John Moriello has official sources that says the upcoming football season will be shortened, as part of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's upcoming cuts.
In previous years there was seven regular season games, three sectional games, and three state games. That would give a state champion 13 games in a season. Moriello writes that a state champion would only get 12. But I don't get what the new format is going to be. Hopefully that will come out in the next few days.
Here's what Moriello wrote in his blog yesterday.
Two upstate sources involved in the scheduling process have told me that it's considered a certainty that the maximum length of the varsity football season will be scaled back to 12 games (nine within the section and three in the state tournament) as part of the NYSPHSAA's cost-cutting initiative in light of the state's budget problems.
Speculation is all over the board on the effect on JV and modified/freshmen schedules, but it appears that reports that teams at those levels will be told to trim two games may not be accurate. They'll almost certanly be told to drop one game, but the proposed two-game reductions apparently were intended for sports with 18- to 24-game seasons like soccer, basketball and lacrosse.
By the way, the NYSPHSAA football tournament is locked into Thanksgiving weekend dates at the Carrier Dome, so a reduction in the varsity schedule would translate into a Sept. 11-12 start to the season. It was just two years ago that some squads opened on Aug. 31.
The NYSPHSAA will be meeting tomorrow and I am hoping to find out more details on cuts in other sports.
