Illinois High School Football Playoffs Are About to Get Huge

Starting next fall, the Illinois High School Football Playoffs will be bigger, literally. More schools, more games, and let’s be real about it, more $$$.

More Friday Nights. More Lights. More $$$

The classes aren’t expanding. There will still be eight. There won’t be separation of public and private schools for the tournament. The number of teams participating per class will grow from the current 32 to 48 starting in 2026.

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Will this mean better football? No. The play level will be the same. Will this provide an opportunity for a Cinderella story upset win (or two) for a team that previously wouldn’t have made the playoffs? Sure, that could happen. That’s fine for media clicks and attention for that team. There are 431 high school football teams in Illinois. Starting in 2026 the total number of schools making it to “playoff” status will balloon to 384. That’s 89% of schools qualifying for the playoffs. Whether they know it or not, Illinois is moving closer to the district playoff model used in Missouri.

You may find teams with 3 (or fewer) wins getting included in postseason football

This flips the season upside down in a way. The achievement of making the playoffs will now be watered down as almost every school per class will qualify. Need a winning record to be playoff eligible? Not anymore. Starting next fall, missing the football postseason will become the “Sad Sash of Shame” (my terminology) that will saddle any team, or coach that falls into the bottom 11%.

Football coach considering the "Sad Sash of Shame"

To be clear this wasn’t an IHSA power move. A majority of the member schools voted for this. The thinking is that it will make scheduling easier for schools that have switched conferences, and were having trouble finding non-conference opponents who may have been on that potential 4 to 5 win window. Now that won’t be an issue. The season will begin a week earlier in August to allow for an extra round of playoff games. This will equal an extra home game of revenue for dozens of schools. The new metric won’t be making the playoffs for most of the state. It will be hosting playoff games. Coaches and Athletic Directors are now scrambling to make schedule adjustments to a game schedule that has been in place for weeks/months.