Playoff format
Encyclopedia
There are several different Playoff formats used in various levels of competition in sport
s and game
s to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series, and the round-robin tournament
.
("knockout") playoff pits the participants in one-game matches, with the loser being dropped from the competition. Single elimination tournaments are much more common in individual sports like tennis
. In most tennis tournaments, the players are seeded
against each other, and the winner of each match continues to the next round, all the way to the final.
Of the big four American sports leagues, only the National Football League
uses a version of this system. Its regular seasons are much shorter (16 games) than those in the other sports (from 82 to 162 games), and the difference in quality between teams is believed to be more quickly discernible. The rigors of individual games, held only once per week, also preclude the possibility of longer playoff series. Six teams are seeded from each conference, with the top two getting a first-round "bye" (a free pass to the second round). The remaining teams pair off, with the higher-seeded team hosting. The winners of those games then play the higher-seeded teams that received byes in elimination playoffs, and then the winners of those matches face each in another in elimination playoffs to determine who will represent each conference in the Super Bowl
. The winner of that game wins the championship.
In both the men's
and women's
NCAA
college basketball
tournaments, 64 teams are seeded into four brackets of 16 teams each. (From 2011, the men's tournament will feature a "First Four", with the four lowest-ranked conference champions and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams playing single games to enter the 64-team draw.) The #1 team plays the #16 team in each bracket, the #2 plays the #15, and so on. Theoretically, if a higher ranked team always beats a lower ranked team, the second game will be arranged #1 vs. #8, #2 vs. #7, etc.; the third will be arranged #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3; the fourth will be arranged #1 vs. #2. If for instance #9 beats #8 in the first game, the #9 will simply take the theoretical spot of #8 and play #1. Winners advance through each round, changing cities after every two rounds. The Final Four
teams, one from each bracket, play each other in the last weekend, with the winner of the final two being awarded the championship.
National Association football competitions usually don't have playoff, but when they are used single elimination to determine finalists and winners. Major League Soccer
's second and final rounds of its playoffs use a single elimination format, though the first round is a total points format. The FIFA World Cup
tournament also uses knockout rounds after a group stage of 32 teams divided into 8 groups of 4 determines who advances to them.
Some knockout tournaments may also include a third place playoff
, a single match to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth place. The teams that compete in such third place games are usually the two losing semifinalists in a particular tournament. Although these semifinalists are still in effect "eliminated" from contending for the championship, they either may be competing for a bronze medal
like some tournaments in the Olympic Games
or basically just to salvage some pride in a consolation match, like in the FIFA World Cup
.
knockout stage:
and softball
tournaments in the United States. Starting in 2010
, the Little League World Series
in baseball also adopted this format. Teams are eliminated from contention after incurring two losses in each round of play.
The format changes depending on the number of teams per bracket, but most major collegiate baseball
conferences with the format send only the top eight teams, or a mix of top teams plus the winners of a single elimination qualifier tournament, to their conference tournament.
The NCAA baseball and softball tournaments have used the format since its inception for regional and College World Series
play.
In the current NCAA tournament format for four teams, the #1 seed plays the #4 seed ("Game 1"), and the #2 seed plays the #3 seed ("Game 2") on the first day of regional tournaments, and the first and second days of the College World Series (where the second bracket games are known as "Game 3" and "Game 4", respectively).
On the second day or series (third and fourth days at the College World Series), the losers play in the morning to determine who is eliminated ("Game 3" in regional, "Games 5" and "Game 7" in College World Series play), and who advances to the third game of the day. The winners ("Game 4" in regional, "Game 6" and "Game 8" in College World Series) play to determine who advances to the final on the third day.
In NCAA regional games, the loser of this game plays the winner of the morning game that evening ("Game 5") to determine who plays in the final.
In College World Series play, because the bracket teams play on alternating days, these games ("Game 9" and "Game 10") are played on the fifth day.
In NCAA regional games, the third day will feature the regional championship ("Game 6"). If the winner of Game 4 defeats the winner of Game 5, the winner advances to the Super Regional. Until the 2005 tournament, if the winner of Game 5 defeats the winner of Game 4, the two teams would meet again in Game 7 thirty minutes later to determine which team advances to the Super Regional.
However, with a concern that some teams were playing four games in two days, the NCAA made a rule change in 2005 to equalise the disadvantage of the winner of Game 5 by stating should the winner of Game 5 win Game 6, Game 7 would be played on a fourth day.
In the College World Series, on the sixth day, the winner of Game 9 plays the winner of Game 7 ("Game 11"), and the winner of Game 10 plays the winner of Game 8 ("Game 12"). If the winner in Game 7 wins Game 11, and/or the winner of Game 8 wins Game 12, such winners advance to the best-of-three final. If the winner of Game 9 defeats the winner of Game 7, and/or the winner of Game 10 defeats the winner of Game 8 the two teams would play again on the seventh day in Games 13 and 14, respectively, if they are needed, to determine who advances to the final.
Starting with the 2010 edition, the Little League World Series adopted a new format that involves four double-elimination brackets. The U.S. and International divisions are split into two four-team pools, with each pool conducting a double-elimination tournament to determine its winner. After the end of double-elimination play, the U.S. pool winners play one another in single games, as do the International pool winners, with the losers playing a third-place game and the winners playing a championship game. In another new feature, all teams are guaranteed at least three games; the first team eliminated from each pool plays a "crossover game" that matches an eliminated U.S. team with an eliminated International team.
:
For an example of the Little League variation, see 2010 Little League World Series
.
Often, when a best-of-series tied with each team having won an even number of games, the bracket is said to be a "best-of-(number of games left)." This is because for all practical purposes the teams are starting over. If a best-of-7 series is deadlocked at 2-2, the bracket is then referred to as a "best-of-3", since the reality is that the first team to win 2 games advances.
In tennis
, matches are usually decided with a best-of-3-sets format. Some major tournaments are played in the a best-of-5-sets format, most notably the Grand Slam
men's singles and doubles. Also, the 35 and over Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles and the 35 and over Ladies' Invitation Doubles of the Wimbledon
are both round-robin tournaments.
; the National League
authorized such a playoff to be held if two teams ended the season in a tie for first place; the American League
used a single game in this situation. Since both leagues have used only a one-game playoff for all playoff positions which are tied if only one team can advance to the playoffs. Since , a tie-breaker based on season performance can be used only to seed teams. Recently, there has been talk of Major League Baseball possibly adding a second wild card
playoff berth in each league, then having the two wild cards in each league play each other in a best-of-three series to start the postseason, with the six division winners drawing byes. Its prospects for passage by the sport's club owners, however, appear remote.
Both the NBA
and NHL
once used best-of-three playoffs (often referred to as "mini-series"), but today neither league does: Pro basketball first adopted the best-of-three playoff for first-round play starting with its inception as the Basketball Association of America in 1946 (changing its name to the NBA three years later) and retaining it through the 1959–60 season; the league resumed its use of the best-of-three first-round series in 1974–75, but abolished it again in 1983–84 when the number of teams qualifying for its postseason tournament was increased to 16 (ten teams had qualified during the first two years of the aforementioned period, this number being expanded to twelve in 1976–77; in both instances some of the highest-ranking teams did not participate in the best-of-three round, drawing byes and automatically advancing to the second round, which was best-of-seven, as were all subsequent rounds).
In ice hockey
, the best-of-three format was one of two possible types of series that could be held to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup
(the other being a two-legged playoff series), and it was used in lower rounds in the National Hockey League
up until the Original Six
era. The best-of-three series in the modern era was first used in the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning with the 1974–75 season; at that time, the number of NHL playoff teams had been increased to twelve from the previous eight. The format which then took effect called for the first three finishers in each of the league's four divisions to enter the postseason, but the first-place teams drew byes and did not play any best-of-three series; the postseason then proceeded as the NBA's did, with the second and all later rounds being best-of-seven. This remained the case until the 1979–80 season, when the NHL expanded its playoff field to 16 after absorbing four teams from the defunct World Hockey Association
in a semi-merger, whereupon the byes were abolished and all 16 qualifying teams participated in the first round, which was lengthened to best-of-five. In both the NBA and NHL, the team with the higher finish during the regular season played the first and (if necessary) the third games of the series at home, with the lower-ranked team hosting the second game.
The only top-level professional league in the United States that now uses a best-of-three format for its playoffs is the WNBA. Until 2009, the WNBA forced the team with the higher record to travel to the lower seed's home court for game 1, then played the final game(s) at home. Because of this perceived inequity, in 2010
, the league switched to a more traditional 1-1-1 format, where the higher seed would play the first and (if needed) third games at home. Also, in 2005
, the league switched the WNBA Finals
to a best-of-five playoff format.
NCAA baseball has two best-of-three series in their 64-team playoff format. Starting in 1999, when the tournament expanded from 48 teams (eight regionals of six teams each) to 64 teams (sixteen regionals of four teams each), the NCAA introduced the "super regional", in which regional winners play a best-of-three series with the series winner advancing to the College World Series. If a regional winner is also a national seed, it is guaranteed to host the super regional; if no national seed makes a particular super regional, the NCAA puts hosting rights up for bidding between the competing schools. In 2003, the College World Series changed from a one-game final to a best-of-three series.
, the primary Europe
-wide club competition in basketball, introduced a quarterfinal round for the 2004–05 season
which originally employed a best-of-three format; starting with the 2008–09 season, the quarterfinal round became best-of-five. This is the only point in the Euroleague where a playoff series is used; all earlier rounds are conducted in a league format, and the quarterfinal winners advance to the Final Four, where all games are one-off knockout matches.
In a modification of the best-of-3 format, the collegiate basketball leagues in the Philippines
(notably the NCAA
and the UAAP), the playoffs consist of two best-of-3 rounds. In the Semi-Finals, the two top seeds receive twice to beat advantage, wherein they receive an automatic 1-0 advantage, the lower seeded team needs to beat its opponent twice, while the higher seeded team only needs a single victory. The survivors face of in a best-of 3 Finals. A full double-elimination tournament
gives the lone undefeated team this so-called twice to beat advantage.
In the FIBA Oceania Championship
, the best-of-three series is used if only both Australia
and New Zealand
play in the tournament. If a team wins the first two games, the last game may still be played. If other teams participate, a regular round-robin or multi-stage tournament is used.
The best-of-3 playoff system was also used in the Brazilian Football League for the 1998 and 1999 seasons quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. However, since matches could end in a draw, this system had a few modifications. If no team could win two games, the team with most victories would qualify. If the two teams had one victory, the team with the best goal difference
would qualify. If the goal difference was the same, the team with the best regular season campaign would qualify. A interesting fact is that during the 1998 season, all the rounds were decided in three games.
At present, only one American
men's professional sports body - Major League Baseball
- makes use of the best-of-five playoff, doing so in its first round, known as the Division Series
. At one time, however, the League Championship Series
was best-of-five, from its birth with both leagues' realignment into two divisions in , and continuing until this round was lengthened to best-of-seven in . (This change would have immediate ramifications: In the American League, in each of the first two years where the LCS used the best-of-seven format, the Kansas City Royals
in 1985
and the Boston Red Sox
in 1986
fell behind 3-1 - which previously would have eliminated them - before coming back to win the series.) When the wild card
was first used in (it was created for the season, but that year's entire postseason was canceled due to a players' strike
), the best-of-five format was authorized for the new Division Series, in which eight teams participate.
During the time that the League Championship Series was best-of-five, a "2-3" format was used, with one team hosting the first two games, the other the last three (these respective roles alternating between the Eastern and Western Division champions regardless of which one finished with the better regular-season record). This procedure was repeated at first when the best-of-five Division Series was added in 1995 (except that two of each league's now three division winners hosted three games and the wild card could never do so), but starting in the home-field advantage was awarded to the two division winners in each league that had the best records; also in 1998, the "2-2-1" format was instituted, the team with the home-field advantage being given the first, second and fifth games at home instead of the third, fourth and fifth.
The National Basketball Association
and National Hockey League
both formerly used best-of-five series, the NBA in its second round prior to the season, and in the first round from through , and again from until lengthening it to best of seven starting in , and the NHL for its first-round series beginning with the season and lasting until that league increased its first round to best-of-seven in . Unlike in baseball, in both NBA and NHL best-of-five series the higher regular-season finisher always hosted the first, second, and (if necessary) fifth games.
As of 2005
, the Women's National Basketball Association
now uses a best-of-five format for its championship
series. However, the previous two WNBA playoff rounds are best of three.
Historically, most European domestic basketball leagues have used a best-of-five format in their championship series. The main long-standing exceptions are the Israeli and French
leagues, which use one-off finals; the Adriatic League
(former Yugoslavia), which has changed from a one-off final to a best-of-three final back to a one-off final in recent years; and the Lithuanian
, Polish and Turkish
leagues, which use a best-of-seven format. Italy
has gone to a best-of-seven final effective with its 2008–09 season. The Euroleague
quarterfinal round expanded to best-of-five from best-of-three starting in the 2008-09 season.
. This format is currently used in the National Basketball Association
and the National Hockey League
for all their playoff series. Major League Baseball
uses this format only for the League Championship Series
and the World Series
, using the "2-3-2" format, with two games at the home stadium of one team, the next three games (the fifth, if necessary) at the home stadium of the other team, and the final two games (if necessary) at the home stadium of the first. (The first round Division Series
use a five-game series format.)
The National Hockey League
uses this format for its league championship Stanley Cup
playoffs, but uses the "2-2-1-1-1" format, alternating the first two games at the home-ice team's home rink, the next two at the second team, and then alternating venues for the fifth, sixth and seventh games (if necessary).
The National Basketball Association
utilizes both formats, with "2-2-1-1-1" for the early playoff rounds, but "2-3-2" for the Finals
; originally the championship round was "2-2-1-1-1" as well, but was changed to "2-3-2" in 1985 to cut down on travel expenses, as the league's "East
-West
" divisional alignment means the two teams are usually separated by great distances - indeed, the cities represented in the Finals' most frequent matchup, Los Angeles
and Boston
, are almost 3000 miles apart.
Both the "2-3-2" and "2-2-1-1-1" formats are situated such that if a team "sweeps" the series (wins 4-0), it will win two games at home, and two games away. They are also set up such that the team with home advantage for the series plays at home for the first game and the seventh game if necessary.
As noted earlier, the Italian, Lithuanian, Polish and Turkish basketball leagues use a best-of-seven format in their championship series. The Turkish playoff has one unique feature. If one team in the championship series (or, for that matter, in any playoff series) defeated its final opponent in both of their regular-season games, the winning team is granted a 1-0 lead in the series, and the series starts with Game 2.
The Chinese Basketball Association
also uses a best-of-seven format in their championships series.
In Major League Baseball
, the World Series
was conducted as a best-of-nine playoff in its first year of existence in 1903
, then again for three years beginning in 1919
, the year of the "Black Sox scandal
."
The Western Hockey League
used the best-of-nine playoff series for the Western Division playoffs from the 1983-84 season through the 1990-91 season because of the unequal division alignment of the league at this time. The Eastern division had eight teams: six of which qualified for the playoffs. The Western division only had six teams: four of which made the playoffs. Because of this, Eastern division had 3 rounds of playoffs (two teams receive a first round bye), while the Western division only had two rounds of playoffs. The east played a best-of-five, best-of-seven, best-of-seven format for the three rounds while both rounds in the Western division playoffs were best-of-nine. This was used so that both divisions would finish their playoffs at approximately the same time. The WHL Championship Series was a best-of-seven. These best-of-nine series went the full nine games on two occasions, with Portland defeating New Westminster
in 1984 and Spokane
in 1986.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
used the best-of-nine playoff series for the 1986 playoffs.
, a player must win a certain number of frames to win a match, often nine (best-of-17) or more. Again, if one player wins nine frames before all 17 are played, the rest are omitted. The world championship final is currently decided in a best-of-35 match.
In 9-ball, a player must win a certain number of racks to win a match. In the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
, nine racks are needed to win in the early stages, ten to eleven in the latter stages, and 17 in the final. Same with snooker, if one player wins nine frames before all 17 are played, the rest are omitted.
In 2004, NASCAR
adopted a total points playoff of a different stripe, creating a "Chase for the Cup" that allowed a golf-style cut of the high ten or 400 points of the leader, whichever is greater, to compete for the championship in the last ten races. Effective with the 2007 season, the Chase was expanded to include the top 12 drivers after 26 races. The points of the drivers in the cut are elevated far beyond those of the pack. From 2007
to 2010, each Chase driver received 5,000 points, with a 10-point bonus for each race won prior to the Chase. Starting in 2011
, the points system and Chase qualification criteria were significantly changed. Now, the top 10 drivers after 26 races automatically qualify for the Chase, joined by the two drivers with the most race wins among those ranked between 11th and 20th in points after 26 races. Reflecting a major change to the points system, in which the race winner can now earn a maximum of 48 points as opposed to 195 in the former system, driver points are now reset to a base of 2,000. After the reset, automatic qualifiers will receive 3 bonus points for each race win, while the wild card qualifiers will not receive a bonus for wins. Regardless of the exact format, the driver in that group with the most points after the final ten races wins the Sprint Cup.
In November 2005
, the PGA Tour
announced that a similar total points playoff would be used to lead up to the PGA Championship
, starting in 2007
. The player with the most points at the end of the year would take home the FedEx Cup
.
Prior to the 1986 Playoffs, the Canadian Hockey League (especially the Ontario Hockey League) used the point series, to determine, which team would advance. In those situation, where the higher seeded host in odd number of game (game #1, 3, 5, 7), while the other team host the even number (game #2, 4, 6, 8). There would be no overtime, except for the deciding game, because a tie in the last game, of the series would not declare a series winner, so should that happens, there would be a sudden-death overtime, with the winner getting 2 points, and the losing team get nothing.
The game show Jeopardy!
uses a two-game series in the final round of its tournaments. Each game is played separately (i.e., money from day one cannot be wagered on day two), and the money is added together to determine the winner. The only exception to this was in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions
, when the two semifinal matches were both two-game series, and the final was a three-game series.
Bayern Munich 4–4 Real Madrid on aggregate. Bayern Munich won on away goals
(2–1).
. In the FIFA World Cup
, teams are organized into eight pools of four teams, playing each other once and ranked by points earned through wins (3 points) and draws (1 point). The top two teams advance out of each pool to the knockout phase where the top team from each pool face second-placed team from a different pool.
Continental club football tournaments have included round robin formats, such as the Copa Libertadores from the 1966 season, UEFA Champions League
from the 1992/93 season, UEFA Cup
from 2004/05, and the Asian
and African
Champions Leagues. Teams are seeded such that strongest teams should not meet until the end. In the UEFA Champions League, 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. The group winners and runners-up advance to a two-game, total goals round, the eight third-placed teams move into the UEFA Cup third round, and the eight fourth-placed teams are eliminated.
In basketball
, the Olympics
also uses a round robin of the same nature, going to single elimination after the first round. The Euroleague has two double round-robin phases. The first is a "Regular Season" in which the 24 teams are divided into four groups of six (as of the 2008-09 season). The four top teams in each group advance to a "Top 16" phase in which the teams are divided into four groups of four each. The top two teams from each Top 16 group are then paired in four best-of-five quarterfinal series, with the winners advancing to the single-elimination Final Four.
Round-robin tournaments are also used in rugby union
, curling
, and many amateur or lower-division basketball, football, and hockey tournaments.
In 1992, the Little League World Series
in youth baseball went to a round-robin tournament in the first round instead of single-elimination. In 2001, the tournament expanded to 16 teams and stayed with a round-robin for the first round, but cross-bracketed single elimination for the second round before the two winners of those games advanced to the region final. Little League used this format through 2009.
In Major League Baseball
, the term "round robin" was used with regard to the possibility of a 3-way tie for the National League pennant in 1964
. The Philadelphia Phillies
had had a 6½ game lead with 12 games left in their regular schedule, but then lost 10 games in a row, so that the season went into its last day with 3 teams still having a chance for the NL pennant. As it turns out, the St. Louis Cardinals
defeated the New York Mets
on that day to take the NL pennant with no playoff; the reverse of that outcome would have left the Cardinals, the Phillies, and the Cincinnati Reds
in a 3-way tie.
:
Teams in shaded in blue advance to the knockout stage.
Notable tournaments that employ this rule are the NFL Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Note that reseeding does not come into play if there are only 2 rounds of competition.
(scores in the bracket shown indicate the number of games won in each seven-game series):
As discussed above, a team can clinch the "home advantage" in a variety of ways:
In best-of series, the order of arenas/stadiums in which the games are played at also affects the home advantage. In the NBA, the first three rounds are done in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, that is, the team with the home court advantage plays games 1-2, 5 and 7. This ensures that the team with the home court advantage never trails assuming every game is won by the home team. In the NBA Finals, the games are scheduled in the 2-3-2 format (the team with the home court advantage plays games 1-2 and 6-7 in their home court), which can theoretically allow the team with the home court advantage to trail in the series (although that will require the team with the home court advantage to lose the middle three games, which has only happened twice since the format was introduced in 1985
).
In the MLB's World Series, the team that came from the league that won the All-Star Game is awarded with the home field advantage. In the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals, the teams with the higher regular season record receives the home advantage. The NFL's Super Bowl is held at a predetermined site regardless of which teams reach the game, which usually means there is no home advantage but it is still possible for the host city's team to play in the Super Bowl.
In two-legged ties such as the UEFA Champions League
, although it is said that the two teams play an equal amount of games in their home stadium, the team playing the second game in their home stadium has a distinct advantage, such as the resolution of ties will be at their stadium.
In games done on neutral venues, a team may still be afforded the privileges of the "home team" such as selecting which side to play first or choosing the side of the coin in coin flips. In most instances, this privilege is determined either by a drawing of lots (UEFA Champions League) or by rotation among the groupings of the different teams (NFL).
In the Nippon Professional Baseball's postseason games (excluding Japan Series
) since 2004, the team having a better position in regular position will be hosting all the games. In addition, since 2008, the League Champion will have a 1-win advantage in the 2nd stage of Climax Series (best-of-7 which actually played for 6 games).
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s and game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series, and the round-robin tournament
Round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
.
Single elimination
A Single eliminationSingle-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
("knockout") playoff pits the participants in one-game matches, with the loser being dropped from the competition. Single elimination tournaments are much more common in individual sports like tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. In most tennis tournaments, the players are seeded
Seed (sports)
A seed is a preliminary ranking that can be used in arranging a sports tournament. It is called a seed because of the analogy with plants where the seed might grow into a top rank at the end of that tournament, or might instead wither away...
against each other, and the winner of each match continues to the next round, all the way to the final.
Of the big four American sports leagues, only the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
uses a version of this system. Its regular seasons are much shorter (16 games) than those in the other sports (from 82 to 162 games), and the difference in quality between teams is believed to be more quickly discernible. The rigors of individual games, held only once per week, also preclude the possibility of longer playoff series. Six teams are seeded from each conference, with the top two getting a first-round "bye" (a free pass to the second round). The remaining teams pair off, with the higher-seeded team hosting. The winners of those games then play the higher-seeded teams that received byes in elimination playoffs, and then the winners of those matches face each in another in elimination playoffs to determine who will represent each conference in the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. The winner of that game wins the championship.
In both the men's
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
and women's
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
tournaments, 64 teams are seeded into four brackets of 16 teams each. (From 2011, the men's tournament will feature a "First Four", with the four lowest-ranked conference champions and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams playing single games to enter the 64-team draw.) The #1 team plays the #16 team in each bracket, the #2 plays the #15, and so on. Theoretically, if a higher ranked team always beats a lower ranked team, the second game will be arranged #1 vs. #8, #2 vs. #7, etc.; the third will be arranged #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3; the fourth will be arranged #1 vs. #2. If for instance #9 beats #8 in the first game, the #9 will simply take the theoretical spot of #8 and play #1. Winners advance through each round, changing cities after every two rounds. The Final Four
Final four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
teams, one from each bracket, play each other in the last weekend, with the winner of the final two being awarded the championship.
National Association football competitions usually don't have playoff, but when they are used single elimination to determine finalists and winners. Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
's second and final rounds of its playoffs use a single elimination format, though the first round is a total points format. The FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
tournament also uses knockout rounds after a group stage of 32 teams divided into 8 groups of 4 determines who advances to them.
Some knockout tournaments may also include a third place playoff
Third place playoff
The third place playoff is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The teams that compete in the third place playoffs are usually the two losing semi-finalists in a particular...
, a single match to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth place. The teams that compete in such third place games are usually the two losing semifinalists in a particular tournament. Although these semifinalists are still in effect "eliminated" from contending for the championship, they either may be competing for a bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
like some tournaments in the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
or basically just to salvage some pride in a consolation match, like in the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
.
Example
As it was used in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup2007 AFC Asian Cup
The Asian Football Confederation's 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals were held from July 7 to July 29, 2007. For the first time in its history, the competition was co-hosted by four nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The tournament was won by first-time champions Iraq, who defeated Saudi...
knockout stage:
Double elimination
A double elimination format is used in most NCAA and high school baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
tournaments in the United States. Starting in 2010
2010 Little League World Series
-Pool A:-Pool B:-Pool C:-Pool D:-Championship games:-Champions path:The Edogawa Minami LL reached the LLWS with a record of 8 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. In total, their record was 13–1–1, their only loss coming against Musashi-Fuchu....
, the Little League World Series
Little League World Series
The Little League Baseball World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 11 to 13 years old. It was originally called the National Little League Tournament and was later renamed for the World Series in Major League Baseball. It was first held in 1947 and is held every August in South...
in baseball also adopted this format. Teams are eliminated from contention after incurring two losses in each round of play.
The format changes depending on the number of teams per bracket, but most major collegiate baseball
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
conferences with the format send only the top eight teams, or a mix of top teams plus the winners of a single elimination qualifier tournament, to their conference tournament.
The NCAA baseball and softball tournaments have used the format since its inception for regional and College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
play.
In the current NCAA tournament format for four teams, the #1 seed plays the #4 seed ("Game 1"), and the #2 seed plays the #3 seed ("Game 2") on the first day of regional tournaments, and the first and second days of the College World Series (where the second bracket games are known as "Game 3" and "Game 4", respectively).
On the second day or series (third and fourth days at the College World Series), the losers play in the morning to determine who is eliminated ("Game 3" in regional, "Games 5" and "Game 7" in College World Series play), and who advances to the third game of the day. The winners ("Game 4" in regional, "Game 6" and "Game 8" in College World Series) play to determine who advances to the final on the third day.
In NCAA regional games, the loser of this game plays the winner of the morning game that evening ("Game 5") to determine who plays in the final.
In College World Series play, because the bracket teams play on alternating days, these games ("Game 9" and "Game 10") are played on the fifth day.
In NCAA regional games, the third day will feature the regional championship ("Game 6"). If the winner of Game 4 defeats the winner of Game 5, the winner advances to the Super Regional. Until the 2005 tournament, if the winner of Game 5 defeats the winner of Game 4, the two teams would meet again in Game 7 thirty minutes later to determine which team advances to the Super Regional.
However, with a concern that some teams were playing four games in two days, the NCAA made a rule change in 2005 to equalise the disadvantage of the winner of Game 5 by stating should the winner of Game 5 win Game 6, Game 7 would be played on a fourth day.
In the College World Series, on the sixth day, the winner of Game 9 plays the winner of Game 7 ("Game 11"), and the winner of Game 10 plays the winner of Game 8 ("Game 12"). If the winner in Game 7 wins Game 11, and/or the winner of Game 8 wins Game 12, such winners advance to the best-of-three final. If the winner of Game 9 defeats the winner of Game 7, and/or the winner of Game 10 defeats the winner of Game 8 the two teams would play again on the seventh day in Games 13 and 14, respectively, if they are needed, to determine who advances to the final.
Starting with the 2010 edition, the Little League World Series adopted a new format that involves four double-elimination brackets. The U.S. and International divisions are split into two four-team pools, with each pool conducting a double-elimination tournament to determine its winner. After the end of double-elimination play, the U.S. pool winners play one another in single games, as do the International pool winners, with the losers playing a third-place game and the winners playing a championship game. In another new feature, all teams are guaranteed at least three games; the first team eliminated from each pool plays a "crossover game" that matches an eliminated U.S. team with an eliminated International team.
Example
As it was used in the Mideast regional of the 1975 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament1975 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament
The 1975 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament was held in 1975 at various locations across the country. 32 NCAA Division I college baseball teams met after having played their way through a regular season, and for some, a conference tournament, to play in the NCAA Tournament...
:
For an example of the Little League variation, see 2010 Little League World Series
2010 Little League World Series
-Pool A:-Pool B:-Pool C:-Pool D:-Championship games:-Champions path:The Edogawa Minami LL reached the LLWS with a record of 8 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. In total, their record was 13–1–1, their only loss coming against Musashi-Fuchu....
.
Best-of formats
The "best-of" formats refers to a head-to-head competition where the two competitors compete to first win the majority of the games allotted to win the "series". If a competitor wins a majority of the games, the remaining games may be discarded. This is a modification of the single elimination tournament to allow more matches to be held. Moreover, if it can be said that one competitor has a higher probability of winning a single game (and game results are i.i.d.), the likelihood that this competitor wins the series increases when more games are played. For example, if team A has a seventy percent chance of winning team B in a single game, its probability of winning a best-of-three series against B is 78.4 percent, and its probability of winning a best-of-seven series is about 87.4 percent.Best-of-three playoff
A best-of-three playoff is a head-to-head competition between two teams in which one team must win two games to win the series. Two is chosen as it would constitute a majority of the games played; if one team wins both of the first two games, the third game is not played.Often, when a best-of-series tied with each team having won an even number of games, the bracket is said to be a "best-of-(number of games left)." This is because for all practical purposes the teams are starting over. If a best-of-7 series is deadlocked at 2-2, the bracket is then referred to as a "best-of-3", since the reality is that the first team to win 2 games advances.
In tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, matches are usually decided with a best-of-3-sets format. Some major tournaments are played in the a best-of-5-sets format, most notably the Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
men's singles and doubles. Also, the 35 and over Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles and the 35 and over Ladies' Invitation Doubles of the Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
are both round-robin tournaments.
In North American competitions
The first use of the best-of-three playoff was in Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
; the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
authorized such a playoff to be held if two teams ended the season in a tie for first place; the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
used a single game in this situation. Since both leagues have used only a one-game playoff for all playoff positions which are tied if only one team can advance to the playoffs. Since , a tie-breaker based on season performance can be used only to seed teams. Recently, there has been talk of Major League Baseball possibly adding a second wild card
Wild card (sports)
The term wild card refers broadly to a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play.-International sports:...
playoff berth in each league, then having the two wild cards in each league play each other in a best-of-three series to start the postseason, with the six division winners drawing byes. Its prospects for passage by the sport's club owners, however, appear remote.
Both the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
and NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
once used best-of-three playoffs (often referred to as "mini-series"), but today neither league does: Pro basketball first adopted the best-of-three playoff for first-round play starting with its inception as the Basketball Association of America in 1946 (changing its name to the NBA three years later) and retaining it through the 1959–60 season; the league resumed its use of the best-of-three first-round series in 1974–75, but abolished it again in 1983–84 when the number of teams qualifying for its postseason tournament was increased to 16 (ten teams had qualified during the first two years of the aforementioned period, this number being expanded to twelve in 1976–77; in both instances some of the highest-ranking teams did not participate in the best-of-three round, drawing byes and automatically advancing to the second round, which was best-of-seven, as were all subsequent rounds).
In ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, the best-of-three format was one of two possible types of series that could be held to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
(the other being a two-legged playoff series), and it was used in lower rounds in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
up until the Original Six
Original Six
The Original Six is a term for the group of six teams that composed the National Hockey League for the 25 seasons between the 1942–43 season and the 1967 NHL Expansion. These six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and the...
era. The best-of-three series in the modern era was first used in the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning with the 1974–75 season; at that time, the number of NHL playoff teams had been increased to twelve from the previous eight. The format which then took effect called for the first three finishers in each of the league's four divisions to enter the postseason, but the first-place teams drew byes and did not play any best-of-three series; the postseason then proceeded as the NBA's did, with the second and all later rounds being best-of-seven. This remained the case until the 1979–80 season, when the NHL expanded its playoff field to 16 after absorbing four teams from the defunct World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
in a semi-merger, whereupon the byes were abolished and all 16 qualifying teams participated in the first round, which was lengthened to best-of-five. In both the NBA and NHL, the team with the higher finish during the regular season played the first and (if necessary) the third games of the series at home, with the lower-ranked team hosting the second game.
The only top-level professional league in the United States that now uses a best-of-three format for its playoffs is the WNBA. Until 2009, the WNBA forced the team with the higher record to travel to the lower seed's home court for game 1, then played the final game(s) at home. Because of this perceived inequity, in 2010
2010 WNBA season
The 2010 WNBA season was the 14th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began with a televised meeting between the defending champion Phoenix Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks in Phoenix, Arizona on May 15. The Connecticut Sun hosted the 10th Annual All-Star...
, the league switched to a more traditional 1-1-1 format, where the higher seed would play the first and (if needed) third games at home. Also, in 2005
2005 WNBA season
-External links:***...
, the league switched the WNBA Finals
WNBA Finals
The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association and the conclusion of the sport's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002....
to a best-of-five playoff format.
NCAA baseball has two best-of-three series in their 64-team playoff format. Starting in 1999, when the tournament expanded from 48 teams (eight regionals of six teams each) to 64 teams (sixteen regionals of four teams each), the NCAA introduced the "super regional", in which regional winners play a best-of-three series with the series winner advancing to the College World Series. If a regional winner is also a national seed, it is guaranteed to host the super regional; if no national seed makes a particular super regional, the NCAA puts hosting rights up for bidding between the competing schools. In 2003, the College World Series changed from a one-game final to a best-of-three series.
In competitions on other continents
The EuroleagueEuroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...
, the primary Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
-wide club competition in basketball, introduced a quarterfinal round for the 2004–05 season
Euroleague 2004-05
The Euroleague is an international basketball club competition for elite clubs throughout Europe. The 2004–2005 season featured 24 competing teams from 13 different countries...
which originally employed a best-of-three format; starting with the 2008–09 season, the quarterfinal round became best-of-five. This is the only point in the Euroleague where a playoff series is used; all earlier rounds are conducted in a league format, and the quarterfinal winners advance to the Final Four, where all games are one-off knockout matches.
In a modification of the best-of-3 format, the collegiate basketball leagues in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
(notably the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines)
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is an athletics association of nine colleges and universities in the Philippines. Established in 1924, the NCAA is the oldest athletic association in the Philippines...
and the UAAP), the playoffs consist of two best-of-3 rounds. In the Semi-Finals, the two top seeds receive twice to beat advantage, wherein they receive an automatic 1-0 advantage, the lower seeded team needs to beat its opponent twice, while the higher seeded team only needs a single victory. The survivors face of in a best-of 3 Finals. A full double-elimination tournament
Double-elimination tournament
A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost two games or matches...
gives the lone undefeated team this so-called twice to beat advantage.
In the FIBA Oceania Championship
FIBA Oceania Championship
FIBA Oceania Championship is the name commonly used to refer to the Oceania basketball championships that take every two years between national teams of the continent...
, the best-of-three series is used if only both Australia
Australia national basketball team
The Australian national basketball team is the men's basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known in Australia as the Boomers, an Australian slang term for Kangaroo. Australia is ranked 9th in the world and finished 7th at the 2008 Beijing Olympic...
and New Zealand
New Zealand national basketball team
The New Zealand national basketball team represents New Zealand in international basketball competitions. It is nicknamed the Tall Blacks, derived from the name of New Zealand's Rugby union team, the All Blacks.-History:...
play in the tournament. If a team wins the first two games, the last game may still be played. If other teams participate, a regular round-robin or multi-stage tournament is used.
The best-of-3 playoff system was also used in the Brazilian Football League for the 1998 and 1999 seasons quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. However, since matches could end in a draw, this system had a few modifications. If no team could win two games, the team with most victories would qualify. If the two teams had one victory, the team with the best goal difference
Goal difference
In sports such as ice hockey and association football, goal difference is often the first tiebreaker used to rank teams which finish a league competition with an equal number of points....
would qualify. If the goal difference was the same, the team with the best regular season campaign would qualify. A interesting fact is that during the 1998 season, all the rounds were decided in three games.
Best-of-five playoff
A best-of-five playoff is a competition between two teams head-to-head which must win three games to win the series. Three is chosen as it would constitute a majority of games played; if one team has won three games before all five games have been played, the games that remain are omitted.At present, only one American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
men's professional sports body - Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
- makes use of the best-of-five playoff, doing so in its first round, known as the Division Series
Division Series
In baseball, the Division Series is the official name for the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Currently, a total of four series are played in this opening round, two each for both the American League and the National League.-1981 season:...
. At one time, however, the League Championship Series
League Championship Series
The League Championship Series is the official name for a round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969...
was best-of-five, from its birth with both leagues' realignment into two divisions in , and continuing until this round was lengthened to best-of-seven in . (This change would have immediate ramifications: In the American League, in each of the first two years where the LCS used the best-of-seven format, the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
in 1985
1985 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 8, 1985 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, OntarioThe Toronto Blue Jays entered the series as the favorite to win the series. The first game featured Toronto pitcher Dave Stieb and Kansas City pitcher Charlie Leibrandt at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto...
and the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
in 1986
1986 American League Championship Series
The 1986 American League Championship Series was a back-and-forth battle between the Boston Red Sox and the California Angels for the right to advance to the 1986 World Series to face the winner of the 1986 National League Championship Series...
fell behind 3-1 - which previously would have eliminated them - before coming back to win the series.) When the wild card
Wild card (sports)
The term wild card refers broadly to a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play.-International sports:...
was first used in (it was created for the season, but that year's entire postseason was canceled due to a players' strike
1994 baseball strike
The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years...
), the best-of-five format was authorized for the new Division Series, in which eight teams participate.
During the time that the League Championship Series was best-of-five, a "2-3" format was used, with one team hosting the first two games, the other the last three (these respective roles alternating between the Eastern and Western Division champions regardless of which one finished with the better regular-season record). This procedure was repeated at first when the best-of-five Division Series was added in 1995 (except that two of each league's now three division winners hosted three games and the wild card could never do so), but starting in the home-field advantage was awarded to the two division winners in each league that had the best records; also in 1998, the "2-2-1" format was instituted, the team with the home-field advantage being given the first, second and fifth games at home instead of the third, fourth and fifth.
The National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
and National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
both formerly used best-of-five series, the NBA in its second round prior to the season, and in the first round from through , and again from until lengthening it to best of seven starting in , and the NHL for its first-round series beginning with the season and lasting until that league increased its first round to best-of-seven in . Unlike in baseball, in both NBA and NHL best-of-five series the higher regular-season finisher always hosted the first, second, and (if necessary) fifth games.
As of 2005
2005 WNBA season
-External links:***...
, the Women's National Basketball Association
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
now uses a best-of-five format for its championship
WNBA Finals
The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association and the conclusion of the sport's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002....
series. However, the previous two WNBA playoff rounds are best of three.
Historically, most European domestic basketball leagues have used a best-of-five format in their championship series. The main long-standing exceptions are the Israeli and French
Ligue Nationale de Basketball
The Ligue National de Basket is the top men's French professional basketball league. There are two divisions: French Pro A League and French Pro B League .-Pro A:...
leagues, which use one-off finals; the Adriatic League
NLB League
Liga ABA, also known as Adriatic League, until September 2011 known as the NLB Liga ABA for sponsorship reasons, is a top-level regional basketball league, featuring teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Israel, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.The league exists alongside scaled-down national...
(former Yugoslavia), which has changed from a one-off final to a best-of-three final back to a one-off final in recent years; and the Lithuanian
Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga
The Lietuvos krepšinio lyga is Lithuania's premier professional men's basketball league, composed of 12 teams.- History :...
, Polish and Turkish
Turkish Basketball League
The Turkish Basketball League is the top men’s professional basketball league in Turkey, which is also called Turkish Premier Basketball League . There is also a Turkish Second Basketball League consisting of 2 divisions .-History:The first basketball game played in Turkey was at the Robert...
leagues, which use a best-of-seven format. Italy
Serie A (basketball)
Lega Basket Serie A is the highest level club competition in Italian professional basketball where play determines the national champion. The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 30 games, followed by an eight-team playoff round. Quarterfinals and semifinals series are best-of-five, and...
has gone to a best-of-seven final effective with its 2008–09 season. The Euroleague
Euroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...
quarterfinal round expanded to best-of-five from best-of-three starting in the 2008-09 season.
Best-of-seven playoff
A best-of-seven playoff, also known by the name seven-game series, puts two teams against each other for as many games (or sets) as needed for one team to win four games (or sets). It is by far the most common playoff format in the major North American sports. It is not necessary for the four games to be consecutively won. Since each game must be won by one team or the other there can be at most seven games in a series. Before the advent of lighting in ballparks ballgames often ended tied because it was too dark to play anymore; in the modern era, a much less common way of ending a ballgame is going past the curfews. Therefore the series can, in practice, last eight games, as in the 1912 World Series1912 World Series
In the 1912 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants four games to three .This dramatic series showcased great pitching from Giant Christy Mathewson and from Boston fireballer Smoky Joe Wood. Wood won two of his three starts and pitched in relief in the final game...
. This format is currently used in the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
and the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
for all their playoff series. Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
uses this format only for the League Championship Series
League Championship Series
The League Championship Series is the official name for a round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969...
and the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, using the "2-3-2" format, with two games at the home stadium of one team, the next three games (the fifth, if necessary) at the home stadium of the other team, and the final two games (if necessary) at the home stadium of the first. (The first round Division Series
Division Series
In baseball, the Division Series is the official name for the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Currently, a total of four series are played in this opening round, two each for both the American League and the National League.-1981 season:...
use a five-game series format.)
The National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
uses this format for its league championship Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
playoffs, but uses the "2-2-1-1-1" format, alternating the first two games at the home-ice team's home rink, the next two at the second team, and then alternating venues for the fifth, sixth and seventh games (if necessary).
The National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
utilizes both formats, with "2-2-1-1-1" for the early playoff rounds, but "2-3-2" for the Finals
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
; originally the championship round was "2-2-1-1-1" as well, but was changed to "2-3-2" in 1985 to cut down on travel expenses, as the league's "East
Eastern Conference (NBA)
The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association is made up of fifteen teams, organized in three divisions of five teams each.The three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their records, with all...
-West
Western Conference (NBA)
Below is a list of current Western Conference NBA team rosters.-Western Conference:There are a total of 15 teams in the Western Conference. The current leading team of the Western conference are the Dallas Mavericks....
" divisional alignment means the two teams are usually separated by great distances - indeed, the cities represented in the Finals' most frequent matchup, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and Boston
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, are almost 3000 miles apart.
Both the "2-3-2" and "2-2-1-1-1" formats are situated such that if a team "sweeps" the series (wins 4-0), it will win two games at home, and two games away. They are also set up such that the team with home advantage for the series plays at home for the first game and the seventh game if necessary.
As noted earlier, the Italian, Lithuanian, Polish and Turkish basketball leagues use a best-of-seven format in their championship series. The Turkish playoff has one unique feature. If one team in the championship series (or, for that matter, in any playoff series) defeated its final opponent in both of their regular-season games, the winning team is granted a 1-0 lead in the series, and the series starts with Game 2.
The Chinese Basketball Association
Chinese Basketball Association
The Chinese Basketball Association , often abbreviated to the CBA, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in China.The league is commonly known as the CBA, and this acronym is often used even in Chinese...
also uses a best-of-seven format in their championships series.
Best-of-nine playoff
A best-of-nine playoff pits two teams head-to-head which must win five games to win the series. Five is chosen as it would constitute a majority of the games played. If one team has won five games before all nine games have been played, the games that remain are omitted.In Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
was conducted as a best-of-nine playoff in its first year of existence in 1903
1903 World Series
The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the Boston Americans of the American League against the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League in a best-of-nine series, with Boston prevailing five games to three, winning the last...
, then again for three years beginning in 1919
1919 World Series
The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. Although most World Series have been of the best-of-seven format, the 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series...
, the year of the "Black Sox scandal
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...
."
The Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
used the best-of-nine playoff series for the Western Division playoffs from the 1983-84 season through the 1990-91 season because of the unequal division alignment of the league at this time. The Eastern division had eight teams: six of which qualified for the playoffs. The Western division only had six teams: four of which made the playoffs. Because of this, Eastern division had 3 rounds of playoffs (two teams receive a first round bye), while the Western division only had two rounds of playoffs. The east played a best-of-five, best-of-seven, best-of-seven format for the three rounds while both rounds in the Western division playoffs were best-of-nine. This was used so that both divisions would finish their playoffs at approximately the same time. The WHL Championship Series was a best-of-seven. These best-of-nine series went the full nine games on two occasions, with Portland defeating New Westminster
New Westminster Bruins
The New Westminster Bruins were a junior ice hockey team from the Western Hockey League. There were two franchises that carried this name:* 1971–1981...
in 1984 and Spokane
Spokane Chiefs
The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. Spokane consistently ranks in the top 10 in the...
in 1986.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...
used the best-of-nine playoff series for the 1986 playoffs.
Higher number of games
In snookerSnooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, a player must win a certain number of frames to win a match, often nine (best-of-17) or more. Again, if one player wins nine frames before all 17 are played, the rest are omitted. The world championship final is currently decided in a best-of-35 match.
In 9-ball, a player must win a certain number of racks to win a match. In the WPA World Nine-ball Championship
WPA World Nine-ball Championship
The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual, international, professional nine-ball pool tournament, founded in 1990, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association , and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport...
, nine racks are needed to win in the early stages, ten to eleven in the latter stages, and 17 in the final. Same with snooker, if one player wins nine frames before all 17 are played, the rest are omitted.
Total points series (aggregate)
Various playoff formats, including two-legged ties and total points series pair off participants in a number of games (often two), with the winner being determined by aggregate score: the winner being the one who scores the most points/goals etc. over the series of games. Two-legged ties are common in association football, and were used in NHL playoff series until 1937.In 2004, NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
adopted a total points playoff of a different stripe, creating a "Chase for the Cup" that allowed a golf-style cut of the high ten or 400 points of the leader, whichever is greater, to compete for the championship in the last ten races. Effective with the 2007 season, the Chase was expanded to include the top 12 drivers after 26 races. The points of the drivers in the cut are elevated far beyond those of the pack. From 2007
2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup
The 2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup was the ten-race playoffs which concluded the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season. It began with the Sylvania 300 on September 16, 2007 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and ended with the Ford 400 on November 18 of the same year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Jimmie...
to 2010, each Chase driver received 5,000 points, with a 10-point bonus for each race won prior to the Chase. Starting in 2011
2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season was the 63rd season of professional stock car racing in the United States. The season included 36 races and two exhibition races, beginning with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The...
, the points system and Chase qualification criteria were significantly changed. Now, the top 10 drivers after 26 races automatically qualify for the Chase, joined by the two drivers with the most race wins among those ranked between 11th and 20th in points after 26 races. Reflecting a major change to the points system, in which the race winner can now earn a maximum of 48 points as opposed to 195 in the former system, driver points are now reset to a base of 2,000. After the reset, automatic qualifiers will receive 3 bonus points for each race win, while the wild card qualifiers will not receive a bonus for wins. Regardless of the exact format, the driver in that group with the most points after the final ten races wins the Sprint Cup.
In November 2005
2005 PGA Tour
-Awards:*PGA Player of the Year: Tiger Woods*PGA Tour Player of the Year : Tiger Woods*PGA Tour Money Winner : Tiger Woods*Vardon Trophy: Tiger Woods*Byron Nelson Award: Tiger Woods*Rookie of the Year: Sean O'Hair...
, the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
announced that a similar total points playoff would be used to lead up to the PGA Championship
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
, starting in 2007
2007 PGA Tour
The 2007 PGA Tour season ran from January 4, 2007 to November 4, 2007. The season consisted of 47 official money events. This included four major championships and three World Golf Championships, which are also sanctioned by the European Tour. There were also five unofficial events played in...
. The player with the most points at the end of the year would take home the FedEx Cup
FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007 after a NASCAR-like points race. Bill Haas is the current champion...
.
Prior to the 1986 Playoffs, the Canadian Hockey League (especially the Ontario Hockey League) used the point series, to determine, which team would advance. In those situation, where the higher seeded host in odd number of game (game #1, 3, 5, 7), while the other team host the even number (game #2, 4, 6, 8). There would be no overtime, except for the deciding game, because a tie in the last game, of the series would not declare a series winner, so should that happens, there would be a sudden-death overtime, with the winner getting 2 points, and the losing team get nothing.
The game show Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
uses a two-game series in the final round of its tournaments. Each game is played separately (i.e., money from day one cannot be wagered on day two), and the money is added together to determine the winner. The only exception to this was in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions
Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions
The Ultimate Tournament of Champions was a special fifteen-week single-elimination tournament that aired during the twenty-first season of the syndicated game show Jeopardy! that began airing on February 9, 2005 and concluded on May 25, 2005, covering 76 shows in all...
, when the two semifinal matches were both two-game series, and the final was a three-game series.
Example
As it was used in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League knockout stage:Bayern Munich 4–4 Real Madrid on aggregate. Bayern Munich won on away goals
Away goals rule
The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. By the away goals rule, the team that has scored more goals "away from home" will win if scores are otherwise equal...
(2–1).
Round robin
In a round-robin tournament, all playoff contenders play each other an equal number of times, usually once or twice (often called a "double round-robin"). This is a common format for footballFootball (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
. In the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
, teams are organized into eight pools of four teams, playing each other once and ranked by points earned through wins (3 points) and draws (1 point). The top two teams advance out of each pool to the knockout phase where the top team from each pool face second-placed team from a different pool.
Continental club football tournaments have included round robin formats, such as the Copa Libertadores from the 1966 season, UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
from the 1992/93 season, UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
from 2004/05, and the Asian
AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League is the premier Asian club football competition hosted annually by Asian Football Confederation . The tournament is contested among the top thirty-two clubs from the top 10 Asian leagues, two of which must qualify through the playoffs...
and African
CAF Champions League
The CAF Champions League is an annual international club football competition run by the Confederation of African Football . The top club sides from Africa's football leagues are invited to participate in this competition, which is the premier club football competition on the continent and the...
Champions Leagues. Teams are seeded such that strongest teams should not meet until the end. In the UEFA Champions League, 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. The group winners and runners-up advance to a two-game, total goals round, the eight third-placed teams move into the UEFA Cup third round, and the eight fourth-placed teams are eliminated.
In basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, the Olympics
Basketball at the Summer Olympics
Basketball has been a Summer Olympics sport for men consistently since 1936. Prior to its inclusion as a medal sport, it was held as demonstration event in 1904 and 1932, both in the United States. Women's basketball was played in the Olympics only since 1976....
also uses a round robin of the same nature, going to single elimination after the first round. The Euroleague has two double round-robin phases. The first is a "Regular Season" in which the 24 teams are divided into four groups of six (as of the 2008-09 season). The four top teams in each group advance to a "Top 16" phase in which the teams are divided into four groups of four each. The top two teams from each Top 16 group are then paired in four best-of-five quarterfinal series, with the winners advancing to the single-elimination Final Four.
Round-robin tournaments are also used in rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
, and many amateur or lower-division basketball, football, and hockey tournaments.
In 1992, the Little League World Series
Little League World Series
The Little League Baseball World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 11 to 13 years old. It was originally called the National Little League Tournament and was later renamed for the World Series in Major League Baseball. It was first held in 1947 and is held every August in South...
in youth baseball went to a round-robin tournament in the first round instead of single-elimination. In 2001, the tournament expanded to 16 teams and stayed with a round-robin for the first round, but cross-bracketed single elimination for the second round before the two winners of those games advanced to the region final. Little League used this format through 2009.
In Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, the term "round robin" was used with regard to the possibility of a 3-way tie for the National League pennant in 1964
1964 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: St. Louis Cardinals over New York Yankees ; Bob Gibson, MVP*All-Star Game, July 7 at Shea Stadium: National League, 7–4; Johnny Callison, MVP-Other champions:*College World Series: Minnesota...
. The Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
had had a 6½ game lead with 12 games left in their regular schedule, but then lost 10 games in a row, so that the season went into its last day with 3 teams still having a chance for the NL pennant. As it turns out, the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
defeated the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
on that day to take the NL pennant with no playoff; the reverse of that outcome would have left the Cardinals, the Phillies, and the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
in a 3-way tie.
Example
As it was used in the "Super Six" round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup1999 Cricket World Cup
-England:-Outside England:-Group A:-Results:-------------------------------------------------------------Group B:-Results:------------------------------------------------------------...
:
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | NR | T | NRR | PCF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pakistan |
6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.65 | 4 |
 Australia |
6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.36 | 0 |
 South Africa |
6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.17 | 2 |
 New Zealand |
5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | −0.52 | 2 |
 Zimbabwe |
5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | −0.79 | 4 |
 India |
2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | −0.15 | 0 |
Teams in shaded in blue advance to the knockout stage.
Associated concepts
As discussed above, leagues also offer innovations in order to give advantage to teams that performed better in the regular season, such as reseeding and home advantage.Reseeding
In tournaments where participants are seeded, in order to ensure that the strongest remaining team faces the weakest team, the participants are "reseeded" at each round; the tournament bracket is not fixed, where potential matchups can be readily determined up to the final. For example, in a regular 8-team bracket, the teams that will meet at the second round will be the winner of the #1 vs. #8 going up against the winner of #4 and #5, and the winner of #2 and #7 going up against the winner of #3 and #6. If the #5 and the #7 teams won in the first round, the second round matchups will be #1 vs. #7 and #3 vs. #5, instead of #1 vs. #5 and #3 vs. #7.Notable tournaments that employ this rule are the NFL Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Note that reseeding does not come into play if there are only 2 rounds of competition.
Example
As it was used in the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, the championship of the National Hockey League , began after the conclusion of the 1993–94 NHL season. The sixteen teams that qualified, eight from each conference, played best-of-7 series for conference quarterfinals, semifinals and championships, and then the...
(scores in the bracket shown indicate the number of games won in each seven-game series):
Home advantage
In team sports, the "hometown advantage" refers to the phenomenon when certain teams (usually the higher-seeded teams) are afforded more games that can be played at their home arena/stadium than their opponent's. This is predominant in the best-of series where there are more games played in a team's arena/stadium than the other, and in single-elimination tournaments where the single game is disputed in a team's stadium. In a best-of series, a team can "lose" their home advantage if the visiting team wins the first game. Home advantage can be regained or lost in the course of the series.As discussed above, a team can clinch the "home advantage" in a variety of ways:
- Clinching the higher seed (MLB, NHL and NFL)
- Winning more games than the opponent, but not necessarily clinching the higher seed (NBA)
In best-of series, the order of arenas/stadiums in which the games are played at also affects the home advantage. In the NBA, the first three rounds are done in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, that is, the team with the home court advantage plays games 1-2, 5 and 7. This ensures that the team with the home court advantage never trails assuming every game is won by the home team. In the NBA Finals, the games are scheduled in the 2-3-2 format (the team with the home court advantage plays games 1-2 and 6-7 in their home court), which can theoretically allow the team with the home court advantage to trail in the series (although that will require the team with the home court advantage to lose the middle three games, which has only happened twice since the format was introduced in 1985
1985 NBA Finals
The 1985 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1984–85 NBA season.The Boston Celtics were looking to repeat as NBA Champions for the first time since the . The Celtics had homecourt advantage for the second year in a row as they finished the regular season with a 63-19...
).
In the MLB's World Series, the team that came from the league that won the All-Star Game is awarded with the home field advantage. In the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals, the teams with the higher regular season record receives the home advantage. The NFL's Super Bowl is held at a predetermined site regardless of which teams reach the game, which usually means there is no home advantage but it is still possible for the host city's team to play in the Super Bowl.
In two-legged ties such as the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, although it is said that the two teams play an equal amount of games in their home stadium, the team playing the second game in their home stadium has a distinct advantage, such as the resolution of ties will be at their stadium.
In games done on neutral venues, a team may still be afforded the privileges of the "home team" such as selecting which side to play first or choosing the side of the coin in coin flips. In most instances, this privilege is determined either by a drawing of lots (UEFA Champions League) or by rotation among the groupings of the different teams (NFL).
In the Nippon Professional Baseball's postseason games (excluding Japan Series
Japan Series
, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....
) since 2004, the team having a better position in regular position will be hosting all the games. In addition, since 2008, the League Champion will have a 1-win advantage in the 2nd stage of Climax Series (best-of-7 which actually played for 6 games).
See also
- PlayoffPlayoffThe playoffs, postseason, or finals of a sports league are a game or series of games played after the regular season by the top competitors, usually but not always with a single-elimination system, to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.In the U.S...
- TournamentTournamentA tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
- Shaughnessy playoff systemShaughnessy playoff systemThe Shaughnessy playoff system is a method of determining the champion of a sports league that is not in a divisional alignment. It involves the participation of the top four teams in the league standings in a single elimination tournament...
- McIntyre SystemMcIntyre SystemThe McIntyre System, or systems because there have been five of them, is a playoff system that gives an advantage to teams or competitors qualifying higher...
- McIntyre Final Eight SystemMcIntyre Final Eight SystemThe McIntyre Final Eight System was devised by Ken McIntyre in addition to the McIntyre Four, Five and Six systems. It is a playoff system of the top 8 finishers in a competition to determine which two teams will play in the Grand Final. The teams play each other over three weeks, with two teams...
- Top five play-offsTop five play-offsA play-off structure involving the top five teams was used to determine the winners of the Super League competition in British rugby league from 1998 until 2001. A top six play-off system was then introduced...
- Top six play-offsTop six play-offsAfter a top five play-off system was used, a play-off structure involving the top six teams was used to determine the winners of the Super League competition in British rugby league from 2002 through 2008....
- Page playoff systemPage playoff systemThe Page playoff system is a playoff format used primarily in softball and curling at the championship level. Teams are seeded using a round-robin tournament and the top four play a mix of a single-elimination and double-elimination tournament to determine the winner...
- Season (sport)