gatorman-uf

Not everyone has Spectrum, so for example, I was unable to watch last night's game on TV. I wasn't willing to spend $10 to stream it. I think it hurts attendance but only if the weather is damp, cold. I doubt fans from schools like Raines or Cocoa were watching on TV, when the drive isn't too long to the stadium. TV showing probably hurts the motivation of the casual fan of high school football from showing up rather than the fan of the school.

1A: 3,717 2A: 1,287 3A: 4A: 4,276 5A: 6A: 7A: 8A:

Oops... I mean 13-10, my apologies...

Raines 20 Cocoa 13 EDIT MY BAD Raines 13 Cocoa 10

I find the Texas idea interesting, but it would be hard to do in our state right now. Take 4A-bottom half in terms of size of 6A and make 1 classification. Take Top half in terms of size of 6A-8A and make 1 classification. It would be about 195 teams per classification in Florida. Divide each by 32 districts (~6 teams per district). Top 4 teams get in the playoffs with the largest two teams in the district going to division 1, smallest going to division 2 (district records determine top 4) I think it would shrink district traveling as more teams in a smaller condensed area due to having 2.5 classifications in 1 classification. The size difference matters less in higher classifications. Offers to change up the playoffs every year due to the fact that who the top 2 are in terms of size in each district could vary just by having one team have a good/decent season. Size of districts is larger. Obviously, we are now putting in a 4th place team (out of 6) into playoffs and that could water down our playoffs a little, but this actually adds one round to the playoffs, so in the end you still end up with the best. This idea would still need fleshing out as there is the problem of an extra round of playoffs, how big would the size gap be in each classification? Are we willing to accept a size difference that big? The shape and density of our state still means there are potentially awkward or weird districts to get to 6 teams per district.

2012 7A: 3,998 STA 2014 7A: 5,834 STA 2015 7A: 5,390 STA 2016 7A: 4,735 STA So yeah, I might be way overestimating it based on the last several years that 7A has I always believe that private schools (STA) draw less unless it is something like the Lakeland-STA games of old. Bartram Trail is only 17 years old so it doesn't have the generational alumni base, but they do have the money to make the trip. The couple of times I have seen Bartram Trail play both on the road and at home, they bring a good crowd. They have had 4 straight home games, so they should have the money saved up to travel. Plus Only a 2 hour trip to Citrus Bowl. Venice is a generational school with little poverty. They have had success over the past 20 years, so this is just getting over the hump. Yeah, I betting on them traveling. Also 7A hasn't been above 8500 since the first year 2007 when Osceola was in the state championships.

Since this board likes to talk about reclassification and the removal of a classification, I figured it would be good to look at some other states. Georgia 7A: 48 Schools 6A: 58 Schools 5A: 58 Schools 4A: 53 Schools 3A: 57 Schools 2A: 57 Schools 1A: 88 Schools (Smallest Classification) New Jersey: Group 5: 16+15+15+15 (61) teams Group 4: 15+15+15+15 (60) teams Group 3: 16+15+15+15 (61) teams Group 2: 16+15+15+15 (61) teams Group 1: 16+15+16+16 (63) teams Non Public Group 4: 10 teams Non Public Group 3: 10 teams Non Public Group 2: 15 teams New Jersey only plays down to what Florida would call 4 regional champions (the first numbers per group). Next year, they are changing to play down to a North/South champion per group with the belief that within 5-7 years they will play down to a single champion. NJ does play down to a single group champion in other sports and than hosts a Tournament of Champions of all group champions. Texas: Group 6A: ~253***See Note Group 5A: ~263***See Note Group 4A (1): ~94 Group 4A (2): ~91 Group 3A (1): ~103 Group 3A (2): ~99 Group 2A (1): ~94 Group 2A (2): ~90 ***Texas 5A and 6A take the top 4 from each of their 32 districts, but the top 2 in terms of attendance in a district go to Division 1 and the two lowest go to Division 2. Groups 2A-4A are divided by the UIL before the season starts. Texas Private Schools almost exclusively play in their own Classification which is not included in the above. 5A: 25 Schools 4A: 42 Schools 3A: 48 Schools 2A: 54 Schools 1A: 52 Schools

ColumbiaFan, The game was in Gainesville, it might as well have been a home game and considering it had been 30 years since CHS had played in a state championship and all of the resources they pour into football, yes, I would expect them to have a decent showing for a state championship game. Don't forget that Miami teams travel well.

Guesses on attendance... 1A: 3,400 (Madison will bring the house) 2A: 1,200 3A: 1,400 (A lot less than last year due to Oxbridge having few to no alumni) 4A: 5,000 (Raines and Cocoa will bring a crowd) 5A: 4,000 (Baker County will bring a nice crowd) 6A: 7,500 (MNW usually brings a good crowd) 7A: 8,500 (Bartram's $$$ and Venice should be best crowd of the week, even though early on Saturday) 8A: 7,000 (Atlantic has the history, but I don't trust Palm Beach schools to travel) --------------- 38,000 Total This would put the total as one of the highest since they went to Orlando.

Blackmagic, So you are saying you only want the smallest 32 teams in 1A even if there are teams that technically meet the early cutoffs for rural (500 students) or current cutoff (600) you only want the smallest 32? I am assuming that you would apply this same standard to 2A as well? 3A? 4A? I guess the next question becomes, do you not think that 32 teams is a little small for a "state championship", doesn't it lead to more of the blowouts that we consistently see? Isn't some of the point to create a level of competitiveness and the smaller the classifications the less competitiveness?

I appreciate you used facts to back up your opinion and this comes back to what do the small schools want? At some point small rural schools are going to have pick their poison: they can stay rural or they can stay small, but they probably won't be able to stay rural and small for too much longer. Schools are going to grow out of it. Even a school like Baker has shown steady growth from 389 in 2009 to a high of 475 in 2016 (441 in 2017). Nobody is going to make another rural small school so as schools phase out of the rural classification what do rural schools want?

Student Population reports are only 9-12. Name of charter school is James Madison Preparatory High School, the school according to their website has 191 students. Yes students at this school could play at Madison County High School, but charters are given pretty much free range in in terms of where they want to set up thanks to our state legislature. Now any students-athletes from JMPHS would have to go towards Madison County's numbers. I would also say that they are playing a dangerous game regarding school grades if JMPHS is siphoning away their "honor" students. Long term, the school district could end up in a situation like Jefferson County where a private company comes in.

To do that many pins, no to actually be able to see it and make life easier for you, yes.

I circle Madison County (Pahokee is off map). Basically, if you put Madison in the North Region you are taking them away from most of the teams they will play in every other sport.

Print Screen... paste into Paint... crop as need. and when you have a message you can choose a file to add.

No, 9 Classes in other team sports only 8 in football.

https://www.google.com/maps/about/mymaps/ You need to add each location by hand and make sure you change the color of each pin.

Class 3A is messed up (Region 2 and 3 should be reversed). Class 3A - Region R2 - District Independent Cardinal Newman West Palm Beach Father Lopez Daytona Beach First Academy Orlando Holy Trinity Melbourne Kings Academy West Palm Beach Melbourne Central Catholic Melbourne Oxbridge Academy West Palm Beach Taylor Pierson Trinity Prep Winter Park Class 3A - Region R3 - District Independent Berkeley Prep Tampa Calvary Christian Clearwater Cardinal Mooney Sarasota Clearwater Central Catholic Clearwater Lakeland Christian Lakeland St. Petersburg Catholic St. Petersburg Tampa Catholic Tampa Trinity Catholic Ocala Problem is that there needs to be more teams. And Yes, Oxbridge, Cardinal Newman, and Kings Academy are closer to region 4, but if your removed them from 2 than the region is too small.

Schools can choose not to be in 1A, while in football it would make sense since they do not have to face anyone in their district, but it also means that their basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball teams also have to do it and it can be expensive.

Madison is in the South because to put them in the North means they are not close at all to any of the northern teams. Pahokee made a choice to be 1A, they knew the travel would happen, but they have every right to be in 1A so why not. Instead of playing against the Oxbrige and American Heritage - Delray Beach

I know. I was just pointing it out to the rest of the world. Come on guys, WEst Palm Beach to Madison is a nearly 6 hour drive one way when they had Oxbridge and Atlantic having home games. They don't pay stringers enough to travel 12 hours for a game.

Madison County Population Report: 2017- 530 2016- 529 2015- 574 2014- 593 2013- 597 2012- 672 2011- 681 2010- 688 2009- 697 Blountstown Population Report: 2017- 434 2016- 426 2015- 415 2014- 425 2013- 413 2012- 411 2011- 396 2010- 404 2009- 409

Joshua, To actually answer the question, It helps, but it still is not the complete answer. Several years ago (approaching 10), Apopka played in Mississippi, I remember them having a really small team maybe 35. They still were regional finalists. How many seniors? How many juniors? How many years has each kid been in the program? Are better questions than just total numbers. ---- Why was 600 chosen for 1A? (Originally 500). Would 1A object to schools like the following from playing in 1A? Trenton (345) Playing up due to punishment from recruiting Taylor (Pierson) (616) Fort White (632) Taylor County (653) Baldwin (658) Newberry (670) Walton (725) Interlachen (744) Marianna (754) Keystone Heights (798) Bradford (849) The Villages (915) Fernandina Beach (949) Gadsden County (978) West Nassau (1051) Mount Dora (1082) ---------------------- Why is 290 student currently the top for 2A? Can this be expanded to 500? Is the disparity that huge? How many teams joined 2A/3A because of the new playoff system? Wasn't that supposed to fix the numbers in 2A and 3A?

181pl, I am not sure how many are playing out of their classification, but remember teams will "magically" lose 100-200 students on years of reclassification. It is another reason why a 5 year average should be used instead of just a 1 year snapshot.

But the new playoff system was supposed to fix this... i swear somebody has said this