By Jim Taylor/RFD Radio

BLOOMINGTON – The state basketball tournament could be undergoing some significant changes over the next several years.

Declining attendance remains a concern and Illinois High School Association Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson said basically everything is on the table.

“It could mean bringing more teams back down to the tournament,” Gibson said. “It could mean playing championship games only. It could mean any number of things.”

Gibson said no changes are expected until after the current contract for the basketball finals in Peoria expires in 2020.

“That doesn’t mean there will be change when that contract expires, but it’s going to be a little difficult to do too much over the next few years because of the obligations we have,” Gibson said.

He added even the four-class system could get discussion if that’s what the member schools want.

“Whether that means we go back (to two classes) or whether they think that means there needs to be more, I don’t know, but if they came to us and said we need to take a look at the classification thing, we’d certainly do that,” Gibson said.

Gibson said the dividing line of the four classes may be the bigger issue, moving away from percentage and going to fixed number for cutoffs. The IHSA Board of Directors struck down such a proposal in April, but called on an ad hoc committee to continue to study the issue.