Full admins and schedulers can create seasonal games with the schedule generator that includes game dates, times, and locations for teams. With the options to create matchups for multiple groups at a time, enter custom grouping prefixes, choose the number of games to be played per team, drag & drop seeding, flexible game start and end times, and settings for preferred locations and surfaces, your seasonal schedules can be created in minutes without the need for complex tie pattern setup. Follow the steps below to get started:
Locate the Program and Season
1. From the navigation, choose Programs > choose your program and season > Scheduling. The Scheduling Overview report will display a snapshot of ongoing games for the season, giving totals for seasonal game data, including total games, total teams, teams with games, and more.
2. Click edit at the season level. In the Game Scheduling section, use the calendars to select game dates for your season. Game dates chosen in this section will appear during the scheduling process. Once complete, click Save. (Optional)
3. To begin creating games, select Create New Games from the Operation Menu. Using the Season Structure, select the Seasonal Groupings from the left to add to the Scheduling Canvas.
Choose Groupings
4. Click on the season name to show all groups on the canvas or select a higher-level grouping block to display all subgroups within the parent grouping on the scheduling canvas. While multiple groupings can be placed on the canvas to prepare games for, a minimum of 3 teams is required for a group to show on the canvas.
5. Click Remove if you do not wish to create games for a grouping. Use the arrow adjacent to each grouping to review the teams in the group, including the number of staff, players, and scheduled games.
6. Once groupings have been selected, click Next.
Schedule Group Matchups
7. Groupings selected in the previous step will be displayed on the screen. Click the arrow to expand scheduling options for the group. Input scheduling options for each grouping are as follows:
Game number prefix (optional): Groupings without a prefix will increment generally across the entire season. Groupings with a prefix will only increment within the respective grouping.
Play all opponents equally? Y/N: Selections in this setting will determine the number of matchup legs and total games for the grouping. The number of legs and total games for the group will display as options are chosen.
If Yes, select the number of times teams will play an opponent.
If No, input the number of games per team.
Note: If an odd number of teams exist in a group, each matchup leg will include 1 team with a bye, and subsequent legs will be added to provide all teams with a minimum of games.
8. Use the move icons to drag and drop teams in the Game Group Seedings section to seed teams as necessary. A team's position in the seed order will determine game pairings.
9. Next, the Scheduling Group Matchups section will display each of the Grouping Matchup Legs and include the leg number, starting game number, count of leg games & byes. Click on the leg to expand the section and review the pairings.
10. Once complete, click Locations or click Back to return to the Grouping screen (Step 1).
Locations
11. Click the down arrow to show scheduling options for each grouping. Enter a game length in minutes (required). Input total game duration, including all in-game breaks and separation time between matches.
12. If you wish to generate matchups that include game times, dates, and locations, then select 'Yes, set up now'.
Note: If you just want to schedule matchups and leave game times, dates, and locations TBD so team staff can schedule later, click here.
13. Next, click the down arrow to display the frequency of game legs based on specific game dates.
If you selected game dates for your season (See step 2), the preset dates will appear for the legs. Game legs will fall consecutively on each of the specified game dates. If you wish to override any of the preselected dates, click on the date and choose a new date using the calendar.
If you did not preselect game dates, click on each leg and use the calendar to choose a date for each.
14. Next, input the surface time windows by selecting an opening and closing time.
Games will not be scheduled on surfaces without lights past dark based on the geo-date.
15. Select the surface scheduling patterns for the group - either Stacked or Spread.
Stacked: If selected, games are assigned to the earliest available time slots on one surface until it is fully utilized. Only after all time slots on the first surface are filled does the scheduling process move to the second surface, and so on.
Spread: If selected, games are distributed evenly across all selected surfaces, cycling through surfaces to assign games to the earliest available time slots before repeating back on the same surfaces
16. Select the surface game date limit for the group - either No Limit or Limit Games.
No Limit: If selected, this will allow games to be scheduled freely across all available surfaces.
Limit Games: If selected, input a maximum number of games that can be scheduled per surface per date.
Note: The surface scheduling pattern, Stacked or Spread, will still apply, ensuring games are assigned according to the selected configurations
17. Once game the surface time window and the surface pattern have been entered for the group, select the game surface(s) for the group using the dropdown menu. In addition to setting game limits at the group level, you can set surface-specific game limits—perfect for cases when certain fields have stricter usage constraints. An edit icon will appear next to any selected surface to open advanced settings.
Surface Time Window:
Use Group Default (default): This will apply the standard open/close times set for the group as selected in the Game Group Defaults section.
Set Surface Window: Option to override the Game Group Defaults and choose custom open/close times for the surface.
An option to adjust the surface is available for specific game dates. Click the Add Date Override to define unique time windows for individual days for the group. To add multiple override dates, click Add Date Override for each date you need to add.
Limit Games per Date:
Use Group Default (default): This will use the game limit set for the group as entered in the Game Group Default section
Set Surface Limit: This option lets you override the default and enter a custom number of games per date for that surface.
An option to set different limits for specific game dates is also available. Click the Add Date Override to define unique surface limits for specific days for the group. To add multiple override dates, select Add Date Override for each date you need to add.
18. As you build out times and enter locations/surfaces, click on Update Legs to preview the details for the group.
19. If you selected multiple groupings during step one, be sure to input game start/end times and location information for each. Once complete, click Review or click Back to return to the Matchups screen (Step 2).
Review
20. Review the outcome of all scheduling group settings. Use the down/up arrows on each game date to display and review the details. If any changes need to be made for a group, scroll to the bottom of the review page and click Back to return to the Locations screen (Step 3). Once complete, Create Games.
Matchup Creation
21. Your new game schedules are now being created, and an email confirmation will be sent to you once the process has been completed.
22. Click Done - See Overview to be taken to the Scheduling Overview report screen.