On Monday, May 4, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) voted on three proposed changes to three sports: basketball, lacrosse, and flag football.
The first vote was about the addition of a shot clock for both Boys and Girls Basketball, as 31 states before New Jersey had already done. In a 170-166 vote, the shot clock will now be a feature of NJ high school basketball, starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
One concern on the mind of many athletic directors across the Garden State is budgeting, as shot clocks will not be cheap, and to buy multiple will be a larger expense than seen in previous years.
The shot clock will be 35 seconds, different from the collegiate 30 seconds, and the NBA 24 seconds.
The second vote was again about a shot clock, however for lacrosse, and this vote didn’t go the same way as the basketball vote.
The vote was 166-149 against the addition of an 80-second lacrosse shot clock. 21 athletic directors abstained from voting.
The third vote of the day was by far the most progressive and positive. Flag football has been in club status for a few years, but now the NJSIAA will sanction it as a varsity sport, starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
Support from NFL teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Jets and the New York Giants has helped Flag Football’s popularity among students grow.
More than 68,800 girls played high-school flag football in 2024, forcing the hand of many state scholastic associations, like New Jersey’s NJSIAA.
Flag football is the newest sanctioned varsity sport in New Jersey, the 35th in the state, and the first since 2024 when women’s ice hockey became a sanctioned sport.
Excitement will be through the roof for next year’s basketball season, as buzzer-beater shots can happen more often, and the energy at the Hawk’s Nest will be loud, and tough for opposing teams to play through.
Votes like these show the progression of the NJSIAA. They sanction a wide variety of sports, and there will almost certainly be more added as the years go on.
