If they go to 32 teams again, top 3 of each district would be 27 teams, then 5 wildcards. 32 of 54 just seems like too many IMO.
“These changes in classifications will allow schools to continue to evaluate their respective football programs and try and define what needs best fit their program,” Tharp said. “For some programs, the aspect of potentially playing more non-district opponents may lead to creating a more balanced schedule for them, potentially increasing student participation as schools, while others may attempt to challenge themselves with more competitive non-district games.”
Exert from the press release form "Changes Announced for 2018" thread, implies that the coaches are going to have more input.
With 4 ND games 1 or 2 out of class won't hurt, but if I was coaching in a district with a team that is always hard to beat and think I have a good team, I'd be going after contenders for a wildcard spots in ND to have a better chance to get into the playoffs.
If I don't have a playoff contention team and I'm going to try to schedule similar teams to mine to aim for competitive games.