Since the WIAA membership reinstated eight-player football in Wisconsin in 2012, participation has quadrupled, going from 16 teams that first year to 66 in the 2024 season.

The reduced-player game is mostly an option for smaller schools, allowing them to continue to play, and often be more competitive, while maintaining their identity by not becoming part of a co-op program or dropping football altogether.

Here’s a look at the game:

What is eight-player high school football?

The game is, as its name indicates, played with three fewer players per side than traditional football, a tweak that allows programs that otherwise might not have enough players to still compete.

An offense is limited to three interior lineman and has one fewer eligible receiver. Defenses operate with one fewer level of secondary.

Reduced-player football dates to the Great Depression, with the six-man game beginning in Nebraska in 1934.

Is a standard field used for eight-player football?

National rules call for a field 80 yards long instead of 100 and 140 feet wide rather than 160, but the WIAA permits an exception.

So in Wisconsin, 100 yards is considered the standard length – that avoids schools needing to move goal posts if they change from eight- to 11-player or vice versa – while fields are narrowed by 20 feet. A few Wisconsin teams do play on 80-yard fields, said Chad Schultz, an assistant director for the WIAA who oversees eight-player football.

When did eight-player football begin in Wisconsin?

Reduced-player football became an option for Wisconsin high schools in 1937 with a six-player version, and eight-player came along in shortly thereafter.

How many eight-player high school football teams are there in Wisconsin?

Sixty-six programs are fielding eight-player teams in the 2024 season, and 50 of those teams are playoff eligible, according to the WIAA.

Those 16 teams ineligible for the playoffs may exceed enrollment caps or may initially have committed to 11-player football for 2024-25.

Before World War II, there were as many as 90 schools taking part in Wisconsin’s six- or eight-player options.

The WIAA didn’t sanction reduced-player football once the modern playoff system came to be in 1976 but reinstated the sport in 2012, when 16 teams took part.

Why do some Wisconsin schools opt for eight-player football?

When short on numbers, schools can face the choice of forming co-op programs with others schools, moving to the eight-player game or dropping the sport altogether, coaches and administrators say. With eight-player, the program maintains its school identity and has a greater opportunity to be competitive, which in turn tends to increase interest and participation.

Decreasing overall enrollment and additional extracurricular offerings for students that have cut into football participation are the general reasons offered as to why programs have made the change from 11-player football.

South Shore, a school that sits along Lake Superior in Port Wing with 68 students, is the smallest school to play a game this season. Cambria-Friesland with 113 is the smallest to compete in 11-player, and Middleton with 2,388 is the largest.

Is eight-player football an option for large WIAA member high schools?

Although only teams with a three-year enrollment average of 200 or fewer are eligible for the playoffs, larger schools can play.

One example: Wausau East has had about 1,000 students, but coming out of the COVID-19-affected 2020 season was left with few juniors and seniors in its football program, so it took part in eight-player in 2021. The team went 1-5.

Which Wisconsin high school has won the most eight-player football championships?

Newman Catholic of Wausau has won two championships (2021, 2022) since the playoffs began in 2018. Newman and Luck are the only programs to have played in three championship games.

Which Wisconsin high schools have qualified for the eight-player football playoffs most?

Two-time champion Newman Catholic, defending-champion Florence, Northwood/Solon Springs and Oakfield all have made the playoffs five times.

Gibraltar, Chippewa Falls McDonell Catholic, Shell Lake and Wabeno/Laona have qualified four times.

Wisconsin, a Midwestern U.S. state known for its dairy farms and beer production, has emerged as a crucial battleground in the 2024 presidential election. With a history of extremely close races, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes could determine who becomes the next president. The state’s unique mix of urban and rural voters, along with key issues like the economy and abortion rights, make it a microcosm of the nation’s political divide.

The economic relationship between Wisconsin family farms and the rural communities that surround them is changing.

UW-Madison agricultural and applied economics professor Steve Deller said that smaller farms are struggling to generate enough income to support themselves, so families are more often turning to off-farm employment to help pay the bills.

Deller said this represents a reversal from the historical dynamic of the farm, where the agricultural operations were supporting the rural communities around them.

He joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to share his latest research on the decline of family farms in the state and how nearby towns and villages support them.

The following was edited for clarity and brevity.

Kate Archer Kent: What kind of declines are you seeing in Wisconsin farms?

Steve Deller: We’re seeing, basically, consolidation. Farms are getting bigger. It’s economies of scale. There was a period in the 1980s and 1990s where it kind of stabilized a little bit, but we’re seeing that pattern of further consolidation returning.

What they’re doing is, they’re selling the herds off to other, larger farms, furthering the consolidation. So the number of milking cows is actually relatively stable. It goes up and down a little bit, but what we’re seeing is that more and more of that herd is being concentrated in fewer, larger farms. 

KAK: How is this affecting jobs and the need for off-farm employment to support farms?

SD: The traditional thought is that, for a healthy rural economy, you have to have healthy agriculture. The flow of economic benefits goes from the farm to the rural communities. But when you start to look at the financing of the farm family or the farm household, the data is really suggesting something very, very different. 

Historically, someone would get a job off-farm primarily to get health insurance. Increasingly, that off-farm income is keeping the farm afloat. It’s keeping the family afloat, and because the family is now financially stable, because of that off-farm income, the farm is able to continue to operate.

KAK: Are there enough reliable off-farm jobs available in surrounding rural communities?

SD: If you start to look at a reasonable commuting distance, it really kind of opens up a lot of opportunities. And when you get into many of these rural communities, there’s still labor shortages. We’ve been generating more jobs than we have people for years. So the opportunity for off-farm employment is actually pretty good, particularly if you’re willing to drive a little bit.

KAK: How should this trend influence public policy for these rural communities?

SD:  I think the takeaway from this research is that we have to think about the relationship between the farm and rural communities differently.

The policy implication is that, if you want to maintain a farming economy — maintain those family farms, those medium sized, intermediate sized farms — you have to make sure that there’s good-paying, off-farm employment that has good benefits.

So the idea is that now we have to look at this more holistically, and we have to look at how farming and the local business community work together more.

KAK: What do we lose when we lose the small family farm?

SD: I think it’s part of our culture. I think it’s part of the way that we view ourselves. From a purely economic perspective — if I put my cold-hearted economist hat on — these really small farms don’t impact the local economy that much. But it’s a cultural dimension. It’s part of who we are. There’s pride in it. It’s part of our identity.

Also, if you look at things like farmers markets, a lot of the local foods are from these smaller farms. So if we want to maintain local food systems, in order for those farms to maintain, there has to be off-farm income.