HOUSTON – The UIL Athletic Committee has approved in-concept a Texas High School Coaches’ Association (THSCA) proposal to expand home-field advantage for early-round playoff games in Classes 4A and below.

Historically, only Class 6A and 5A football has had home-field advantage in the bi-district round of the playoffs before changing to a neutral site for each ensuing week. This proposal will create a home-field advantage in the bi-district round for every classification in football, basketball, volleyball, and soccer. Every other playoff round would be a neutral site game. The rule would not extend to baseball and softball because those playoff matchups are a three-game series.

In October 2026, the UIL will have a sample proposal for the UIL Athletic Committee to consider.

“Our staff’s recommendation, at least for the council to consider, is that it would be a pilot program,” UIL Athletic Director Ray Zepeda said. “(That would) allow these coaches who think this might be a good idea to live with it, and then possibly recommend changes, or move back to the system that they may have undervalued.”

If the sample proposal is approved, the 2027-28 scholastic calendar will be the first year for bi-district home-field advantage.

Football coaches across the state have long touted the home-field advantage proposal, saying it’s the proper reward for a district champion.

“If I’m a district champion, and I’m now going to play a four-seed at a neutral site, there’s not a whole lot of advantage to that,” El Paso Andress head coach Chris Taylor said.

Aside from the lack of reward, Taylor says finding a neutral site game can present an undue burden on coaches.

“When you have 5A and 6A playing home and away games that first round of the playoffs, it limits the availability of neutral site venues,” Taylor said. “Even if you want to play a neutral site, now you’ve got to see who won their district in 5A and 6A and how that’s going to affect where they’re going to play and which venues would be available to play neutral site games.”

The result, Taylor says, is that teams in Classes 4A and below often have to play a Thursday game on shorter rest, or at a stadium whose facilities are not on par with their usual standard.

For years, the home-field advantage rule has been tabled because schools become further spread apart with each lower classification. But for some coaches, like Stephenville head coach Sterling Doty, that’s only more reason to add a reward for a district championship.

“We’re matched up (in bi-district) with Bay City (312 miles away), El Campo (281 miles away), Brookshire-Royal (246 miles away), Sealy (226 miles away), and Needville, (264 miles away).” Doty said. “If we finish 1st or 2nd in district, those schools this year would have to come to us. So, I like it because of the value on the district champion.”

But those travel times are spurring the UIL to create a mileage marker by October that would give districts the option to opt into a neutral site bi-district game.

“We haven’t finalized that mileage number that might trigger at least some preseason conversations in District Executive Committees to figure out what might work best for them (in terms of a neutral site),” Zepeda said. “But we have talked about mileage intervals of about 200 to 250 miles.”

Coaches from both the 5A and 4A ranks have wondered if a mileage marker triggering a neutral site game in Classes 4A and below would also be applied to 5A and 6A.

“If there is not a mileage marker for 5A and 6A, I don’t see why they would put one on for Class 4A and under,” Taylor said.

The UIL’s Executive Director, Dr. Jamey Harrison, said last year at THSCA Coaching School that he does not believe a six-hour travel time for a lower seed is fair, and reiterated this year that schools having to travel from Houston to Texarkana or from the Concho Valley to El Paso is not ideal.

“Football is one thing, because it’s going to be a weekend game and one trip that week,” Dr. Harrison said. “When you get to the other sports, that’s different. Those are Tuesday or Wednesday games.”

Harrison also pointed out that basketball, in particular, has a problematic overlap where the first round of the playoffs in girls’ basketball coincides with the last week of the regular season in boys’ basketball.

“So, if the higher seed has a home boys’ game that night, which one rules?” Dr. Harrison said. “Does the playoff game kick the regular season game, or does it turn into a double-header? If the playoff game is earlier, that means the team that’s having to travel is going to have to get there even earlier, which makes it even more difficult.”

The TXHSFB coaches approached for this story agree that the mid-week games in other sports add a wrinkle to consider. But El Paso Andress’s Chris Taylor said the lack of divisions in other sports means there are more teams you can face in the playoffs that are nearer to you. For example, his football team is the only sport in school that plays a bi-district game out of town.  

“The bi-district round (in other sports) most of the time is not that big of a deal (travel-wise), because other sports are not broken down into Division I and Division II like in football,” Taylor said. “The districts are bigger, and the bi-district opponents are not as far away, at least for us.”

The debate isn’t about whether home-field advantage is deserved, it’s about where the line should be drawn when geography outweighs competitive reward. The UIL will use this year to formulate a proposal for the UIL Athletic Committee to consider.