UIL approves changes to postseason format for several high school sports

AUSTIN, Texas - The playoffs could look a lot different for many high school sports in Texas next season.

Tuesday, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) passed an amendment that will split divisions in the postseason for basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and soccer.

The change creates two state championship brackets, a division one and a division two bracket.

This means each of those sports will have two state champions in each classification, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A.

This is similar to how high school football is currently formatted.

The change will only occur for the postseason and all schools will remain in  their assigned districts per the 2024-26 alignment.

This is how it will work:

Four teams from each district will still qualify for the playoffs.

The two schools with the higher enrollment numbers will compete in the division one bracket, while the two schools with the smaller enrollment will compete in the division two bracket.

The reason the change was made was to try and level the playing field between schools with high student population numbers, and those with lower enrollment numbers.

The UIL hopes the new format will increase opportunities for member schools to win state championships.

This could also mean that some rounds in the playoffs could be eliminated.

The amendment would go into effect August 1, 2024, but still must be approved by the Commissioner of Education.