The 1 Configuration > Scheduling page tells TeamSideline which schedules a division needs and how to build them: when the season starts, how many games each team plays in all and each week, and how far apart games start. There is no end date: the schedule runs as many weeks as it takes to give every team its games.
Applies to: Admins and schedulers · All plans (2nd Playoff: Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise; 3rd and 4th Playoff: Elite and Enterprise) · Standard league divisions
Where: Schedules > Leagues & Divisions > (division) > More Options > 1 Configuration > Scheduling
Open and save the page
- Go to Schedules > Leagues & Divisions.
- Click the division's Edit Division icon (pencil), or open its More Options menu and choose 1 Configuration > Scheduling.
- Tick Show All, at the top right of Division Schedule Configurations, to see every setting. Schedule Week and Optimization Priority appear only while it's ticked, and TeamSideline remembers your choice.
- Make your changes and click Save, or Save and Next Step to go on to 2 Teams.
What you'll see: "Division configuration updated." New divisions start with the Sport Defaults for the league's sport (Schedules > Configurations > Sport Defaults), and changing Sport Defaults later doesn't change existing divisions. Without Sport Defaults, a new division starts with a Regular schedule, 1 game per week, 10 games per team, 60-minute Game Spacing and a Sun - Sat Schedule Week.
Division Schedule Types
Tick each schedule the division needs. A box can't be unticked once that schedule has been created.
- Regular: the regular season.
- 2nd Half: a second season with its own teams (2 Teams > 2nd Half), Day of First Game and games per team, useful when you need a long break mid-season.
- Playoff: adds the Playoff Configurations section.
- 2nd Playoff (Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise) needs Playoff. 3rd Playoff and 4th Playoff (Elite and Enterprise) each need the one before.
- Practice: a practice schedule. With only Practice ticked, the Division Schedule Configurations section is hidden.
Unticking Regular hides Games per Week/Team and Games Played/Team, and saving shows: "The Regular Schedule for this division has been unchecked and your schedule will no longer display on the Standings page."
Division Schedule Configurations
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Schedule Week (Show All) | Sun - Sat or Mon - Sun. Week 1 is the schedule week that contains the Day of First Game, and each week's games fall on their time slots' days in that week. With Sun - Sat, a Saturday game and the next day's Sunday game are in different weeks; choose Mon - Sun to keep a weekend in one week. |
| Games per Week/Team | 1, 2 or Custom. With 1 or 2, Create schedules each team for that many games a week (a team with a bye that week plays none). Custom places games in your time slots in order, week by week, filling every open slot with no weekly limit per team, so check that no team plays too often. Custom divisions always use Manual Entry on 3 Time Slots. |
| 2 Game Configuration | With 2 games per week: Different Days, Double Header/Same Team or Double Header/Different Team. If double headers aren't turned on for your site, the list shows "Double Headers (Not enabled.)". |
| Rest Period | With 2 games per week on Different Days: 0 to 5 "minimum days between games". It doesn't move games: 4 Create Schedule shows an RP (Rest Period Violated) alert when a team's two games are that many days apart or closer. |
| Games Played/Team | 1 to 40 regular-season games per team, the main driver of the season's length. With 2nd Half ticked, it has a 1st Half and a 2nd Half number. |
| Day of First Game | The start of the season. Every week number counts from it. With 2nd Half ticked, a second date starts the 2nd Half. |
| Game Spacing | 5 to 240 minutes, the "Length of time between the start of each game." 4 Create Schedule uses it to flag games that overlap at a location and a team's games that start closer together than this on the same day. Team Site and app calendars show each game ending this many minutes after it starts. |
| Optimization Priority (Show All) | With 1 game per week. "1) Location, 2) Time", the default, rotates teams through your time slots so each team plays in each slot about equally. "1) Time, 2) Location" balances start times first, so no team keeps getting the earliest or latest game. |
| 2H Same Game Order | With 2nd Half ticked: "Keep game matches in the same order for the 2nd Half". Yes builds the schedules from the same team order instead of shuffling the teams each time. |
| Cross Game Density | Cross Division divisions only (Elite and Enterprise): 1 to 5, the "Number of cross over games per game set". |
In a Single Games division (Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise), the page shows only Regular, Practice, Schedule Week, Day of First Game and Game Spacing.
Playoff Configurations
Each playoff you tick gets its own section. Choose the Playoff Type, # of Playoff Teams and Playoff Seed Method (By Standings, Manual or Manual Across Divisions); with By Standings, also choose the Playoff Seed Source (Top - Regular Season). Playoff Version appears when the type and number of teams have more than one bracket version. Once that playoff schedule exists, the section is grayed out with the note "To change, delete playoff schedule first." For bracket types and team limits, see How to create a playoff bracket for a division.
Settings that lock once a schedule exists
- Day of First Game is grayed out once the Regular or Playoff schedule exists, and the 2nd Half date once the 2nd Half schedule exists. See How to change the Day of First Game after a schedule is created.
- Schedule Week is grayed out once a Regular, 2nd Half or Playoff schedule exists. To change it, delete those schedules first. Sport Defaults set it only for new divisions.
- The other settings can still be changed, but the schedule isn't rebuilt. For example, after you lower Games Played/Team, 4 Create Schedule shows "Review Scheduling - Team [team] | This Team is scheduled to play 6 games but your Division Configuration page number of "Games Played Per Team" is 5." Delete the schedule and click Create again, or delete the extra games by hand and click Calc & Save.
If it doesn't work
- "You must have a Regular season to enable the 2nd Half." Tick Regular, or untick 2nd Half.
- "You must select Playoff or Practice without a Regular season." Tick Regular, Playoff or Practice.
- "You must have a Playoff to enable the 2nd Playoff." Tick the playoffs in order. The 3rd and 4th Playoff messages work the same way.
- "You must play at least 1 game per team in the 2nd Half, if 2nd Half schedule is selected." Set the 2nd Half number of games to 1 or more.
- "Day of First Game for 2nd Half must be after 1st Half." Both dates are the same. Pick a later 2nd Half date.
- "Review Day of First Game: a valid start date is required." Regular and Playoff schedules need a Day of First Game. Pick one and click Save.
- "Playoff Configurations selections required." or a message that starts "The Division Playoff section has 4 configurations": choose the Playoff Type, # of Playoff Teams and Playoff Seed Method, or untick Playoff.
- "Review your Division Playoff 'Playoff Seed Source'. A selection is required." With By Standings, choose Top - Regular Season.
- Schedule Week or Optimization Priority is missing. Tick Show All. Optimization Priority appears only with 1 game per week.
- Everything is grayed out and there's no Save button. The league is archived, or the division is the second division of a Cross Division pair, which takes its settings from the first division.
Good to know
- A league division has no end date. To see how the number of weeks is worked out, read Why is my schedule longer than expected? How season length is calculated. Tournament divisions have their own Scheduling page with a Tournament Start Date and an End Date.
- Week 1 is the whole schedule week that contains the Day of First Game. A time slot on an earlier day of that week gets a Week 1 game dated before the Day of First Game, so pick the first game day of the week.
- With an odd number of teams and 1 game per week (or Double Header/Different Team), choose Schedule Byes or All Teams Play Every Week under Odd Team Division Configuration on 3 Time Slots.
- Double header / Different Day schedules need Game 1 and Game 2 time slots. See the double header article below.
- On the Elite and Enterprise plans, AI Auto Resolve uses Games per Week/Team as each team's weekly limit unless Maximum Games Per Week Per Team is set on Schedules > Configurations > AI Auto Resolve Settings.
- On the Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise plans, Update Multiple Divisions on Leagues & Divisions (Update Type: Configuration) changes most of these settings for many divisions at once, but not the Day of First Game or Schedule Week. Save As Template on 4 Create Schedule keeps a schedule's pattern to reuse with the same number of teams and time slots; your templates are listed on Schedules > Scheduling Templates.
Related articles
- How to create a league schedule (step by step)
- Why can't I create my schedule? Time slot and team requirements for the Create button
- How to create a double header schedule (Different Team or Same Team)
- How to create a playoff bracket for a division
- How to add a 2nd Half Schedule
- How to delete a schedule (regular, 2nd half, or playoff)