Let’s say the quiet part out loud. There are too many teams in the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.
Shout it from the mountains to the coast. There are too many teams in the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.
We all know it. We all see it. Even members of the NCHSAA know it and see it.
Yet, with an opportunity to change it, a proposal to reduce the playoffs from 48 teams to 32 in classes 2A through 7A was defeated 10-7 Wednesday, May 6 during the NCHSAA’s spring meeting in Chapel Hill.
One concern about making changes to the playoff format is that this is the first year of the new system and it needs further study. I can understand and appreciate the caution, but another year of these 48-team, multiple byes and poor records should be an ample sample.
Maybe it will pass for the 2028-29 academic year. It needs to.
Here are some numbers from the first round of the state 2A and 3A baseball and softball playoffs held Tuesday, May 5 in games played between teams seeded No. 9 through No. 24 in the East and West. The top eight seeds in each region were guaranteed byes in the first round. Class 2A softball didn’t have enough teams to fill the field.
• Seeds No. 20 through No. 24 were 1-32 combined in baseball and softball. No. 23 Lakewood defeated No. 10 Chocowinity Southside 6-4 in 2A baseball.
• The higher seeded teams were 29-3 in baseball and 18-7 in softball. Not a bad record for the underdogs in softball, but seeds No. 20 through No. 24 were 0-13.
• There were only 47 softball teams with a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) in 2A softball and only 41 opted to participate. Therefore, the top 11 teams in the East and the top 12 teams in the West were given first-round byes out of the 24 slots in each region.
• Four of the seven wins by the lower seeded softball teams in classes 2A and 3A were No. 17 defeating No. 16, which included Greene Central’s seventh inning rally to defeat No. 16 West Bladen 5-3.
Here are the combined records of the teams that lost in the first round:
• 2A East baseball: 58-95, .379 winning percentage
• 2A West baseball: 41-127, .244 winning percentage
• 3A East baseball: 49-102, .325 winning percentage
• 3A West baseball: 57-123, .317 winning percentage
• 2A East softball: 14-62, .184 winning percentage
• 2A West softball: 9-64, .123 winning percentage
• 3A East softball: 45-102, .306 winning percentage
• 3A West softball: 58-106, .354 winning percentage
The final combined records for 2A and 3A baseball and softball teams seeded No. 20 through No. 24 was 166-564, a .227 winning percentage.
There were 17 teams with four wins or less, including an 0-18 team, that qualified for the 2A and 3A baseball and softball playoffs.
Not money-makers
The sense always has been the NCHSAA wants more rounds because it means more money. The NCHSAA receives 15% of the gate for first round games. Are schools making much money from those first round games in so-called “non-revenue” sports? It can’t be much, if any. Athletic department budgets already are stretched thin.
Let’s say a first round game sells 150 tickets at $10 each for a $1,500 gate. That’s paid admissions, not how many people are actually in attendance. The state gets its 15% ($225), which leaves $1,275. The two umpires are paid $88 apiece in the first round, which leaves $1,099 that would be split among the schools. However, there are travel expenses for the visiting team so that would cut their “profit.” The host school keeps all concession revenue. So, maybe there’s a few hundred bucks to be made, although I would surmise that some first round games sell less than 150 tickets and neither school makes money.
Yelling at cloud
I realize I sound like Gramps Abe Simpson yelling at a cloud, which, at 69, I qualify as an old man, although I don’t often yell at a cloud. Back in the old days, only conference champions made the state playoffs, but people complained that great teams were left out of the playoffs because they didn’t win their conference. So, gradually, playoffs expanded to include runners-up, then went with a designated number from each conference based on the number of teams in a conference. It finally expanded to 64 teams in four classifications and, for a few seasons, football went with eight state champions.
There was a time when qualifying for the playoffs was a reward for a great regular season. That’s not so today. It’s almost a given a team will be in the playoffs.
Thanks to the N.C. General Assembly, we now have eight classifications and 48-team brackets in classes 2A through 7A. There aren’t enough teams in 1A and 8A to have 48-team brackets.
But, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. The May 6 vote to cut a round of playoffs and do away with byes had support.
Maybe it will pass next spring because we all know there are too many teams in the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.
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