Launched to address inequity among high school hockey and baseball teams, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's so-called Super 8 tournaments have been shelved until 2025.
As reported by masslive.com, the MIAA’s Tournament Management Committee passed a recommendation, 12-2, Thursday that suspends the playing of Division 1A tournaments, also known as Super 8, until at least July 1, 2025.
Division 1A tournaments came into existence starting in 1991 with boys' hockey, and a Division 1A tournament for baseball started in 2014.
The tournaments were created due to the dominance of a handful of programs at the D-I level in those sports. Eight Division I teams are selected by a committee to compete in the tournaments instead of the traditional tournament staged for all Division I teams.
This system was created to make the Division I tournament more equitable, but Sandwich Superintendent Pam Gould, who also serves on the TMC, said during Thursday’s meeting that Division 1A tournaments have created more inequity.
According to masslive.com, Gould said during Thursday’s meeting that Division 1A tournaments being double-elimination and games being held at better venues puts the tournaments on an unequal footing compared to other divisional tournaments. She went on to say that with the MIAA transitioning to a statewide format for Division 1A tournaments might no longer be necessary and that there has been more parity in recent years when it comes to teams qualifying for the tournament.
Since it started in 2014, 20 teams have qualified for the baseball Division 1A tournament.
Gould went on to say that waiting until 2025 to see how the statewide format plays out and then reevaluating will give the committee an opportunity to see if there is still a need for Division 1A tournaments.
“This time will allow us the ability to assess where the dominance is and does it exist the way we thought it did 10, 20 years ago,” Gould said.
Before the vote Gould reiterated that the recommendation would not do away with Division 1A tournaments indefinitely and that the pause would be used to access data to either support or deny the continuation of the baseball and hockey tournaments, according to masslive.com. Once the four year recess is over, the committee will access if hockey, baseball and other sports like football and volleyball are in need of a Division 1A tournament.
