SoCal Region--LA City Section CIF

The CIF (or California Interscholastic Federation) is the state association responsible for enacting bylaws which govern interscholastic athletic competition.

The State CIF is actually composed of 10 different "local" sections. LA City Section is one of those 10 sections. It is very much a part of, and governed by, the same rules which apply to all the other sections. All of the local sections, and every school which competes in CIF competition is governed by the State CIF Bylaws. Each section is entitled to adopt more stringent rules than those imposed by the State Bylaws.

The LA City Section consists of 63 member teams, divided into 9 different leagues. All teams within the LA City Section of the CIF are fielded from schools from high schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District (the second largest school district in the nation). All LA City Section schools are public schools.

Under CIF Bylaws, only players enrolled in high school are eligible for competition on a CIF team. This rule obviously applies to the LA City Section, which is just one of 10 other local sections of the CIF within California.

Geographically, the LA City Section covers the area within Los Angeles County depicted to in the graphic (right) in yellow. It consists generally of the entire City of Los Angeles located within the San Fernando Valley and the metropolitan region of the LA Basin, East LA, South-Central LA, Pacific Palisades, Hollywood, the San Pedro LA Harbor area, and other areas which technically lie in a few other incorporated cities in the region, i.e., San Fernando, Carson, Gardena, etc, (these cities have elected to remain within and under the governance of the the LA Unified School District rather than form their own school districts).

The portions of the map at right in red (and almost all of the unshaded white region as well) are areas within the CIF-Southern Section. The Southern Section, in contrast, also includes Ventura, LA and Orange Counties, as well as San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Riverside, San Bernardino, Mono and Inyo.

Private schools within the area shown in yellow which are not governed by nor a part of the LA Unified District are under the jurisdiction of the Southern Section, not the LA City Section even though they share the same geographic area.

LA City Section teams compete only in leagues against other LA City Section teams during the regular basketball season. There are intersectional competitions between teams from LA and Southern or other sections of the CIF in tournament and preseason play. While the results of such competition will be added to a team's overall record, and thus will impact a team's "ranking" for playoff seeding purposes, only regular league competition between and among LA City Section teams is used to determine eligibility for the playoffs.

For purely historical reasons, the LA City Section continues to have two separate playoff tournaments for both boys and girls basketball: A "City Championship" and an "Invitational Championship."

The City Championship tournament consists of 8 league champions who receive automatic entry (the Magnet Conference Champion does not receive an automatic bid) and up to 8 more teams chosen on the basis of a number of factors (including strength of schedule) by a "seeding committee." The seeding committee consists of LA City Section basketball coaches and its purpose is to construct the playoff brackets. The committee meets on the next Saturday following the conclusion of the last regular season game, and fills the 16-team bracket by placement of the 8 league champions, any co-champions, and other teams selected based on ranking by the committee. Again, only the top 16 teams are placed into the City Championship bracket.

The seeding committee also constructs the "Invitational" tournament bracket, another 16-team bracket, which consists of the next best 16 teams, those ranked by the committee as No. 17 through No. 36.

Both tournaments are conducted simultaneously, in both boys and girls brackets. Generally speaking, the City Championship's boys and girls title games are played on a Friday night at one location, and the City Invitational's boys and girls title games are held the following Saturday afternoon at a different location.

LA City Section is permitted to send two teams to the State Basketball Tournament, specifically the Southern Regionals. Only the winner and runner up of the City Championship compete in the State Championship Tournament. "Invitational" participants do not play in any other post-season competition, and the winner and runner up do not move on to the State tournament. (Historically, the winners only of both tournaments used to move on, with the winner of the "Invitational" competing at the Division II level, but no longer).

At present, all LA City Section schools, regardless of enrollment, are considered "Division I" for purposes of the State playoffs, even though the enrollment figures among and between LA City Section schools varies widely, and in fact there are several LA City schools with enrollments which would place them in divisions below D-I. There thus exists an obscure State CIF playoff rule which allows an LA City Section team to file a petition by December 15 (i.e., prior to playoffs) to elect to compete in the State Tournament at the Division II level instead of D-I. To date, no LA City Section team has ever elected to play in D-II.

The LA City Section's governance structure consists of the Interscholastic Athletic Committee, which has representatives from a number of fields within the LA Unified system, including high school principals, assistant principals, campus athletic directors, high school coaches, five student members, and one community representative.

The IAC has a number of committees which perform specific functions (e.g., rulemaking, propsing legislation, enforcement, etc.) in a wide variety of areas. The Committees for 2001 include: Rules Committee, Safety Committee, Officials Committee, Games Committee, Seeding Committees (Playoffs),
and the Finance Committee.

The IAC has a "Constitution" by which it governs itself. It is available online.

The LA City Section, like every other section within the CIF, is governed by the State Bylaws (which are available online). Pursuant to the rules of the State CIF, each local section may establish its own "local rules and regulations as long as they are no less stringent and do not violate state policy rules or intent."

The LA City Section's IAC has adopted its own additions and rules within this framework as well as their own interpretations of the State CIF Bylaws. While the actual text of the LA City Section's rules are not available online, the City Section has made it's rules interpretations with respect to "Student Eligibility" available online. Additionally, the City Section has also made available online many of the forms that apply with respect to student eligibility and transfers. Specific questions regarding eligibility, transfers, etc., should be first directed to the principal of the school involved, and then to the CIF's LA City Section office.