The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s executive board is just more than a month away from drafting an initial proposal to keep athletes from playing for one school year if they transfer to another school within a certain mile radius.

The executive board is seeking more input from the AIA’s member schools on the 50-mile rule before a proposal is sent for a vote during the AIA’s legislative council meeting on March 1. An initial draft for the new rule will be presented during the Jan. 22 board meeting.

The exact mile figure for the rule is unknown yet. AIA executive director Dr. Harold Slemmer first proposed the idea of the 50-mile rule about eight months ago.

Highlights from Monday’s board meeting

During Monday’s monthly executive board meeting at the Phoenix office of the AIA, the board also advised Peoria Centennial’s football program and Casa Grande Vista Grande’s wrestling program that they each violated the recruiting rule.

Each program has 10 days to file appeals if they decide to do so.

Other decisions that were made and topics that were discussed during Monday’s meeting:

• Phoenix Carl Hayden football, Flagstaff Northland Prep boys basketball, Tempe Marcos de Niza swim/dive and Marana swim/dive and cross country will remain in the divisions they were originally placed in or were approved for during the next two school years.
• The board might raise the dollar amount (from $200 to $1,000) in gifts that an Arizona high school athlete can receive at an event he/she were invited to compete in. 

“It’s been a long time since we looked at that rule,” said AIA board president Art Wagner about why the board might update the rule.

The current dollar amount is very low compared to other states, Wagner added.

• The football advisory committee will look at the possibility and challenges of having Division III, IV and V football teams host first and second round games. D-I and II teams host playoff games, but the lower divisions have to travel to neutral sites.

The football advisory committee also will address the possibility of decreasing or increasing the amount of football teams that reach the postseason in each division. Currently, the D-I-V state brackets are each filled with 16 teams, and in D-VI 12 teams reach the postseason.