New IHSA bylaw proposal seeks to eliminate Prep Bowl
The Illinois High School Association released its annual list of bylaw amendment proposals on Friday.
Among the usual requests to change transfer rules and tweak season limits, there was one blockbuster request: elimination of the Prep Bowl.
Sycamore athletic director Chauncey Carrick submitted the proposal. Each proposal contains a section where the submitter details his rationale for the change.
This is Carrick’s rationale:
“The schools in the Chicago Public League (CPL) and the Chicago Catholic League (CCL) have the same opportunity to participate in the IHSA playoffs as the other 39 conferences that play football in the IHSA. By allowing the CPL and the CCL to have an additional playoff system, this gives their programs a significant advantage over the remaining 39 football conferences in the IHSA. If a member of a conference that is excluded from the City of Chicago Prep Bowl series does not make the IHSA playoffs, their season is over. Not only can CPL and CCL schools participate in the Prep Bowl series, often times they are added to the Prep Bowl series upon elimination from the IHSA Playoffs series, another opportunity denied to the other 39 conferences that participate in football. In 2022, a member of CCL went 3-6, but still played 13 games, one less game than the teams that played for a State Championship, while all 3-6 teams in the 39 excluded football conferences did not play any additional games. The current Prep Bowl series gives the CPL and the CCL a significant advantage in player development over the other 39 conferences that participate in football.”
The Prep Bowl started in 1927 and was once the biggest high school sports event in the state. It has receded from prominence over the years after the state football playoffs were created and took center stage.
The Prep Bowl was once held at Soldier Field. Now it rotates between Public League and Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic hosts. The game features the winners of a consolation playoff between football teams that have been eliminated from or did not qualify for the state playoffs.
The IHSA currently limits football teams to just nine games and the state playoffs. The Prep Bowl was given a special exemption to continue in 1981.
While non-Prep Bowl teams aren't allowed to play games during the state playoffs, any football team can hold a practice until the end of the playoffs.
The Prep Bowl attracted national attention in 1937 when 120,000 fans watched Austin and Leo play at Soldier Field.
“I played in two Prep Bowls at Soldier Field,” Simeon football coach Sinque Turner said “It’s crazy they are trying to eliminate that. It’s a part of history and it is ridiculous to try and change it now.”
St. Rita beat Kenwood in the Prep Bowl last season. Marquee televised the game.
“Trying to take games away from these kids is kind of sad,” St. Rita football coach Martin Hopkins said. “I would highly encourage them to get the IHSA to allow them to start their own [consolation playoffs]. It was so beneficial for us to make the Prep Bowl run last season.”
Turner said he wouldn’t be opposed to the IHSA allowing other teams in the state to hold their own consolation playoffs.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all,” Turner said. “But to shut someone else’s down because you don’t have something of your own it doesn’t make sense.”
Carrick wasn’t immediately available for comment but said he’d be available to say more on Monday.
An IHSA commission will review the bylaw proposals on Monday. Then they will be discussed at meetings with school principals and athletic directors around the state on Nov. 7 and Nov. 20. After those meetings the IHSA commission votes on Nov. 25 on which proposals will be submitted to all the high schools in the state for a vote. That vote determines if a bylaw is implemented.