Football: New proposal for bowl games to be discussed at Council meeting

The Southern Section Council is set to meet on Thursday, and among the issues to be discussed is the first reading of a state proposal to revamp the regional and state championship football bowl games.

Currently, 18 of 51 section football champions compete in bowl games. The proposal would allow all section champions to be part of the bowl games. Teams would be slotted based on competitive equity.

There would be two Open Divisions. The first would be for all teams regardless of enrollment and teams selected would get a bye into the final.

The second would be for all teams with enrollment of 1,250 or less.

Jeff Williams, the Palmdale football coach who is a member of the advisory committee, offered a strong recommendation in support of the proposal.

“I think it’s a good idea that all of our section champions qualify for a bowl game,” he said.

Also being proposed is a rule that would make it mandatory for adults coaching bases in baseball and softball to wear a protective helmet.

Another proposal would expand the regional girls’ volleyball playoffs in Divisions I through V from eight to 16 teams beginning in 2016-17. Sections would have to move their championship week to one week earlier.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer