Who owns a TeamSideline website, and how is an ownership dispute handled?

Your organization owns its TeamSideline website, admin site and records, not the person who set it up or paid for it; admins act on the organization's behalf. If two groups claim the organization, TeamSideline recognizes its current governing body, may ask for documentation, and can pause major account changes until ownership is clear.

Applies to: Org admins and board members · All plans · Admin site

Where: Administration > Manage Users > Users (who your organization's admins are)

Who owns the website

The organization, such as a nonprofit, league or club, is always the owner of its TeamSideline website. The person who signs up is an administrator acting for the organization.
Even when someone pays the subscription with a personal credit card, the site belongs to the organization. The organization should reimburse that person directly.
Admin access stays with the organization, not with the person who set the site up. When volunteers or board members change, the organization adds its new leaders as admins and removes the ones who left.
When an admin accepts TeamSideline's Admin Terms, TeamSideline records it for that organization, with the name on the account and the date and time, so there's a record of who accepted on the organization's behalf and when.

If two groups claim ownership

Disputes sometimes come up, for example between an outgoing board and a new one. TeamSideline handles them this way:

TeamSideline recognizes the organization's current governing body as the account owner. For an incorporated nonprofit, that's the current board of directors as defined in its state filings. For a league or club without incorporation or legal paperwork, it's the leadership group currently in authority under the organization's own rules.
TeamSideline may ask for documents that confirm the current leadership, such as meeting minutes that record board elections or officer changes; articles of incorporation, a state nonprofit registry listing or IRS records; an official communication from the president, registrar or league commissioner; or a determination from a governing body the organization belongs to.
While the dispute lasts, TeamSideline may pause major account changes, such as domain transfers or removing administrators.
If the documents don't settle who's in charge, the groups resolve the dispute within the organization and confirm the outcome with official documentation before TeamSideline changes anyone's access.

If the only administrator can't be reached

When an organization's only admin has moved on and can't be reached, nobody can confirm a leadership change directly, so TeamSideline takes extra care before it gives anyone access:

It asks the board of directors for documentation, and for confirmation from at least two separate board members or other independent sources connected to the organization, rather than relying on one person's request.
It applies a short hold period before completing the change, so the previous admin or another authorized person can come forward.
TeamSideline's operations team reviews the request before any access is granted.

These steps exist to protect organizations whose only admin has gone quiet, not to slow down normal handovers. Most requests with reasonable documentation and a cooperative outgoing admin go through quickly. To ask for access, see Our administrator left - how do we get admin access to our TeamSideline site?

Your domain and payment account

Make sure your domain name, such as yourleague.org, is registered to the organization rather than to a former volunteer, and that the organization can sign in to the registrar account where it's registered.
If TeamSideline registered your domain for you, TeamSideline holds and renews it while you're a customer. To move it to a registrar account your organization controls, for example if you leave TeamSideline, contact TeamSideline Support, who can unlock it and give your organization the transfer code. During an ownership dispute, a transfer waits until ownership is clear.
Your card-processing (Payrix) account has its own owner and financial administrator, changed through a separate process with its own paperwork: Changing Your Organization's Financial Administrator or Owner (Payrix).

Best practices

Use a shared role address on your website's own domain, such as president@ or registrar@, for admin accounts that should outlast one volunteer. When the role changes hands, another admin can rename the account and reset its password, and the new person accepts the Admin Terms in their own name. See How to set up and hand over a role-based (shared) admin email account.
Keep at least two active admins with the Administrator role, so one person leaving doesn't lock your organization out, and at least one admin with the Billing role.
Limit full admin access. Give other volunteers only the roles they need, such as Registrar, Scheduler or Communicator. See What does each admin role allow?
When leadership changes, add the new leaders first, then remove the ones who left. An admin whose email is on your website's domain can remove themselves on the Deactivate tab of their User Profile once another admin, and another admin with the Billing role, is in place; the remaining admins get an email saying they left.
Decide whether the organization or individuals pay the subscription, and put it in your bylaws or board policies.
Keep board minutes that record leadership changes. TeamSideline Support asks for minutes or a signed letter before it adds an admin when none is left.

When your board changes

Work through Checklist: Transitioning Your TeamSideline Site When the Board Changes. It covers admins and roles, shared logins, billing, card payments, your contact details, your domain and your records.

Good to know

TeamSideline Support never sends passwords and doesn't give anyone access to another person's admin account. Each new admin signs in with their own email address and sets their own password.
Removing an admin ends their access to your organization's site only. Their TeamSideline sign-in and any family account stay.

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