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Importing Games via Spreadsheet

How to import games with a spreadsheet file

Updated over a week ago

Importing games can be performed by users within an officiating organization with assignor, scheduler, or administrator permissions. General referees and umpires, or users with coach, athletic director, league personnel, or location personnel permissions, cannot import or upload games by spreadsheet.

Recommended Steps

  1. Download Template File: A copy of your template file can be downloaded from the Import page. You can access this by navigating to the Master Game Schedule page. From there, choose the Add Games option in the top toolbar, then choose Import from Spreadsheet. The template download option is available in the top-right corner of the import page.

  2. Remove Sample Data: If you've included sample data in your downloaded template file, remove it after you've reviewed the proper format before populating your own game data.

  3. Insert Game Data: Copy and paste your game data into the template file or manually type the data into the file. Ensure your data follows the exact format and column order. Please don't add, remove, or move columns, as the columns must be in the exact order provided by the template file.

  4. Save the file and import: Save the file in CSV format to your local computer. Then, use the import page to select and upload your file to the system for processing.

How Imports Work

Importing games via a CSV spreadsheet file can be done via the import options provided in the system. You may import up to 10,000 games in one spreadsheet. The larger your file, the longer it will take. This option is only available for administrators and assignors/schedulers on the system and is not available for coaches, athletic directors, general members, or any other user types. To access the import page, you would go to Master Game Schedule >> Add Games (top left) >> Import from Spreadsheet.

All imported files must exactly follow our import template format exactly, which is available for download on the import page. Files must be saved as a CSV (comma-separated values) file, a simplified version of an Excel spreadsheet. The order and format of your columns will vary depending on the setup options you have chosen in your System Settings, so be sure to start with our template file so you know the column and order structure of the import. Please don't add or move columns. Not all columns are required to have data. You can view the import page, which displays which columns on the template are required for your setup. It is important to note that your template format may change if you change your System Settings. We recommend you download a new template file after making any changes to your System Settings.

You can download a template file on the import page in the top right corner using the Download Template File option. The section will also describe to you which columns are required and which are optional, again, based on your System Settings.

Selecting Import Options

The following options can be selected during the import process.

  • Import Type

    Add New Games

    This indicates that you are trying to add new games to the system. Any entries in your spreadsheet will be added to the system as a brand-new event.

    Update Existing Games
    This indicates that you will be providing an edited spreadsheet to update existing games. Edited spreadsheets must contain the system game ID number. Generally, you cannot self-generate spreadsheets for this process, and you should start with a downloaded spreadsheet of your existing games. See the mass-edit instructions guide for details and instructions.

  • Name Format
    This indicates whether or not you want to import assignments with your games. In most cases, you'll select "No Names." We do not recommend importing assignments with games as it is treated as a system override. You can see this article for more details.

  • Matching Settings
    The bulk of settings on the import page represents how the system should match and identify your content. These sections begin with "If we cannot match the _________, what should the system do?" When reading the content of your spreadsheet, the system will search through your subscription to identify entries that match the content of your spreadsheet (teams, leagues, game codes, locations, officials, etc.). The system will perform these searches in the following order:

    1. Search for an exact match: The system will search for an exact match to the term you entered
    2. Search for a partial match: If step 1 is unsuccessful, the system will proceed with trying to locate a partial match
    3. Perform the fallback setting you specified: If both step 1 and step 2 are unsuccessful, then this is where your selected setting comes into play. You can instruct the system on how to proceed at this point. We recommend leaving the default as "Show error message," but advanced and experienced users can feel free to adjust these settings as desired.

Import Tips & Restrictions

  • Up to 10,000 games are permitted per file. However, we recommend importing smaller batches for better system performance.

  • Game dates may be no older than the start of your "Current Season" and no later than 2 years in the future from whatever today's current date is.

  • The date format will follow your System Settings format, which is either mm/dd/yyyy or dd-mm-yyyy, the key formatting difference being slashes vs. hyphens.


    The format mm-dd-yyyy is not accepted. If you want month-day-year formatting, you must use the mm/dd/yyyy format option with slashes, not hyphens.

    The format dd/mm/yyyyy is not accepted. If you want day-month-year formatting, you must use the dd-mm-yyyy format option with hyphens, not slashes.

  • The time format can be 12 or 24 hours. Both are accepted. The system accepts a wide range of formatting. 3:00pm, 3pm, 15:00, 3 pm are all acceptable values.

  • Be sure to read the Preview Page carefully. It's much easier to cancel an import to fix problems than to try to fix them after completing the import.

  • We don't recommend importing assignments with your games, but if you're considering this, please see this support article.

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