Softball scheduling as easy as 1-2-3 (strikes you're out)

Abstract

Scheduling games for any professional sport is an extremely complex process. Scheduling recreational softball games for over 1,000 players is also a difficult process. A scheduler must adhere to nearly two dozen intertwined scheduling rules, while simultaneously ensuring that the players play their allotment of games. This paper reviews the scheduling of college basketball and professional baseball, football, and soccer. It then presents an integer programming approach to solve this problem. Finally, it identifies the obstacles encountered and the qualitative and quantitative benefits of the approach. © 2012 INFORMS.