This article was posted as an April Fool’s joke.

Results for school lotteries have finally began to sink in for parents, but next year could look very different. The DC State Board of Education is considering an offer by the NCAA to run next year’s charter school lotteries as a “cage match” competition, tentatively entitled “Edudome.”

Photo by Stuck in Customs on Flickr.

Instead drawing names from a pool of applicants, parents and guardians will fight one-on-one for spots at in-demand schools. Two adults will enter the dome and fight until one concedes. Competitors would follow a seeded tournament format like the popular “March Madness” basketball tournament bracket.

The new program could be rolled out as soon as next year for preschool students. If the process goes well, it will be expanded up through high school.

“This ensures that the top spots are going to students whose families really want them at the school. I like it,” said school board member Patrick Mara-Uder when he heard about the new plan. “This will set an example our children that if they really want something, we need to fight for it,” said supporter Jacob Jackson, a recent addition to the board.

In keeping with NCAA policy and the amateur nature of the activity, partcipants will not be paid. However, DC charter schools expect to make millions of dollars a year in lucrative ESPN contracts to televise the matches. The revenue could provide about half the cost of finding buildings to locate in.

Mayor Vincent Gray said DC may also depart the “mid-Atlantic region” where it has been located for many years and become part of the “Midwest 10 states” region of 14 states. This will require parents to fly long distances for the matches and to send their children to school, but the size of the television contract would be much larger.

When the process advances to the middle and high school grades, officials predict this will also help them identify track student athletes into the schools that offer quality sports programs.

The board will make a decision in April.