high school level. I lean towards the plan not passing yet, but it seems only a matter of time before it is in place, either by future vote of the schools or requirement from a different authority.

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.