PREPS MAC, TAC, ICL discuss four-tiered conference

It's still in the preliminary stages and Campbell Memorial is involved.
VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
Inter-County League officials met with representatives from the Metro Athletic Conference and the Trumbull Athletic Conference Wednesday to discuss the possibility of forming a four-tiered athletic conference.
"It's very preliminary," said one league official. "We're sort of throwing out ideas like bait in the water and reeling it in to see what's on the end of it."
The TAC and the MAC have been talking about forming a tiered conference for months. League officials decided the idea would work better if more teams were involved, which is why ICL officials were invited to attend. Campbell Memorial High was also involved, the official said.
"It wasn't a long meeting," the official said. "I would say something might happen in the next couple weeks, but that's about it. We're shooting darts and seeing what happens."
Not new idea
Forming tiered conferences isn't a new idea. Just about every league in the area is struggling with inequality among member schools.
Hubbard, for instance, has nearly twice as many students as TAC rival LaBrae.
"We're just trying to alleviate the problems of having the big schools play the small schools," the official said.
Especially in football.
"A great deal of this is football-driven," the official said. "No doubt about it."
The MAC is especially interested in expansion since Alliance -- which just joined this season -- will leave for the Northeastern Buckeye Conference in 2005. Salem, which talked with the NBC last summer, is no longer looking to leave, but it's clear the MAC would like to have a more stable situation.
Pursuing other options
The ICL, however, is still pursuing other expansion opportunities. The league recently added Sebring, which will leave the Tri-County League. The TCL has added Wellsville.
The ICL and the TCL had discussed forming a tiered conference, but the idea was scrapped.
The ICL is still looking to add at least one more team, which could happen in the next few weeks.