City of Wichita Park and Recreation rolled out details for the second year of their restructured Junior League football program with the announcement of a program that waives registration and uniform costs for the first 400 players to sign up.
There’s been considerable resistance to the new program’s format, which ends a 60-year-old community-based league, and replaces it with a program in partnership with Wichita Public Schools.
League organizers hope the new program structure and free registration promotion will help attract participants to a program that had been losing participants to other area leagues while maintaining the league’s loyal participants who are skeptical of the new structure.
Free Registration & Uniforms
Thanks to Wichita District 1 City Councilman Brandon Johnson, the first 400 Wichita residents who register for the city’s 2025 Junior League football program will receive their registration fees ($55) and uniform fees ($65) paid for. The lucky 400 will only be required to pay a $25 non-refundable reservation fee to rent equipment from Play It Again Sports.
To make the promotion possible, Johnson agreed to use $49,450 from the District 1 Hyatt Fund to cover the cost. In 2017, the city decided each district would get $1 million of proceeds from the Hyatt sale to fund community improvement projects.
Johnson, who played Wichita Junior League and high school football, donned his old Heights football jersey for a video promoting the new league and the free registration promotion.
“This league helped shape me and where I’m at today, and now I want to make sure every young athlete has the same opportunity as I did,” says Johnson in the video.
Registration kicked off May 7 and runs through July 1. The free registration is on a first-come basis so interested families should act quickly.
The Big Sell
Johnson, who posted the one-minute promo video on his Facebook Page on the day Junior League registration opened, pushed beyond announcing the free promotion. He’s clearly making an effort to sell the league to players the league has lost and those they hope to keep.
“Stay with us, play with us, because the future is bright for Wichita Junior Football League,” pitches Johnson.
Potentially in a nod to the program improvements implemented during Year One of the two-year league transition, Johnson says,“Now is your time to be part of something great, and this year we’re stepping it up even more.”
During 2024, a transitional year in the league’s partnership with USD 259, game play moved to city high school fields. Participants and league officials said that was a significant improvement after three years playing on modified soccer fields in South Wichita, decades of noticeable decline at Barry Sanders Field, and unfulfilled promises for the fields and facilities at Glen Dye (formerly Grove) Park.
Another selling point … “Seventh and eight graders will be coached by actual middle school coaches to help make the transition to high school football even smoother,” says Johnson.
School Feeder Program Teams
This is part of the league’s major reorganization being ushered in this season. Gone are the old familiar community-based football teams – the Colts, the Cowboys, the Trojans.
Instead, students will be assigned to teams based on the address where they live and the high school students on that street are assigned to attend.
Instead of being Colts, Cowboys or Trojans, the teams feeding up to East High School will be the Junior Aces and similarly for teams feeding up to Heights, the Junior Falcons, etc.
As mentioned earlier, the middle school teams will have a middle school head coach paid for by the school district. All other coaches will remain voluntary. That includes the 1st through 5th grade program, where students will also be assigned to teams based on high school feeder patterns.
Having students assigned to teams based on feeder patterns address another concern, the existence of hand-picked super teams who dominate the league. To assure students play on a team based on their feeder pattern and age, USD 259 will provide the league Pupil Identification Cards for all participants.
The community-based league structure, which dates back to the 1960s, was founded by Pappy Allen in Northeast Wichita. When the program became a part of Wichita Recreation, involvement grew beyond Northeast Wichita, but community loyalty and support of the program remained among the strongest in the league.
Losing this foundational program has been tough for those closely connected to it, but Wichita Park and Recreation officials say they hear from a lot of people who welcome the change.
Diminishing League Participation
Mickey Lara, recreation supervisor with the Wichita Park and Recreation Dept., who oversees the Wichita Junior League Program, says this major reorganization of the program isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Participation in the once-popular league is falling rapidly. In 2019 there were 12 organizations participating in the league with 1,526 players. Last year, there were just five organizations and 433 players.
“I think everyone could see the writing on the wall,” says Lara. “Unfortunately, if we keep down the same road, there won’t be a league for these kids to play in.”
“There’s just more choices for parents now,” says Lara.
To survive in a more competitive environment, the city has to develop and offer a more competitive program.
The league has lost a lot of players to the Mid-State League, which was originally started for smaller rural cities. When Goddard and Mazie joined that league, they pulled off a lot of the Wichita league’s more successful west-side teams. Since then, the Mid-State league has also pulled in Derby to the south and Andover to the east.
With those losses, the Wichita League had become more of an inner-city league. However, even that core pull took a hit last year with the formation of the Midwest Valley Athletic Association, started by the Rev. Wade Moore at Urban Preparatory Academy.
With MVAA, the already struggling city league player count dropped 40%, from 721 players in 2023 to 433 in 2024. In late March 2025, MVAA announced it would not be operating a football league this year, opening up a number of those players to reconnect with the city league.
Lara is especially optimistic about the impact the school-based middle school program will have on the league. He believes an earlier association with the school district’s athletic program will help attract a lot of players back to the Wichita League.
The reorganized league is also open to teams outside the city, as long as they associate with the school district where the players live.
“Over time, I think we’ll start to get some of those new teams back,” says Lara. “We may get a Maize or a Haysville or a Kapaun team. We don’t want to just maintain; we want to grow.”
Other League Concerns Addressed
In 2024 the league addressed concerns about safety and accountability at the games by having two Wichita Police officers at each junior league game. Added support also included one school resource officer at each game, as well as an official representative from USD 259 and the city.
This same security and accountability lineup will be in place at all games again this year.
With the city providing the uniforms, league administrators addressed concerns surrounding the safety of equipment provided by the community-run leagues as well as community-league financial issues that kept some teams from having uniforms until weeks into the season.
Some Important Dates & Info Resources
League registration is open May 7 – July 1.
Season (eight games) runs Sept. 6 to Oct. 25.
Physicals must be turned in by Aug. 22 to be eligible to play Week 1.
Register at wichita.gov/football
More info at wichita.gov/football
If you can’t find your answers online, call (316) 268-4123.
