Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling

PATAT 2002: Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling IV pp 63–77Cite as

Integer and Constraint Programming Approaches for Round-Robin Tournament Scheduling

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2740))

Abstract

Real sports scheduling problems are difficult to solve due to the variety of different constraints that might be imposed. Over the last decade, through the work of a number of researchers, it has become easier to solve round-robin tournament problems. These tournaments can then become building blocks for more complicated schedules. For example, we have worked extensively with Major League Baseball on creating “what-if” schedules for various league formats. Success in providing those schedules has depended on breaking the schedule into easily solvable pieces. Integer programming and constraint programming methods each have their places in this approach, depending on the constraints and objective function.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Anderson, I.: Combinatorial Designs and Tournaments. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1997)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Ball, B.C., Webster, D.B.: Optimal Scheduling for Even-Numbered Team Athletic Conferences. AIIE Trans. 9, 161–169 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Cain Jr., W.O.: A Computer Assisted Heuristic Approach Used to Schedule the Major League Baseball Clubs. In: Ladany, S.P., Machol, R.E. (eds.) Optimal Strategies in Sports, pp. 32–41. North-Holland, Amsterdam (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Campbell, R.T., Chen, D.-S.: A Minimum Distance Basketball Scheduling Problem. In: Machol, R.E., Ladany, S.P., Morrison, D.G. (eds.) Management Science in Sports, pp. 15–25. North-Holland, Amsterdam (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Colbourn, C.J.: Embedding Partial Steiner Triple Systems is NP-Complete. J. Combinat. Theory, Series A 35, 100–105 (1983)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. de Werra, D.: Geography, Games and Graphs. Discr. Appl. Math. 2, 327–337 (1980)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. de Werra, D.: Some Models of Graphs for Scheduling Sports Competitions. Discr. Appl. Math. 21, 47–65 (1988)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Easton, K.K.: Using Integer Programming and Constraint Programming to Solve Sports Scheduling Problems. Doctoral Dissertation, Georgia Institute of Technology (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Edmonds, J.: Maximum Matching and a Polyhedron with (0, 1) Vertices. J. Res. Natl Bureau Standards 69B, 125–130 (1965)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Easton, K.K., Nemhauser, G.L., Trick, M.A.: Solving the Travelling Tournament Problem: A Combined Integer Programming and Constraint Programming Approach. In: Burke, E.K., De Causmaecker, P. (eds.) PATAT 2002. LNCS, vol. 2740, pp. 100–109. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Henz, M.: Scheduling a Major College Basketball Conference: Revisited. Oper. Res. 49, 163–168 (2001)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Henz, M., Müller, T., Thiel, S.: Global Constraints for Round Robin Tournament Scheduling. Eur. J. Oper. Res (to appear)

    Google Scholar 

  13. ILOG OPL Studio, User’s Manual and Program Guide. ILOG (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Marriott, K., Stuckey, P.J.: Programming with Constraints: An Introduction. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Nemhauser, G.L., Trick, M.A.: Scheduling a Major College Basketball Conference. Oper. Res. 46, 1–8 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Padberg, M.W., Rao, M.R.: Odd Minimum Cut-Sets and b-matchings. Math. Oper. Res. 47, 67–80 (1982)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Régin, J.-C.: A Filtering Algorithm for Constraints of Difference in CSPs. In: Proc. AAA 12th Natl Conf. Artif, pp. 362–367 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Régin, J.-C.: The Symmetric alldiff Constraint. In: Dean, T. (ed.) Proc. Int. Joint Conf. Artif. Intell., vol. 1, pp. 420–425 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Régin, J.-C.: Minimization of the Number of Breaks in Sports Scheduling Problems using Constraint Programming. In: DIMACS Workshop on Constraint Programming and Large Scale Discrete Optimization (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Russell, R.A., Leung, J.M.: Devising a Cost Effective Schedule for a Baseball League. Oper. Res. 42, 614–625 (1994)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Schaerf, A.: Scheduling Sport Tournaments using Constraint Logic Programming. Constraints 4, 43–65 (1999)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  22. Schreuder, J.A.M.: Constructing Timetables for Sport Competitions. Math. Program. Study 13, 58–67 (1980)

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Schreuder, J.A.M.: Combinatorial Aspects of Construction of Competition Dutch Professional Football Leagues. Discr. Appl. Math. 35, 301–312 (1992)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. Trick, M.A.: A Schedule-Then-Break Approach to Sports Timetabling. In: Burke, E., Erben, W. (eds.) PATAT 2000. LNCS, vol. 2079, pp. 242–253. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Van Hentenryck, P.: The OPL Optimization Programming Language. MIT Press, Cambridge (1999)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Michael A. Trick

Authors
  1. Michael A. Trick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning Group, School of Computer Science & IT, University of Nottingham, NG8 1BB, Nottingham, UK

    Edmund Burke

  2. Information Technology, KaHo St-Lieven, Gebr. Desmetstraat 1, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    Patrick De Causmaecker

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Trick, M.A. (2003). Integer and Constraint Programming Approaches for Round-Robin Tournament Scheduling. In: Burke, E., De Causmaecker, P. (eds) Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling IV. PATAT 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2740. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45157-0_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-45157-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-40699-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45157-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation