In a little more than a week -- Friday Sept. 25 to be exact -- the AIA Legislative Council will convene for a special session that looks in all likelihood  will harken back to alignment, scheduling and vocabulary familiar to membership folk of a decade ago. (Note -- start thinking of schools as competing in conferences and regions instead of divisions and sections).

That bid for change is fine. It's a change -- a reversal of field to the old way when membership had direct control - that possesses a nice framework. But it will only work if motives for doing it benefit the whole rather than a part or parts.

What essentially is on the table is expanding alignment in the state from five to six conferences for the 270 member schools. Rather than allowing schools to pick and choose which conference they prefer to be in by sport as it was for this year, schools would have an all-or-nothing choice for their entire athletic program for the next two-year block -- 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

This shot at change is reasonable and makes things like scheduling a bit easier since uniformity will be in. The caveat, which doesn't seem to be in vogue with this impending change, is separating football from the other sports. In fact I would say leave football alone -- or at least align it for the next two-year block as it was done last winter for the current year.

It's still early, but the way the 2015 football alignment is playing out and the criteria developed to help determine placement in the numbers-game sport is a big hit from my vantage point. The 10 Phoenix Union district schools were placed in Division III this year and in the same section. It's on its way to being a home run. Eight of the 10 have already won a game and either Trevor Browne or Camelback will be No. 9 when they play on Friday. Most of the Metro teams could end up with at least three wins. That's better than going 0-10 and getting outscored 500-50 in a 10-game schedule as used to be the case.

And guess what. While many other schools and districts are foaming at the mouth to make the playoffs, win a state title or even go to a high school bowl game, Phoenix Union schools are likely to get a few more kids to come out and enjoy the high school athletic experience. And isn't that the reason for athletics. Simple participation as the primary goal.

The better programs -- even some with enrollment lower than what would normally place them in a division higher -- are doing just fine in their new, tougher home. There are certainly some exceptions, but that's what I'm talking about here. The collective good vs. the me good.

I sat in on a enough conference meetings a decade or more ago that had region chairs, athletic directors and or coaches brawling like dogs in a dog-fightng ring. Some folks were willing to compromise. Others wanted what they wanted no matter what. The willing-to-compromise crowd got weary and bowed to the "If you can't beat 'em,  join 'em crowd". So much jealousy and distrust evolved that the method became a painstaking process every two years that noone looked forward to addressing. The membership hands-on approach essentially evaporated over time.

If  the reversal in process next week through Legislative Council approval takes place -- great. But if I was doing it,  I'd certainly want to know that my brethren are honest in being for the many and not the few. And don't touch football. Let it have a few more downs before punting it away. 

The above commentary is just that -- commentary by the writer and does not reflect opinion of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, its staff and or executive board.