This week, the N.C. High School Athletic Association will hold its regular spring meeting with its board of directors. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Chapel Hill.

There is a lengthy agenda for the spring meeting. Some of the topics have been discussed before but were tabled by the board, however there are many new agenda items.

The Finance & Personnel Committe, the Review & Officiating Committee, the Policy Committee, and the Sports Committee will all meet on Tuesday during breakout sessions. Voting typically occurs on the second day of the meeting.

HighSchoolOT plans to live stream the entire meeting. Here are some of the topics you can expect to hear discussed:

How will the playoffs work with 8 classes?

This is perhaps the biggest question people have going into the board meeting this spring, and hopefully we’ll get some answers.

The NCHSAA Board of Directors is considering several different proposals in regards to playoff qualification and seeding. Some proposals include the current RPI formula, new RPI formulas, and using MaxPreps ratings. The NCHSAA surveyed member schools about their preferences in recent weeks.

Earlier this year, the board approved the playoff format and structure for many team sports. However, how individual sports will be handled still has to be decided.

Playoff qualification is on the agenda for the spring meeting.

Mercy rule changes for basketball, football

Sportsmanship is a topic the board discussses at every meeting, and this spring the board could take steps to lower the mercy rule threshold in both basketball and football.

Two separate proposals before the board would lower the mercy rule from 40 points to 30 points in basketball and from 42 points to 35 points in football. At that point, a running clock would begin.

The proposal says the changes would bring it more in line with the intnet of the mercy rule, which is to have a running clock when the outcome of a game is not in question. The changes are supported by the Officiating Sub-Committee and the Regional Supervisor Advisory Committee. It would take effect for the 2025-2026 school year.

Basketball coaches ask to pilot a shot clock

The N.C. Basketball Coaches Association wants the NCHSAA to allow schools to use a shot clock for preseason scrimmages, regular season invitational tournaments, and other special events if the host school can provide the equipment and staffing, and if the participating schools agree to use the clock.

According to the proposal, the NCBCA believes adoption of the shot clock is inevitable. The goal of the pilot program would be to collect data on. game length, number of shot clock violations, and number of times there were issues with the shot clock itself. This data would be shared with the NCHSAA.

The NCBCA says adoption of the shot clock on a wide scale could be expedited by collecting this data through a voluntary pilot program.

In the past, the NCHSAA Board of Directors has declined proposals from the NCBCA to adopt the shot clock on a wider scale. If this proposal is approved, it would go into effect for the 2025-2026 basketball season and would apply to both boys and girls basketball.

Admission prices and payment

There are several proposals before the Finance & Personnel Committee that deal with admission fees, prices, and forms of payment.

The committee will review a proposal that was tabled during the winter meeting which would increase the prices of playoff games. Schools made the request because some lose money hosting playoff games in some sports when admission prices are lower than during the regular season.

Admission prices to the state playoffs are set by the NCHSAA. However, they have not changed since 2017. Many schools and conferences are charging more for admission to regular season games than postseason games.

How people pay to enter games could also change. The board will consider a proposla that would require the NCHSAA to accept cash as a form of payment at all playoff events. However, the board will have to consider the budget impact of additional security and staffing needs for cash payments.

Legislation has been introduced in the General Assembly that would require all schools accept cash as a form of payment at interscholastic sporting events. House Bill 2 passed a vote in the House in March. It is currently sitting in the Senate Rules Committee.

The initial version of the bill included language that would have required free admission be granted to anyone holding a Senior Tar Heel Card, however an amended version of the bill removed that language. The NCHSAA Board of Directors will discuss how to handle the Senior Tar Heel Card at its meeting next week.

The recommendation before the board would provide discounted playoff tickets for holders of the Senior Tar Heel Card, but would only apply to purchases made at the gate with cash. People wishing to use a Senior Tar Heel Card would be required to present official identification to validate their use of the card.

Schools have raised concerns about Senior Tar Heel Cards because people who do not qualiy for the cards are often able to obtain them. This means schools make less money from admissions, which can create budgetary concerns for athletic departments.

Could flag football be sanctioned?

During its winter meeting in December, the NCHSAA Board of Directors tabled a proposal from Durham, Johnston, and Wake counties that would have resulted in the official sanctioning of girls flag footabll. However, with more information now available, the NCHSAA will reconsider.

At its winter meeting, the NCHSAA said it had conflicting information about the number of schools offering flag football. The Carolina Panthers, which have funded the start up of flag football programs across the state, identified 119 schools participating in flag football this school year. HighSchoolOT has been able to independently confirm the data from the Panthers.

The NCHSAA surveyed member schools earlier this year about flag football and had 97 schools report participating in flag football. It’s not clear how many of the 442 member schools responded to the survey though.

NCHSAA officials said in December they were concerned about the lack of universal rules for flag football. However, the National Federation of State High School Associations has released its official flag football rules for high schools across the country.

The proposal before the board would sanction flag football for the 2026-2027 school year.

Considerations for eligibility changes

A few different proposals related to eligiblity have been submitted to the board.

Hopewell High School has asked the NCHSAA to update a student’s GPA for eligibility purposes on a quarter-to-quarter basis instead of semester-to-semester.

Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools and the Central Piedmont Conference have submitted a proposal that would change how eligibility is checked for winter sports athletes. Under the proposal, eligibility checks for winter sports would happen at the beginning of the season, and if a student is eligible, they would remain eligibile throughout the winter sports season.

Winter sports athletes are the only athletes who have eligibility checked twice. Fall and spring sports athletes have eligibility checks once per season. The challenge for winter sports athletes is that their seasons begin in the first semester and end in the second semester.

Durham School of the Arts has submitted a proposal that would allow 8th graders to participate in high school sports.

“Allowing exceptional athletes to compete with higher-grade peers fosters an environment where talent is recognized and nurtured, much like advanced academic programs for intellectually gifted students,” the proposal states. “By allowing advanced athletes to participate in higher-level sports, schools can create an environment that values and supports excellence in all forms, ultimately benefiting both the individual athletes and the school community as a whole.”

Other agenda items

Here are some other proposals the board will discuss and potentially vote on at its meeting:

• Union County Schools has proposed extending skill development sessions during the school year from 1.5 to 2 hours, which would make it easier for schools to incorporate weightlifting and skill development.
• The board will reconsider a tabled item from the winter meeting which would raise the minimum match number for girls wrestling regional seeding to 15.
• A proposal to create an annual process to review officials pay will be before the board. The proposal would set a time frame for the NCHSAA to review how much officials are paid and the fees regional supervisors charge member schools. This proposal is supported by the Officiating Sub-Committee and the Regional Supervisor Advisory Committee.
• The NCHSAA is expected to add three additional schools to its membership for the 2025-2026 school year: Macon Early College, Onslow Early College High School, and The Math and Science Academy of Charlotte.
• West Stanly High School has proposed changing the spring sports calendar to expand the season by three weeks for baseball and softball. This would include adding two additional weeks at the beginning of the season in February and one additional week at the end of the season. Right now, baseball and softball have nine weeks to play 24 games, while basketball has 13 weeks to play 24 games with a conference tournament.
• The board will vote on whether to approve Gerald Moyd as the Triad Basketball Officials Associal Regional Supervisor, which was a unanimous recommendation from the search committee. Moyd’s appointment would be effective May 1.
• The board will vote on aligning all NCHSAA regional references with the N.C. State Board of Education Districts for the NCHSAA Board of Directors. This is a requirement with the current agreement with the State Superintendent.
• The board will discuss how many participants are needed to cnostitute a team for swimming & diving, golf, wrestling, track & field, cross country, and tennis. This is currently only listed as a discussion item and no vote is scheduled.
• The board will consider a proposal from the N.C. Tennis Coaches Association to use a new product from the United State Tennis Association to rank teams for the playoffs. The USTA High School Digital Platform would replace MaxPreps RPI rankings for playoff purposes under this proposal.
• A discussion is expected to happen about registration fees for officials and whether or not start-up costs are a deterrent for new officials. Right now, there is no proposal regarding this discussion.