High School football in Illinois will likely begin one week earlier this year. The IHSA or ‘Illinois High School Association’ sat down for a meeting on Wednesday to address concerns about player safety following changes coming in the 2026 football season. The proposed amendment would move the first official practice date from Monday, August 10th, 2026, to Wednesday, August 5th, 2026. This would restore the requirement that players complete 12 official practices before becoming eligible to compete in an IHSA game.

The Board approved action for IHSA President Dan Tully to call a special meeting of the IHSA Legislative Commission on January 27th, to also consider adjusting the start of football practice statewide. The proposal follows a recommendation from the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and is directly effected by the recent membership vote to expand the IHSA football playoffs beginning in 2026. That expansion pushed the season start back by one week, affecting both practice dates and the number of allowable preseason sessions. 

The Legislative Commission will meet January 27th to decide whether the proposal advances to a vote of the full IHSA membership. If approved, every member school will be able to cast one vote beginning January 29th. Voting will close on February 12th, and a simple majority would put the changes in place for the 2026 football season.

While football scheduling dominated the meeting, the Board also approved unrelated administrative items, including governance updates, policy revisions and a cooperative agreement in eight-player football. Those actions did not affect the proposed changes to the 2026 football schedule.

If adopted, the earlier practice start and restored practice requirement would be the final adjustments needed to align the football calendar with the expanded playoff format approved by IHSA members in December 2025.

More information can be found at www.ihsa.org.