It’s not likely fans will notice much difference next fall when the 2014-15 high school sports season begins. Coaches will see big changes, however, and players and their parents, too, are likely to be aware of differences.

The Oregon School Activities Association has been working with school districts around the state to redraw athletic leagues in a way that keeps everyone reasonably happy while generally cutting travel time and with it the expense of high school sports.

Perhaps the biggest change comes in a newly reformed 5-A Intermountain Conference, which now will include only the three largest high schools in the Bend-La Pine school district and the two largest high schools in Redmond. Other Central Oregon schools will see changes, as well. Some simply will be moved from one conference to another. La Pine, meanwhile, will drop down to 3-A and play in the South Valley League against Creswell and Harrisburg, among others.

Coaches in the IMC have their work cut out for them. With the second-smallest 5-A league in the state, they must fill the nine-game football season, for example, with five games each outside the IMC. That means working with the four other 5-A leagues to create workable schedules for all involved.

It also means that any savings in travel within the league will be lost in travel to non-league games.

Then there’s the matter of playoffs. OSAA must come up with playoff rules that give schools from large and small leagues an equal shot at making them. That means that smaller leagues, particularly the IMC and the still smaller Columbia River Conference, almost certainly will send fewer schools to state playoffs than in the past.

If all this makes you unhappy, remember that OSAA tinkers with the system every four years, adjusting as best it can to match schools of similar size from relatively small geographic regions.

That latter is just about impossible, of course. In a relatively rural state that measures roughly 300 miles north to south by almost 400 miles east to west, travel is part of the game for many student athletes. That’s been true since high school athletics began in this state, and it’s likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.