The Illinois High School Association announced this week that its football playoffs will expand in 2026, with 128 new teams taking part in the postseason.
According to a press release, the field for the playoffs will expand from 256 to 384 teams for 2026, bringing in a slew of new teams in each of the eight divisions of the football postseason.
“Too often throughout the years, football decisions have negatively impacted other sports at IHSA schools,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson in a statement. ” We are hopeful that this football playoff expansion will provide intended relief to our schools by stabilizing conference movement and eliminating the difficulty of scheduling football games that many of our schools face each year. It may create some short-term complications for some schools, conferences, and coaches, but we remain optimistic it will create long-term stability in football and beyond.”
According to the IHSA, the playoff field will expand from 32 teams in each division to 48, and the season will begin one week earlier in 2026, with the first games played on August 20 instead of August 27, replacing what had typically been used as a scrimmage.
The expanded playoffs, which will also begin one week earlier than in previous years, will feature 32 teams playing in the first round in each division. A total of 16 teams in each division will receive first-round byes, according to the IHSA.
According to Shaw Media reporter Steve Soucie, under the expanded format all teams with at least three wins would have reached the playoffs in 2025 had the expanded field been in place. Nearly half of the IHSA’s 2-7 teams would have also reached the postseason.
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