03/13/2026
AHSAA Central Board Approves Winter & Spring
Sports Alignments for 2026-27 and 2027-28 School Years
MONTGOMERY – The Alabama High School Athletic Association Central Board of Control (CBOC) has approved school alignments for the winter sports and spring sports for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.
The CBOC’s unanimous action came during a virtual meeting held Friday, March 13. Fall sports alignments were approved in January. Winter sports alignments included basketball, bowling, indoor track, and wrestling. Spring sports alignments included tennis, golf, soccer, outdoor track & field, softball, and baseball.
“I want to thank the Central Board and AHSAA staff for their dedicated effort and input,” AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon said. “As always, it was a difficult job, but everyone worked together to find the best solution as we move forward.”
The CBOC also approved default dates for area tournament play for volleyball, voted to raise the fee for flag football officials, and heard a report concerning implementation of the shot clock for high school basketball and agreed to study the plan and vote on the implementation of the plan at the April meeting.
Alignments for fall, winter and spring sports were based on the number of schools declaring to participate in each sport for the upcoming 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years and the student enrollment numbers used for reclassification of schools which were released earlier this year in January. The CBOC placed public schools in six classifications, and independent schools were placed in two classifications for the next classification period.
Some sports may include two or more classes in a division based on number of declared participants.
The alignments for each sport in a class are published in the online AHSAA Sports Book each year.
Reclassification, according to the AHSAA Constitution and By-Laws, is conducted every two years by the AHSAA Central Board of Control.
The reclassification alignment data for each sport will be available online on Friday, March 13 by 2 p.m., at the following link:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Schools/2026-2028-Classification-Alignments
Among the items discussed at Friday’s virtual meeting, the CBOC heard a detailed report from Executive Director Heath Harmon concerning implementing the shot clock for varsity basketball and agreed to study the plan and vote on implementation at the April meeting.
The CBOC approved accepting independent schools Hope Christian of Oxford, Snook Christian of Foley, and Kingdom Heights of Huntsville for the upcoming 2026-27 school year. All three schools will be placed in the Independent Schools Class A classification.
The CBOC discussed the mercy rule for basketball and agreed to revisit that discussion at the April meeting.
Approved default dates for volleyball areas to play their post-season area tournaments. If areas decide to not use the dates listed in the 2026-27 Sports Book, they must agree at the preseason area meeting to use the default dates and report that action to the AHSAA.
Approved increasing the fee for flag football officials from $40 to $75, which would make it equal to fees for sub-varsity boys’ football.
Approved changing the time for intermission at the Flag Football Championship contests from 23 minutes (at the 2025 championships) to 15 minutes beginning next school year. Schools will continue to have five-minute intermissions during the regular season.
Discussed Cheer competition divisions for championship competition but did not take any official action.
Discussed the AHSAA state wrestling duals championships but did not take any official action.
Set the next Central Board Meeting for April 15, 2026, at the AHSAA in Montgomery.
