Overview

Schedule Configurations are the settings on a Division's 1 Configuration > Scheduling page. They tell TeamSideline what kind of schedule to build for that Division: which schedule types to create, when the season starts, how many games each team plays, and how many games each team plays per week.

The single most common source of confusion is this: there is no "end date" or "last game" field. You control the season start, and the configurations you enter determine how far the schedule runs. The end date is calculated for you.

Where to find Schedule Configurations

1. Go to Schedules > Leagues & Divisions.
2. Select the League, then click the edit icon next to the Division.
3. Go to the 1 Configuration > Scheduling page.

Note: When a Division is first created, all of these settings are defaulted from your organization's Sport Defaults for that sport. If you find yourself changing the same settings on every new Division, update your Sport Defaults instead (Schedules > Defaults, then select the Sport Type).

What Schedule Configurations control

Schedule Types

Check the box next to each type of schedule you need for the Division. The configurations you set apply to each type you have checked:

• Regular (or 1st half) — checked by default
• 2nd Half — adds its own start date and Games Played/Team, useful when you need a large break mid-season
• Playoff
• 2nd Playoff — available with a Premium subscription only
• Practice

If you check 2nd Half or Playoff, additional configurations appear for those types. If you uncheck Regular, some configurations disappear (for example, 2 Game Configuration) and you will not be able to set them.

Day of First Game

This is your season start. The start date for your schedule is the first game day, and it falls within the week of the first game you set. Every week number in the schedule is counted forward from here.

Games Played per Team

The total number of games each team plays for that schedule type. This is the main driver of how long your season is. (For a 2nd Half schedule, the number of 2nd Half games is set separately on this same page.)

Games per Week/Team

How many games each team plays in a week — typically 1 or 2. TeamSideline will only auto-create a schedule with the number of games per week you set here, so setting this to 1 or 2 is how you prevent teams from being given more games in a week than you want.

There is also a Custom option. With Custom, the system does not enforce a games-per-week limit — you schedule the games manually and you must monitor game density yourself.

2 Game Configuration

Only applies when Games per Week/Team is set to 2. Choose how the two games are paired, for example Double Header / Different Team or Double Header / Same Team. Double header schedules also have specific Time Slot requirements — see the related double header article linked below.

Schedule Week (Sun–Sat vs. Mon–Sun)

By default a schedule week runs Sunday through Saturday, which means a Saturday game is grouped with the previous Sunday rather than the Sunday that follows it. If your games run across a weekend and you want Saturday and Sunday shown in the same week, change this to Mon – Sun. This is a Sport Defaults setting (1 Configuration > Sport Defaults > Division Schedule Configurations > Schedule Week).

Why there is no end date field

There is no way to set an "end of schedule" date for a standard Division. The end date is automatically calculated from your Day of First Game plus the configurations you enter. In practice the season length comes from the combination of:

• Games Played per Team
• Games per Week/Team
• The number of teams in the Division (2 Teams page)
• The number of Time Slots you have entered (3 Time Slots page)
• The Odd Team Division Configuration — Schedule Byes vs. All Teams Play Every Week (3 Time Slots page)
• Any blocked weeks (holidays), which push the schedule out by that many weeks

Exception: Tournament Divisions do have both a Tournament Start Date and an End Date on their 1 Configuration > Scheduling page, along with Game Spacing and Pool Play / Bracket configurations. The "no end date" rule described here applies to standard league Divisions.

"Why is my schedule longer than I expected?"

Example: 8 games with one bye does not always equal 9 weeks. The schedule has to run long enough for every team to reach the same number of games with byes distributed evenly, so if your team count, time slot count and games-per-week don't divide cleanly, extra weeks are added.

A real support example: a Division with 13 teams playing 8 games with Scheduled Byes had to run to Week 9 for all teams to get 8 games.

If the schedule runs longer than you want, you have these options:

• Reduce Games Played per Team (in the example above, 8 games to 7 games shortened the schedule).
• Change Odd Team Division Configuration from "Schedule Byes" to "All Teams Play Every Week" on the 3 Time Slots page — if that fits your league, it shortens the season.
• Increase Games per Week/Team from 1 to 2 so the same number of games fits into fewer weeks.
• Add Time Slots, and on the 3 Time Slots page use Standard Entry rather than Manual Entry — Standard Entry produces the most optimized (shortest) schedule.
• Move individual games manually. On the 4 Create Schedule page, use the Week dropdown (or the chevron icon > Edit) to move games into earlier weeks, then click Calc and Save. Some organizations use this to consolidate a trailing week into a double header.
• Check your blocked weeks. Each blocked week extends the schedule by one week. Blocking is done with the Block a Week button on the 4 Create Schedule page after the schedule exists.

Changing configurations after the schedule already exists

This is where most support tickets on this topic come from. Two rules to know:

1. Day of First Game locks once a schedule is created

Once a schedule has been created for the Division, the Day of First Game field can no longer be edited by an admin. To change it:

1. Go to the Division's 4 Create Schedule page and click Delete to delete the schedule.
2. Return to 1 Configuration > Scheduling and update the Day of First Game.
3. Go back to 4 Create Schedule and create the schedule again.

If you do not want to delete and rebuild the schedule, TeamSideline Support can change the Day of First Game for you on the back end. Email support@teamsideline.com with the League name, the Division name(s), and the new Day of First Game for each.

Tip: If you have not published the schedule yet, deleting and recreating is quick and no one sees the change.

2. Changing Games Played per Team does not rebuild an existing schedule

If you lower (or raise) Games Played per Team after the schedule is built, the existing games do not change — you will see Review Scheduling warnings such as "This Team is scheduled to play 6 games but your Division Configuration page number of Games Played Per Team is 5." To resolve it, either:

• Delete the schedule on the 4 Create Schedule page and click Create again so it rebuilds to the new number, or
• Edit manually — on the 4 Create Schedule page, use the blue chevron icon next to the games you no longer want (usually in the last week) to delete them, then click Calc and Save.

Reusing a configuration: Scheduling Templates

If you get a configuration working well for an awkward team/game/time-slot combination, save it as a template from the 4 Create Schedule page. Saved templates are listed on the Scheduling Templates page, which shows the Template Name plus the Teams, Games (Games Played/Team), TS (Time Slots), GPW (Games per Week/Team), Stack and Play Bye values it was saved with.

A template can be reused when you have the same number of teams and time slots. Very custom one-off schedules are usually better handled manually.

To update the same configurations across many Divisions at once, use Schedules > Update Multiple Divisions and choose the Configurations update type.

Suggested order of operations

1. Set your Sport Defaults once, per sport.
2. Add the League, then the Division.
3. 1 Configuration > Scheduling — check your Schedule Types and set Day of First Game, Games Played per Team, Games per Week/Team, and 2 Game Configuration. Save.
4. 2 Teams — add all teams (or placeholders) first, because team count affects schedule length.
5. 3 Time Slots — add your times/locations (use Standard Entry) and set the Odd Team Division Configuration if you have an odd number of teams.
6. 4 Create Schedule — click Create, review the calculated weeks and end date, adjust weeks/time slots as needed, then Calc and Save.

Because the end date is calculated, treat step 6 as your check: if the last week lands later than you want, go back and adjust the configurations in the list above rather than looking for an end date field.

Still not landing where you need it?

If your team count, game count and available time slots simply do not fit the window you have, email support@teamsideline.com with the League and Division name and what you are trying to achieve. Support can review the specific Division, build a template for an unusual combination, or adjust locked fields for you.

Possibly related existing article: New Admin Training - Scheduling Page — https://support.teamsideline.com/hc/en-us/articles/13262841227291-New-Admin-Training-Scheduling-Page — that article is a broad new-admin training index for scheduling; it does not explain the individual Scheduling-page configurations or the "why is there no end date" question, so this draft is still needed. Reviewer may want to cross-link the two.

Also related: How to create a different team double header schedule or same team double header schedule — https://support.teamsideline.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033277532-How-to-create-a-different-team-double-header-schedule-or-same-team-double-header-schedule — covers the 2 Game Configuration setting in depth; this draft links out to it rather than duplicating it.

Also related: I setup a playoff schedule but the dates go out too far. How do I make the games for just two weeks? — https://support.teamsideline.com/hc/en-us/articles/201152347-I-setup-a-playoff-schedule-but-the-dates-go-out-too-far-How-do-I-make-the-games-for-just-two-weeks — the playoff-specific version of the "schedule runs too long" problem.