Soapbox: Maine High School Sports Should Use Pro/Rel to Classify Programs

 

High school sports in Maine kick off this week, so it's a good time to revisit my January op-ed in the Portland Press Herald about how promotion and relegation should be used to classify high school athletic programs instead of primarily relying on school enrollment:

[A]chieving some level of competitiveness and parity in Maine high school athletics has been an ongoing discussion across a variety of sports in recent years. And there have been numerous ideas, debates, and possible solutions offered. The most straightforward, predictable, and effective solution would be to require promotion and relegation after each season, which is the norm in international soccer (and other international sports) when determining appropriate levels of competition.