FHSAA set to vote on adding eight-team Championship Division for all team sports

The Florida High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors is scheduled to vote on adding an eight-team Championship Division for all team sports during its meeting on Tuesday.

Board Member Ryan Smith, athletic director at Benjamin in Palm Beach Gardens, is the one bringing the proposal. His rationale is that adding an Open Division is “an attempt to close the gap with competitive equity in the FHSAA State Series.”

The Championship Division would take the eight highest ranked teams on the MaxPreps rankings, regardless of classification, and place them in their own bracket.

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The teams would be split into two, four-team sub-brackets — one with the No. 1, 4, 5 and 8 seeds and the other with the No. 2, 3, 6 and 7 seeds. Those teams would play a double-elimination tournament until the state semifinal games. The state semifinals and championship would be single elimination.