I took a look at this problem a number of years ago, but wasn't able to find any scheduling algorithms. It would be interesting if you could get a hold of the algorithms used by Major League Baseball.

Barbara Paltiel, another member of the UT, has a son who did a website that handles sports leagues:

http://www.sportability.com/


>I am starting a new phase of a project for a client that involves scheduling sport events. The client now wants software to generate a master schedule of games. Previous the master schedule was created by a team of three people over a number of days. Now they would like the task done by software and they will do the final review. The following are some of the scheduling requirements:
>
>30-40 leagues
>40-50 Opponents
>Prefer 2 games per week
>Maximum 7 days span between games.
>Balance between home and away games
>Some teams must travel together to venues
>Teams can indicates dates when they cannot play, or must play away or must play at home.
>Each leagues has it own number of games that must be played.
>
>There existing system is a VFP/Web-Connect application.
>
>I am looking for scheduling algorithims or techniques that might be used in this type of situation. I want to have some understanding of ways scheduling problems can be solved before I start designing any solutions. I see it as being like design patterns. There are certain types of patterns that work in specific situations so I am looking for descriptions of approaches and techniques used in solving schduling problems.
>
>If anyone knows where I might find such information it would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>Simon