Football: IHSA moves up start of football practice

Following the conclusion of voting at midnight Thursday, the IHSA announced Friday that member schools voted to approve a special by-law proposal for the 2026 IHSA football season to move the start of practice up to Wednesday, Aug. 5.

In addition, each player will be required to complete 12 days of on-field practices. That excludes Sundays and requires one and a half hours per player per practice before they are eligible to compete in their first contest.

The proposal passed by a margin of 290 to 245 with 67 voting no opinion. Voting opened Jan. 29 and 75% of the IHSA membership cast a ballot in the special election.

Member schools voted in December to expand the playoffs by one week, and as a result, it reduced the required number of practices prior to the first contest to nine practices. Following that vote, the IHSA conducted extensive discussions with the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and other state and national leaders on player safety, which ultimately led the IHSA Board of Directors to initiate the process of a special vote to address both.

“Despite the cumbersome nature of the process, I am confident this outcome is in the best interest of student-athlete safety,” said Craig Anderson. “We recognize that our member schools may bring forward ideas to alter the 2027 football season schedule as a result, and we welcome that. However, given that we are less than six months from the season, we believe this is a positive result that provides scheduling clarity for teams, coaches, and student-athletes ahead of the 2026 season, while prioritizing safety.”