“This isn’t about football. This isn’t about Butler.”

Golden Tornado athletic director Bill Mylan — weighing in on Butler’s proposal to the PIAA Strategic Planning Committee earlier this week for relegation of athletic teams, possibly ‘dropping down’ in classification — is adamant this is for the overall good of high school sports in Pennsylvania.

“Once we submitted the proposal, I received about 10 emails from other schools supporting it, telling me it’s a good idea,” Mylan said.

The idea of the proposal is to create more competitive balance in the PIAA. It would enable teams who repeatedly lose by lopsided scores within their classification year after year to move down to a level where they could be competitive.

In some cases, such a rule — which already exists in 18 states, by the way — could save a school’s particular sport from folding due to a lack of interest.

Mylan used a soccer team that’s lost 68 consecutive section games over a period of years as one example and said “there are plenty of other examples out there.”

While Butler football is clearly one of those teams, the adaptation of this relegation proposal would not affect the Golden Tornado in the short term.

The PIAA begins a new two-year cycle in 2024-25, meaning it would take at least a couple of years before this proposal could become reality.

But you have to start somewhere.

Part of Butler’s agreement in dropping its football lawsuit against the WPIAL and PIAA last year was giving it the option to submit a relegation proposal of some kind to the state. That’s exactly what the school opted to do.

Just the fact Mylan received 10 emails of support from other school districts shows Butler is not alone in this situation. While the Tornado’s issue is football, the relegation would cover all sports within the PIAA.

Yes, you can argue that it’s up to the high school to build its own athletic programs to the point where thy can compete against schools of similar enrollment. That’s great in theory.

It’s just not reality.

Many schools have instances where they have not been competitive in a certain sport for years, The “why” doesn’t matter. The experience of a high school athlete participating in a sport does.

This isn’t the pros. This isn’t major college. These kids don’t receive a dime to play ... In fact, they are paying to play in most cases. And these coaches receive supplemental pay that doesn’t come close to compensating them for the extra hours of work they put in.

These kids should have a chance to compete and enjoy a positive athletic experience rather than be ridiculed within a community or laughed at by their peers — and maybe eventually losing a chance to play the sport they love for their school.

Should the relegation proposal be adopted?

At the very least, it should be strongly considered.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle