January Legislative Council Recap

DENVER – The first of two CHSAA Legislative Council meetings in 2023 was conducted on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the Denver Marriott Tech Center. 

Below is a list of the more notable proposed changes that were approved on Tuesday. Links to the full committee reports can be found here. The complete percentage results of the voting can be found here.

All motions were passed by members of the Legislative Council.

The biggest changes voted upon Tuesday were to the Sunday Contact rules, the addition of classifications for boys volleyball, esports, boys and girls golf, and girls wrestling, as well as the approval of a plan to address official shortages and officials’ compensation. A change was also made to adjust the 3A-5A baseball state championship brackets.

ADM 5 – SUNDAY CONTACT

Bylaw 2310.5 has been changed to read that no high school interscholastic contests, practices for interscholastic contests, camps, nor association between participants and coaches/directors of any CHSAA-sanctioned sport from the student’s school shall take place on Sundays during the competitive high school season (start of official practice through the state tournament). The bolded section was changed from during the school year.

CHSAA-sanctioned competition and in-season practice are still prohibited on Sundays. High school coaches, however, can now coach club sports and have contact with student-athletes on Sundays while out of season.

ATH 1 – BASEBALL 

Increased the number of players that may be certified to play on a team in any qualifying state tournament from 18 to 23.

ATH 3 – FOOTBALL 

Teams that host an end of the summer padded camp and do not have a bye week as part of their schedule may schedule a contest between the 11th and 14th day (including the first day of practice, but not including Sundays) after the start of formal practice. 

ATH 4 – SOCCER – COMPETITION DATE CHANGE/NFHS CALENDAR

Moved the start of the girls soccer season from the Thursday of Week 36 to the Saturday of Week 35. By moving the season of sport up to the Saturday of Week 35, girls soccer teams will have 48 days to play their games as opposed to 44.

ATH 5 – WRESTLING – MAXIMUM MATCHES INDIVIDUAL 

Increased the number of tournament days from 10 to 12.

CR 2 –   CLASSIFICATION AND LEAGUE ORGANIZATION

• Added a second classification for boys’ volleyball for 2024-2026 cycle. 

• Added a second classification for esports for 2024-2026 cycle. 

• Added an additional classification (2A) to both boys and girls golf for 2024-2026 cycle. 

• Added a second classification to girls wrestling for the 2024-26 cycle

CR 6 – OFFICIALS’ FEES 

Sweeping changes to officials’ fees were approved, with the details of the proposal here.

CR 13a – BASEBALL AMENDMENT 

Classes 3A-5A baseball will be a traditional double-elimination bracket, with the undefeated team advancing to the championship game, and the team emerging from the losers bracket needing to defeat that team twice for a championship.

CR 17 – FOOTBALL 

Teams in the 6-man football classification are now permitted to play 10 regular season games. 

CR 24 – SOCCER 

Beginning in Fall of 2023, overtime has been eliminated from regular-season games. 

CR 28 – TENNIS

• Reviewed and revised the regional team placements for all girls’ classifications. 

• The seeding criteria for the individual state championships have been slightly altered.

• Effective in Spring of 2023 – the team brackets dates have been changed.

• Effective in Fall of 2023 – during the team championship bracket, coaches will have the option to mutually agree to a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of the third set during the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals.  The team championships (finals only) will stop play after a team has won four matches to clinch the match.

CR 31 – VOLLEYBALL

Class 1A girls regionals will expand from eight to 12 regions. Each region will only have two teams instead of three. The 12 regional winners will advance to state.