Tracking External Tournaments

External tournaments are events hosted by other organizations (AES, SportsEngine, Exposure Events, etc.) that your teams participate in. Tracking them in MatchGrid helps prevent scheduling conflicts and provides a complete picture of your teams’ commitments.

[!INFO] External tournament tracking is available on Silver tier and above. It includes auto-blackout creation and conflict detection.

Supported Sources

MatchGrid can import from several tournament providers:

Source	Description
AES (Advanced Event Systems)	USA Volleyball events
SportsEngine	Multi-sport tournament platform
Exposure Events	Basketball showcases and tournaments
CSV/Excel	Manual import from any spreadsheet
Manual Entry	Add details directly

Adding an External Tournament

Method 1: Import from URL

1. Navigate to Tournaments
2. Click Add External
3. Select the source (AES, SportsEngine, etc.)
4. Paste the tournament URL
5. MatchGrid extracts tournament details automatically

Method 2: Manual Entry

1. Navigate to Tournaments
2. Click Add External
3. Select Manual Entry
4. Fill in tournament details:
   • Name, dates, location
   • Source and external ID (if any)
   • Contact information

[!TIP] When importing from a URL, MatchGrid auto-detects the tournament name, dates, location, and other details. Review and adjust as needed.

Registering Teams

After adding an external tournament, register participating teams:

1. Open the tournament details
2. Go to the Teams tab
3. Click Register Teams
4. Select teams from your roster
5. Set registration status (Registered, Waitlisted, etc.)

Registration Statuses

Status	Meaning
Registered	Confirmed attendance
Waitlisted	Waiting for spot
Tentative	Not yet confirmed
Withdrawn	Previously registered, now cancelled

Auto-Creating Blackouts

When teams are registered for external tournaments, MatchGrid can automatically create blackout windows:

Enabling Auto-Blackouts

1. Open tournament settings
2. Toggle Auto-Create Blackouts
3. Choose blackout type:
   • HARD: No league games during tournament
   • SOFT: Prefer to avoid, but allow if necessary

What Gets Created

For each registered team:

• Blackout covering tournament dates
• Scoped to that specific team
• Reason auto-populated with tournament name

[!WARNING] Auto-blackouts are created when you register teams. If you add teams later, run “Sync Blackouts” to create missing ones.

Conflict Detection

MatchGrid checks for conflicts between external tournaments and your league schedule:

Conflict Types

• Team Unavailable: Team has a league game during the tournament
• Travel Overlap: Not enough time to travel between events
• Rest Violation: Back-to-back commitments without recovery

Viewing Conflicts

Open the tournament to see:

• List of registered teams
• Conflict status per team
• Conflicting league events

Syncing Tournament Data

For supported sources, MatchGrid can sync updates:

1. Open the tournament
2. Click Sync Now
3. System fetches latest data from the source
4. Updates are applied (dates, location, etc.)

Sync Status

Status	Meaning
SUCCESS	Last sync completed successfully
PENDING	Sync in progress
FAILED	Sync error—check details
NEVER	Not yet synced

Best Practices

1. Add tournaments early: Enter known external events at season start
2. Register teams promptly: So blackouts are created early
3. Use auto-blackouts: Prevents accidental double-booking
4. Review conflicts: Check the conflicts tab before finalizing league schedule
5. Keep updated: Sync periodically to catch date/location changes