Nevada’s NIAA recently approved football playoff format rescinded

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) decided on Wednesday that it will not move forward with the new realignment/playoff structure for Class 5A/4A Southern football teams.

According to a USA Today report, the NIAA changed course on the new postseason structure due to potential legal action by the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. The legal action was revealed when it was included in the NIAA meeting packet, per the report.

Report when on to say that the Archdiocese claimed the BOD “violated multiple state and federal laws” when it came to the late November 2025 vote that passed unanimously among administrators. The Archdiocese had alleged that Clark County principals violated open meeting rules by gathering privately to construct a 10‑team Southern Class 5A classification.

The new structure that was voted and passed by a 10-0 vote back in late November was slated to start for the 2026 high school football season.

The format would have also been the beginning of a new 10-team Open Division, comprising of mostly southern teams in the state. The new structure had looked to move on from the HRM points rating system used this in the 2025 season for 5A/4A southern region teams, which was in its first year of implementation.

If the format stood, Bishop Gorman would have been regulated to playing nine in-state league contests and left with potentially the chance of one non-league game, leaving little room to play nationally ranked opponents.

The Gaels, the No. 5 ranked team in the final Rivals’ National High School Football Composite Rankings, played a national schedule this past 2025 regular season that featured five opponents outside of the state of Nevada. Bishop Gorman played No. 21 Mater Dei, No. 7 Santa Margarita Catholic, Lone Peak (UT), Kahuku (HI) and East St. Louis (Ill.).

In the eight games Bishop Gorman has played against Nevada-based opponents, the Gaels out-scored them by a combined 355-13. The Gaels ended up defeating Arbor View, 44-7, for the NIAA’s Open Division state championship.

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