The ball has moved steadily downfield for several months now toward reorganization from two to three classifications of high school football on Oahu.

Whether it gets punched into the end zone in time for this fall’s upcoming season or next year — or if at all — is unknown.

It’s an idea many, including I, have championed, some for decades, in the interest of competitive balance. And those two words — “competitive balance” — keep some from buying in.

According to Raymond Fujino, executive director of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, the island’s public school league has already decided this is a no-go for 2016.

There are so many moving parts, though, that anything could happen. But too many unanswered questions remain to expect the new concept to be unveiled in three months.

Sources say there’s plenty of big money behind the concept, funding that is sorely needed by the public schools.

It would entail a “super conference” of 10 of the island’s most powerful programs, regardless of public or private school affiliation. The popularity (and profitability) of a season of great matchups, week-after-week, would be just one benefit of such a reorganization. Competitive balance works on both sides of the equation, as the addition of a third tier has the potential to save some small-enrollment schools’ programs from extinction; their schedule would include teams from similar situations, meaning fewer blowouts and fewer forfeits.

Today, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu principals are scheduled to vote on whether to move ahead and propose that its private schools and the public schools compete against each other in the same football conference for the first time since the public schools broke away from the ILH in 1970.

Obviously, that’s the only way a three-conference format can work on a two-league island.

ILH buy-in is generally perceived as automatic, as it is the entity most eager for this to happen. But something intended to appease the OIA could be a major sticking point. Reportedly, part of the proposal requires a football student-athlete who transfers from a public school to a private school to sit out two years before being eligible to play.

Believe it or not, some kids change schools for reasons other than football, and some of them happen to be kids who would like to play football.

Could installing a two-year sit-out rule open the door for litigation, especially if such a rule is only applied to football and not other sports … maybe even other competitive interscholastic activities, not just sports?

The OIA’s concern about ILH getting first crack at much of the best talent is legit to some degree. But here’s a news flash: The public schools recruit, too.

Another question: Do three classes of Oahu football mean there needs to be three classes of state tournament? Not necessarily so, and the “progress” of moving up from two classes to three when it comes to states basically unintentionally puts us back to where we were when the OIA and ILH played for a mythical state championship called the Prep Bowl … with no access for the champions of the leagues on Maui, Kauai or the Big Island.

On Monday, the Maui News reported that the Maui Interscholastic League would not be interested at this time in playing in the proposed Open Division, or “super conference,” for football. Of course not — for one thing, travel costs would be prohibitive.

But when it comes to the state tournament, the champions of the neighbor island leagues should still have access to the top classification of state championship. Expand both state tourneys to eight teams each. The champion and perhaps runner-up of the lowest Oahu conference could advance with the best of the middle tier to the Division II tournament.

Most administrators and coaches and developers and sponsors of the proposal don’t want to be quoted about it. They know regardless of how good an idea it is they don’t want to be too closely associated to it if it doesn’t come to fruition.

ILH executive director Blane Gaison spoke about it Monday, but only in very general terms.

“We’re talking about a concept. This thing got out, and it was just talk. When we get to where we’d like to be, we’ll make it publicly known,” he said.

My bet is three levels for high school football on Oahu will become reality, but not until next year at the earliest. The questions above, and others, must be addressed thoroughly.

The entire state can benefit. But not if potential legal issues aren’t anticipated, and not if going forward also means in effect going back to the Prep Bowl era for the neighbor islands, with access only to consolation prizes.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.