State bowl games to continue, be expanded

The CIF-State Federated Council has approved its continuation of the football playoff bowl games and has also decided to expand them, said a CIF-State news release.

The bowl games were a two-year pilot program. In the future, the sytem will expand from three games to five, with dates and sites to be determined no later than June 2008, the release said.

"I'm excited about the Federated Council's decision to increase the football championships to five divisions. It gives more schools, individuals and communities an opportunity to participate in a state championshp event," said CIF-State Executive Director and former Santa Cruz High School principal Marie Ishida in the release.

"Now the work begins. We will immediately be sending out RFP's (request for proposals) for a location or locations for the games. What develops from those proposals will help dictate the format of the event in terms of whether the games take place at single or multiple sites."

"The two-year pilot was deemed successful by all those involved. The participating schools and communities rallied around their teams and has positive experiences at the championship game. Corporate sponsors saw benefit in this event and were eager to partner with CIF. And the games were profitable which provided additional revenue to support all member schools by lowering the costs of CIF's Educational Programs, including the mandatory Coaching Education Program."