MIAA Tournament Committee Votes To Expand Football Playoffs

PEABODY, MA — When high school football playoffs resume in Massachusetts they will have a lot more teams in them.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament Management Committee on Thursday reversed a decision from the MIAA Football Committee two weeks ago to have a nine-week regular season and eight-team playoff brackets per division, opting instead for an eight-week regular season and 16-team playoff.

The new format will go into effect in the fall — or when tournaments are once again allowed in high school sports — and will not affect the "Fall 2 season" set to begin with practices on Feb. 22.

The MIAA Football Committee has been working on a new rating system and statewide playoff format to replace the playoffs that separated the state into four sections and involve more than a dozen divisions and state championships. The system was supposed to begin this past fall before that season was postponed six months because of the coronavirus health crisis.

The reconsideration was based, in part, on the desire to have more teams compete in the playoffs. Under the new format, 44 percent of all teams would make the playoffs, which is in line with other sports.

There will be two rounds of "consolation" games for those teams that lose early in the playoffs and eight statewide division champions crowded the weekend of Dec. 3-4 in 2021.

Proponents of the eight-team playoff format had argued that it put more emphasis on regional and local rival matchups in the regular season.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)