MONTGOMERY – The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Central Board of Control approved E-Sports competition for member schools and Instant Replay for football games at its board meeting at the AHSAA Office Thursday.
The AHSAA Legislative Council also met Thursday afternoon and ratified four legislative proposals – which go into effect for the 2018-19 school year.
The AHSAA received permission from the NFHS to begin instant replay for regular-season varsity football games beginning next season. The permission grants up to three years of experimentation. DVSport Inc., the nation’s top instant replay company, is partnering with the AHSAA on the project. A separate news release outlining the Instant Replay was sent out Thursday following a press conference that was held at the AHSAA Office.
E-Sports is a new online gaming activity that allows students to compete with other schools and will now be offered to AHSAA member school students. The Central Board approved a two-year experiment for E-Sports. The program is being provided by NFHS Network Partner PlayVS.
The Central Board also approved limiting high school basketball teams to 30 games in the regular season, including tournaments, and lifted the restriction on the number of tournaments a team can play in. The 2017-18 rule allowed varsity teams to play 20 regular-season games and three regular-season tournaments with two being played with no loss of school time. Junior high and middle schools will be allowed to play 24 games total.
The Board voted to move the site of the South Regional Basketball Tournament, which had been at the Dothan Civic Center the last six years, to Montgomery. The new format will have two regionals at Montgomery – at Alabama State University’s Oliver-Dunn Acadome and the new site, Garrett Coliseum, which seats 8,500 with the ability to add an additional 4,000 seats. The regionals will be renamed Southeast and Southwest. The Northeast Regional will remain at Jacksonville State and the Northwest Regional will remain at Wallace-Hanceville.
University Charter School of Livingston was approved for membership into the AHSAA, making it the first public charter school member in AHSAA history.