MOSES LAKE - The Columbia Basin Big Nine Conference (CBBN) will be sporting a new look come the fall as Richland, Chiawana and Walla Walla are opting out of the league.

Superintendents from the Richland, Pasco and Kennewick School District's met Friday to form a new league with seven Tri-Cities area schools.

Those schools include Richland (4A), Chiawana (4A), Pasco (4A), Walla Walla (4A), Hanford (3A), Kamiakin (3A) Kennewick (3A), and Southridge (3A). The decision to opt out was officially announced Monday.

"We received a letter from the Tri-Cities school district superintendents Friday informing us of their decision," Moses Lake School District Superintendent Michelle Price said. "We wanted to try and stay together as a North-South league, but we couldn't agree to the same bi-laws."

The principals involved in the decision making process for the Tri-Cities schools wanted to abolish the current divisions that were classification based. But they needed a super majority vote to overturn the ruling and didn't get it, so they pulled out choosing to form a league along geographical lines instead.

The rationality for the teams seceding from the CBBN was to help ease the state's education budget cuts with less travel to places such as Moses Lake and Wenatchee. Superintendents also wanted to keep kids in the classroom longer, have more parents be able to attend games, and enhance local rivalries.

The biggest variable in the decision-making process for the Tri-Cities schools seemed to hinge on spending the needed money to travel to outlying areas. But the majority of schools in Eastern Washington are faced with the same issue as geographical locations dictate so.

"We all have to do it," Moses Lake Athletic Director Loren Sandhop said. "Our nearest competitor is 70 miles away. But if they (the Tri-Cites schools) aren't willing to come here during the regular season, we sure weren't willing to go down there for the playoffs."

The five teams remaining in the CBBN are Moses Lake (4A), Eisenhower (4A), Davis (4A), Wenatchee (4A), Eastmont, which is a 3A school district that will be moving up to 4A in the fall, and 3A Sunnyside. All six teams will continue to abide with the same bi-laws currently in place.

"Eisenhower and Davis are members of District 5 and will be petitioning the WIAA to join Moses Lake, Wenatchee and Eastmont in District 6," Sandhop said. "The move would allow the five schools to be able to generate a state berth because the WIAA distributes state allocations based on districts and not leagues."

The upheaval in the CBBN supposedly began in December when Eastmont incorrectly reported its numbers to the WIAA. Once the mistake was discovered the Wildcats were told they had to move up to the 4A classification.

But Sandhop says the realignment has been brewing for a long time.

"This has been an ongoing issue since 2004 and it finally reached the boiling point," he said. "It's unfortunate the league broke a part, but it will be better for our kids in the long run."

The benefits for the six teams remaining in the CBBN from an athletic stand point include playing opponents twice in football, wrestling and soccer with each having a home game or match. Basketball and baseball teams will play each other three times in league play. But the biggest impact may be the increased odds of making the state playoffs as the cross over games with the teams that dropped out will be eliminated.

"I like the chances being made, "Moses Lake football coach Todd Griffith said. "Playing each other twice will make the league more competitive. We are used to playing teams only once, and now we get a second look at all of them so it should be a pretty good chess match between coaches as we prepare for a second encounter."

 As far as the possibility of losing rivals with the realignment, Griffith said that really won't come into play for his team.

"Our biggest rivalry is Wenatchee. And Eisenhower is a good solid team and they are both still in the league," he said. "We played well against the likes of Richland and Chiawana, but I wouldn't consider them rivals although the kids really got up for those games."

Sandhop said the CBBN has a long history of change as the league switched to its current format in 2010.

"The league began in 1965 and was originally called the Columbia Basin Big Eight," he said. "Since 1995, the Big Nine has added six schools that had been reclassified or created, including Chiawana in 2009."

West Valley in Yakima decided last week against opting up to the 3A classification and will join the CWAC. To make room for the Rams Sandhop said Quincy High School will move to the Caribou Trail League to join the likes of Cashmere and Cascade High School in Leavenworth.

There are no plans in the works at this time to rename the CBBN even though there are only six teams left in the conference. Play gets underway in the restructured Big Nine in September.