Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Question: Should Maine High School Soccer Adopt a Promotion/Relegation Format?

As most of us know, the classification of high school soccer teams (and other high school sports) in Maine is based on the various high schools' enrollment numbers, instead of the strength of a soccer program at a particular school.

The question to debate, then, is this: Should high school soccer adopt a promotion/relegation system so that the classification of programs has more to do with the strength of a soccer program than it does the number of students enrolled at a school?

To put this hypothetical question into concrete terms, the 16-team Western Class 'A'* classification would relegate two teams** per season to Western Class 'B,' and Western Class 'B' would promote two teams to Western Class 'A.' Based on results from this year, for example, Bonny Eagle and Biddeford would drop to Western Class 'B,' while the two regional finalists from Western 'B'--Falmouth and York--would be promoted to Western 'A.'

What are the pros and the cons of such an idea? What would the promotion and relegation format look like exactly? And if the pros overwhelmingly outweight the cons, what are the chances for something like this actually ever happening?

- John C.L. Morgan

* Cape Elizabeth and Greely, two teams that are included in the Western Class 'A' Heal Points rankings and tourney despite playing a Western Class 'B' regular season schedule, have been inserted into the Western Class 'B' Heal Points rankings for the sake of this thought experiment.

** The number of teams relegated and promoted is based on the Barclays Premier League's policy of 15% (or 3 of 20) of its teams being relegated to the Championship League.

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