Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the television and online home of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championships, has announced the launch of a brand new online tournament entitled “Mascot Madness,” which will enable fans to determine the state’s top high school sports team nickname.

Resembling the popular 64-team bracket format, the official 2016 “Mascot Madness” brackets will be announced on the network’s popular weekly Illinois preps sports highlights program, High School Lites, on Friday, February 5 at 11:30 PM CT (also streaming live on CSNChicago.com).

Beginning Monday, February 8 at 12 NOON CT, fans can begin casting their first round vote by visiting the network’s dedicated “Mascot Madness” page -- CSNChicago.com/MascotMadness -- with the poll closing on Thursday, February 11 at 4:00 PM. The “Mascot Madness” web page will utilize Twitter and Facebook for tabulating votes. For the remaining five weeks, as the brackets shrink to 32, 16, 8, 4 and 2, fans are once again urged to start voting on Mondays starting at 12 NOON with the weekly polls closing at 4:00 PM every Thursday. Viewers can check out the weekly results every Friday night on High School Lites or by simply visiting CSNChicago.com/MascotMadness.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There will not be any “seeds” associated with teams in the “Mascot Madness” tournament. In the early rounds, match-ups in each of the four regions (Skyline, Highway, Heartland, and Prairie) are strictly based on similar school enrollment numbers.

The champion of Comcast SportsNet’s “Mascot Madness” tournament will be officially announced during the network’s live on-air/online coverage of the 2016 IHSA Class 4A Boys State Basketball Championship game, airing on Saturday, March 19 beginning at 8:00 PM CT.

From a social media standpoint, fans are encouraged to offer up their support and comments for their favorite school team nickname by utilizing the Twitter hashtag #MascotMadness. In addition, fans are urged to visit the network’s official preps Twitter handle (@CSNPreps) for daily updates and the latest information on not only the #MascotMadness tournament, but also for the very latest IHSA news, scores, and more 24/7.