Fairness happens between games, too.

Reading the research on rest differences—and translating the question into a league audit.

The research question

Tasbih Tuffaha, Burak Çavdaroğlu, and Tankut Atan study the difference in rest duration between opponents in round-robin tournaments. Their 2023 paper, Round-robin scheduling with regard to rest differences, seeks to minimize total rest difference and presents mathematical methods for the problem.

The useful distinction is between giving every team a minimum break and giving opponents similar preparation time. A schedule can satisfy the first condition without satisfying the second. The paper addresses a defined mathematical setting; its results are not a universal promise for every league’s constraints.

Bring the question to your competition

For each game, record the end of each opponent’s previous game and the start of the current one. Calculate elapsed hours and the absolute difference between opponents. Label opening games separately because a within-season previous game does not exist.

Then review the distribution by team and month. Note travel, postponed games, and policy exceptions separately. These observations can help a league discuss its scheduling priorities, but they do not establish that a given rest difference caused an injury or changed a result.

Read the original

Tuffaha, T., Çavdaroğlu, B. & Atan, T. (2023). TOP, 31, 269–301. Publisher / DOI ↗ · University abstract ↗