How to Build Sports Brackets

If you are responsible for overseeing the scheduling of a sports tournament, you will need to present the tournament scheduling information in a form that viewers can grasp and easily follow as the tournament unfolds. Spectators need to know game times, who plays who and where the games will be played if more than one venue is being used. One way to accomplish this is to build a sports bracket. This enables viewers to follow the tournament easily and allows those who oversee tournaments to set up starting times. To build a sports bracket, you will need to know if the tournament is single elimination or double elimination.

Instructions

    • 1

      Draw two separate brackets on a sheet of paper for a four-team double elimination bracket. One will be a

      winner's bracket and the other a loser's bracket. Then draw three quarters of a rectangle that will indicate the first match. Draw another that will indicate the second first round matchup.

    • 2

      Draw two more three-line shapes, one in the winner's bracket and one in the loser's bracket. These designs represent the second round matchups in the winner's bracket and the loser's bracket.

    • 3

      Design a line in the winner's bracket that represents the team that advances to the tournament finals with a win. For the loser's bracket, draw another three-line shape that represents the winner of the first elimination game against the loser of the second round winner's bracket game.

    • 4

      Draw a line from the second game in the loser's bracket that represents the team that advances into the tournament finals. Then design a vertical line to connect the two teams. Remember, the possibility of two games in the championship round exists if the team that emerges from the loser's bracket with a record of 2-1 wins the first game. In this case, draw one more three line rectangular shape which indicates the final game or match that will determine the tournament winner.

    • 5

      Seed the four teams that qualify for the tournament, if overall performance is judged. In a four-team bracket that is seeded, usually the top-seeded team plays the lowest-seeded team while the remaining two teams match up in the first round. This may not apply to tournaments in which there is no seeding process. For example, the matchups could be determined randomly instead of through overall performance.

    • 6

      Write the names of the teams on four separate sheets of paper. If a random drawing is necessary, take these sheets of paper and put them in a small container for a drawing. Take two teams from the container and write them in the first matchup at the top of the bracket and use the two teams remaining to make the other first-round matchup.