The Florida High School Athletic Association approved Open Division playoffs for football and 10 other sports Tuesday.
The board of directors voted 10-0 to move forward with an eight-team open division bracket for football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, boys and girls lacrosse and flag football beginning during the 2026-27 school year.
In football, the MaxPreps computer rankings will be used at the conclusion of the regular season to help create two pools of four teams. The top two teams in each pool advance to a single-elimination tournament. Tie-breaking procedures include head-to-head results, points allowed and point differential.
St. Thomas Aquinas has won a record 17 state football titles and could be among the teams in the mix to grab the inaugural open division championship. The FHSAA approved the open division for football and 10 other sports beginning in the 2026-27 school year. (PHOTO: Dr. Raymond Nanko)
In the other 10 sports, rankings will be used to select the top eight teams at the conclusion of the district tournaments.
"Florida has always had the best athletes in the country, but now we're putting our elite teams, the quality of those matchups with some of those teams that can be seen on a national level," FHSAA Executive Director Craig Damon told the
Gainesville Sun.
The vote advances the possibility for titanic matchups across the sports landscape to crown an open division champion.
