Section 9- Intramural Scheduling

Schedule

Scheduling is determined by a variety of factors including the number of teams involved, the availability of facilities and the event’s time frame. Depending on the type of activity, schedule formats may either be:  

• Round robin format (pool play) followed by a single elimination tournament
• Single or Double elimination tournament  
• Regular leagues usually consist of a 3-5 game regular season followed by a single elimination playoff bracket. 

Intramural leagues are scheduled on Mondays and Wednesdays and occasional Tuesdays. Games are usually played from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM. League schedules will be posted on the IMLeagues.com website. Any schedule changes or updates will be done through Imleagues.com. It is the team’s responsibility to check their IMLeagues team page. 

You can also download the IMLeagues app, available for all iPhone and Android devices. 

Game Check-In

Teams are expected to be ready to check in with the scorekeeper or supervisor 10 minutes prior to their scheduled game time and captains are expected to be ready to meet with the game officials. Teams should be ready to play immediately following this meeting.

• Teams/players will be granted a grace period if it is stated within the sport rules. The game/match may begin at any time until the grace period has expired with time on the clock and points awarded as outlined in sport specific rules. If after the grace period the match or game has not begun it will be forfeited to the opponent. If neither team/player is prepared to play a forfeit or double forfeit will be declared. 

**Exception: If no one is there for a team at game time, it will be a forfeit**

Grace Period

If a team does not have the required amount of minimum players by game time, there will be a grace period of 10 minutes. There must be at least one player checked-in for the allowed grace period. 

• To receive the grace period, the opposing team must grant it.  
• One team must have enough players to start for the grace period to be in effect.
• The game clock (if applicable) will be started at game time, following the captains meeting.
• After the 10 minute mark has passed, the team still does not have the players required to start then the game will be forfeited.
• When the team reaches the required number of players, they must call a time-out (if applicable) to stop the game clock and get their late players checked in.
• Once the players have checked in then the game shall begin as stated by rule.  

Cancelling/Postponing Games

 Due to unavoidable circumstances (inclement weather, power outages, etc.), it may become necessary to cancel or postpone intramural games. Games may also be cancelled due to poor and/or unsafe field/court conditions. When possible, the decision to cancel games due to inclement weather will be made at least two (2) hours prior to the start of the first game of the day. However, as is the case with most weather-related situations, a game-time decision may have to be made. When games are cancelled due to inclement weather and/or poor field conditions, the intramural fields will be closed and informal play or team practices will not be allowed.

• Once games are cancelled or postponed, an email/text announcement will be sent through the IMLeagues.com website. An intramural staff member will notify the affected teams’ captains by phone.
• During winter weather related situations, the intramural schedule of games will follow the college’s schedule for evening classes – If the college cancels evening classes then intramural games will not be played. If the College decides to hold evening classes, then intramural games will be played as scheduled.
• Due to inclement weather or other unforeseeable circumstances, games in progress may also be suspended or terminated. This decision will be made by the IMS Specialist. If time and facilities allow, suspended games will be restarted at a later date. If a suspended game is not able to be rescheduled, each team will be given a tie. Games that are terminated will be considered final based on the score at the time of termination or last completed inning.
• Since E&H IMS utilizes a combination of natural and artificial playing surfaces, there may be times that games scheduled for natural grass fields are cancelled when games scheduled for artificial turf fields are still played. In these cases, the intramural staff reserves the right to alter the schedule (switch fields) to allow priority games to be played, as determined by the IMS Specialist
• Safety of participants and staff will always be the primary consideration in the cancelling or suspending games. 

Rescheduling
Games that are not affected by weather or other unforeseeable conditions/circumstances will not be rescheduled. Teams should not contact the intramural office requesting a game to be rescheduled. 

• Every effort will be made to reschedule postponed and/or suspended games. Rescheduling is not guaranteed for league play and will depend on the availability of facilities and time remaining before playoffs. 
• Reasonable accommodations for the teams affected will be made during this process, but teams should understand that time and facility availability will limit the options for reschedules. Most of the time, rescheduled games will not correspond with the teams’ original game days/times.  
• Some leagues may have options for reschedules based on field availability 

Play-off Structure, Selection and Seeding 

At the conclusion of the regular season, a top number of teams (decided by IMS Specialist in advance) will advance to a single elimination playoff bracket tournament. The only exception is if your team finished the regular season with below a 3.0 sportsmanship rating. Playoff games can be any day, any time and generally will not correspond with a team’s regular season schedule. Teams wishing to not be placed in a postseason playoff bracket should contact the IMS Specialist prior to the end of the regular season. This will avoid a forfeit or default once the playoff schedule has been published.

Tournament Seeding

Tournament seeding will be based upon a variety of factors including record, winning percentage, point differential and sportsmanship. However, the league coordinator for each sport reserves the right to seed the teams as needed in order to create the best brackets and playing experience possible. The league coordinator reserves the right to move teams up and down in A and B brackets and recreational and competitive leagues.