AURORA | The wait for a shot clock to come to Colorado high school basketball will continue, but there is an end in sight for those who have advocated for it.
At Tuesday’s Colorado High School Activities Association Legislative Council meeting, a proposal to add a shot clock — which has been in use in a variety of other states — was approved for all classifications beginning in the 2026-27 boys and girls seasons.
By a slim vote of 40-30, the council approved the institution of a shot clock, which will be set at 35 seconds inline with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The clock will be mandatory for all varsity contests and will be used through overtime.
“This vote means that Colorado basketball is taking the next step forward with the states around us,” said Chaparral Rob Johnson, who was representing the Colorado Athletic Directors Association (CADA), said in a statement. “This will change the way the game’s being played and it should improve the game, our athletes and our coaches. Everything should be improving, and that’s exciting.”
Advocates of a shot clock had called for its addition to improve pace of play — taking out some of the “stall ball” tactics out of the game — and to create more strategic end-of-game scenarios as teams in the lead can not just run out the clock. Players from Colorado also have had to adjust to playing with a shot clock at the collegiate level.
Those against the shot clock primarily pointed to cost of the equipment as well as the need to train and find personnel to operate them.
Earlier at the same meeting, girls flag football was approved as an officially sanctioned sports beginning in the fall (story, here).