Totally agree 

Some divisions will be watered down significantly. Some may lose, at the most, one team. As long as this new development is transfer neutral, I don't think, overall, that the division state title games will be any more watered down than what we recently saw in the Suburban/Metro classification. In fact, the state title games may well be at least as competitive as the last two years were. 

I think the QB might be from Tarpon and I’m only basing that on the fact he has a Greek last name. Lol

I hope as many teams secede from the FHSAA as possible. This open division makes one division great and 7 divisions sorry as hell. Basically you are taking away every elite team from the other divisions. What’s sad is a lot of coaches support any move that makes it easier to win a title. Regardless the of how watered down and pathetic the product is. 

This development was underreported, given the hoopla surrounding the NIL adoption.  The 8-team "open" division bracket will feature the top 8 teams, regardless of class, as ranked by MaxPreps at the end of the regular season.  As an aside, it was adopted for all FHSAA team sports, not just football (I guess to be seen as "we're not picking on the football elite only", although that is clearly who is being targeted).  The teams will be seeded #1-8 and placed into two brackets.  Within each bracket, there is a double elimination format, until the state semifinals, where it becomes single elimination.  Somewhat confusing, so here is a visual depiction, https://fhsaa.com/documents/2024/5/29/59_61.pdf .  Several things: 1) Does not appear to be an "opt-in" or "opt-out" feature; if you're in the top 8, you go to the "open" bracket.  2) Teams will lose some home games that they would otherwise potentially host if they remained in their original class; not sure how revenue will be distributed, but some teams will be upset.  #3) Travel could be an issue, although realistically there is very little chance that a team from the panhandle would ever qualify; more likely to be an issue in the other team sports.  4) The logic of the double-elimination format was stated that top 8 teams "deserve" a second chance based on their season-long performance; let's be realistic - more games = more revenue.  5) Implementation was delayed until 2026, presumably because teams have just been reclassified for 2024 and 2025 from Metro-Suburban to school enrollment; may also give some elite teams a chance to rethink their future in the FHSAA.  It will be interesting to see if this move meets the intended goal of making the playoffs in all the classes more competitive.  And it should certainly create some great matchups in the open division bracket.  As always, there are winners and losers as a result of this decision.