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How to create a league schedule (step by step)

  • Updated

To build a league schedule, add a league and a division on Schedules > Leagues & Divisions, then work through the division's four tabs in order: 1 Configuration, 2 Teams, 3 Time Slots and 4 Create Schedule. The finished schedule stays off your public site until you click the division's eye icon so it turns green.

Applies to: Admins and schedulers · All plans · League divisions (tournament, cross-division and single-game divisions have their own setup)

Where: Schedules > Leagues & Divisions > (division) > 1 Configuration, 2 Teams, 3 Time Slots, 4 Create Schedule

(Optional) Before you start: set your Sport Defaults (once per sport)

New divisions start with their sport's Sport Defaults, so set these first.

  1. Go to Schedules > Configurations > Sport Defaults.
  2. Choose the Sport Type.
  3. et the defaults you want, such as the schedule types, games per week, game spacing, playoff, scoring and display settings.
  4. Click Save.

Sport Defaults apply only to divisions added after you save; existing divisions keep their settings. You don't need to redo this every season.

Step 1: Add a league (Scheduling Only Sites)

  1. Go to Schedules > Leagues & Divisions and click Add League.
  2. Enter the League Name and choose the Sport Type.
  3. For Season, enter the year and choose a season, or choose a Starts date instead.
  4. Click Add.

Note: If you are using the system's registration Program, when a Program is created it will automatically create a linked League.

What you'll see: "Your new League has been added." The league appears as a group on the page. A league can hold several divisions, each with its own teams, settings and schedule.

Step 2: Add a division

  1. Click Add Division.
  2. Leave Division Type set to Standard.
  3. Choose the League.
  4. Enter the Division Name and choose the Gender, Age Group (the list fills in after you choose the league) and Level Of Play.
  5. Click Add.

What you'll see: "The Division has been added." To open the division, click its Edit Division icon (pencil). Its pages have tabs across the top for steps 3 to 6 (also in the division's More Options menu).

Step 3: 1 Configuration

  1. On 1 Configuration > Scheduling, under Division Schedule Types, tick Regular. Also tick 2nd Half, Playoff or Practice if you need them.
  2. Choose Games per Week/Team: 1, 2 or Custom. With 2, also choose the 2 Game Configuration: Different Days, Double Header/Same Team or Double Header/Different Team.
  3. Choose Games Played/Team (regular season games only).
  4. Pick the Day of First Game.
  5. Choose the Game Spacing, the time in minutes between the start of each game.
  6. Click Save and Next Step.

What you'll see: "Division configuration updated." and the 2 Teams page. Tick Show All to see less-used settings such as Schedule Week and Optimization Priority.

Step 4: 2 Teams (Only needed for Scheduling Only, or Individual Registration Leagues)

  1. Click Add Team, enter the Team Name (contact details are optional) and click Add. Repeat for every team. A "~" in a team name is saved as "-".
  2. If you don't have team names yet, click Add Placeholders instead, choose the # of Placeholders and click Add. Placeholder teams are numbered; edit them later to add the real names.
  3. Optional: under Team Schedule Conflicts, click Add Conflict to record when a team can't play: Specific Day/Time, Recurring Day/Time, Team/Player or Avoid Team.
  4. Click Next Step.

Note: If using Team Registration, or Team Registration plus Youth/Adult Roster there is no need for an Admin to manually create a team.

Each team row has a people icon (View Roster), a pencil (Edit) and a red X (Delete). Conflicts don't block the schedule: 4 Create Schedule warns about any game that breaks one. Drag the conflict rows to set their priority, which only Auto Resolve uses. Add every team before you click Create; the schedule is built for the teams listed at that moment.

Step 5: 3 Time Slots

A time slot is a weekly day, start time and location for a game. The page tells you how many you need, for example "you will need a minimum of 5 time slots per week".

  1. Click Add Time Slot.
  2. Choose the Day, Start Time and Location. Tick several days or locations to add several slots at once. With 2 games per week on different days or same-team double headers, also choose the Game (1 or 2).
  3. Click Add, and repeat until you have enough time slots. To add several back-to-back slots in one step, use the Time Slot Slider next to the Add button before you click Add. The slots are spaced by your division's Game Spacing setting. Repeat until you have enough time slots.
  4. Review the Time Slot Schedule grid, then click Next Step.

With 1 game per week, the minimum is half the number of teams, rounded down (5 for 10 or 11 teams). In the Time Slot Schedule grid, green circles mark where games will be scheduled and white circles where they won't; click a circle before you create the schedule to change it. Copy Time Slots copies another division's slots, and the TBD option adds a slot whose day, time or location you don't know yet.

Step 6: 4 Create Schedule

  1. Click Create.
  2. Review the games and alerts. The distribution tables below the schedule (Games Per Week, Games Per Team, Opponent, Time, Day and Location) show how evenly games are spread.
  3. Make any changes. Click Calculate to preview them, then Calc & Save to save them.

What you'll see: "Your schedule has been created and saved for you to review." and a reminder that the schedule isn't visible yet. After Calc & Save: "The Schedule has been calculated, saved, and is shown below." Calc & Save won't save while the schedule has a critical (error) alert; warnings don't block it.

Step 7: Make the schedule visible

  1. Go to Schedules > Leagues & Divisions.
  2. Click the division's red eye icon ("Schedule Not Visible - click to make schedule visible on your public page").

The eye turns green ("Schedule Visible"). Gray means no schedule exists yet. Yellow means only part of it shows: Show # of Sched. Wks limits the weeks or Show Game Section is No on 1 Configuration > Display.

If it doesn't work

  • There's no Create button. An Important Note on the page lists what's missing. Check the Day of First Game, that the division has at least 2 teams, and that 3 Time Slots has the minimum number of time slots. See the first related article for every rule.
  • No Location's in Location drop down, click Manage Locations button on the 3 Time Slots tab or go to Schedules > Locations to add Locations.
  • "Review Day of First Game: a valid start date is required." Pick a Day of First Game on 1 Configuration and save.
  • "This Division name is in use. Please use a different Division name." Division names must be unique within a league. A league name can be reused only for a different season.
  • Add Team and Add Placeholders are grayed out. The page shows: "Add Team" and "Add Placeholders" are disabled due to the registration type Team. Teams are added during the enrollment process. The league is linked to a team registration program, so its teams come from team enrollments instead.
  • "The Team "[team name]" cannot be deleted because the team has been scheduled." Delete the schedule, or remove the team from it, first.
  • Create says a double header schedule "for this Division configuration is not available." No double header pattern fits your teams and time slots. Check the double header article below, or contact TeamSideline support with the division name.
  • "The Schedule has changed since you started editing it. Please re-calculate the schedule and try again." Someone else saved the schedule while you were editing. Click Calculate, redo your changes and click Calc & Save.
  • Buttons are missing and fields are grayed out everywhere. The league is archived. Archived leagues are read-only.

Good to know

  • Once the regular season or playoff schedule exists, the Day of First Game and Schedule Week can't be changed.
  • Delete on 4 Create Schedule removes the schedule so you can start over, until any game has been played.
  • Automatic scheduling of more than 20 teams in one division needs the Enhanced plan or higher, or the Tournament module. Otherwise you can import the schedule or build it with the Manual button.
  • With Templates (Enhanced plan and up), Save As Template saves a schedule's pattern and Use Template builds a new one from a matching pattern. Tournament Pool Play pages have the same buttons.
  • For double-header divisions, TeamSideline support can turn on Gap Identification and Gap Distribution tables, which show the wait between each team's two games.
  • For video walkthroughs, open Help > Online Training in the admin menu and see the Schedules section.

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