2021 GSL Schedule

The 2021 GSL Schedule is partially up.

The weekly games are correct, as in who is home team, and who is the away team in a given week.

However, the game times and dates are not yet final. The teams in the Western conference will start their home games at 4:30, plus, I haven't scheduled any of the Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night home games. Also, games on Easter weekend will be played Saturday, with the exception of Easter special games (think like Thanksgiving).

So, you can assume your opponents and bye weeks are correct, and the home and away games. At this time, please don't send me your uniform and field schedules. I'm going to create specific threads for each week of the season. I still need to finalize the schedule first though.

Norfolk State has a home game on April 3. Is it possible to play in DC that day and Norfolk on 6/20?

rbronish wrote:Norfolk State has a home game on April 3. Is it possible to play in DC that day and Norfolk on 6/20?

I switched the Commanders game from Saturday night, to Sunday night, with the Dallas game. That was the much easier way to avoid the conflict.

Also, because of how difficult it's been to set the schedule, assume this is an alternate reality, where the GSL takes preference over other sports (several teams share a baseball stadium).

The 2021 schedule is set. All dates and times are in.

Unless there's some weird schedule things I missed, or messed up, this will be the schedule for now. Later in the season, some Sunday night games might get flexed.

I tried to create an even distribution of prime time games for each team, although some will have more or less than others. With 24 teams, and 3 prime time slots a week, each team got 4 to 6 prime time games, and I think all got at least 2 home games in prime time.

I also set the fields for teams who have only one home field. As stated before, I'll set up threads for choosing uniform and field combos for each week later on. I may also add in two pre-season games, to make sure the simulation is working properly. Don't read into the scores of those games, as every team will be set at the exact same offensive and defensive strengths. The actual team strengths will be set after the preseason concludes.

A preseason schedule has been added. I need to add direct links to the preseason, and have the games show up on each teams 2021 season page, but the schedule can be viewed here:
http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GSL/controller/controller.php?action=weekly&year=2021&week=pre&league=GSL

To see game times, click on a team uniform in the matchup, for that game.

I'd like to request that the Stags host their one home game in Green Bay on May 23rd

Patrick Davis wrote:I'd like to request that the Stags host their one home game in Green Bay on May 23rd

I changed that game to Green Bay, and put the field in for that game, since you've got just the one field design for Lambeau field.

The Colorado Cabras are the only other team with multiple home game locations, so whenever you'd like me to schedule the games at those stadiums is fine.

Here's a question I asked Austin and he asked me to re-ask it here so everyone can see the answer: So the road teams should wait for the home team to announce which uniform...? Or can they say... "I'm wearing this, unless home team is wearing white at home, in which case I'm wearing that."

Or should we make a rule that home teams have to declare their uniform two days in advance so that road teams know which uniforms they can bring?

There have been a few schedule changes for preseason week 1.

Sunday February 7th, is in fact Super Bowl Sunday. The GSL moved all games after 1PM to different time slots, so that games should be completed before 5PM on Super Bowl Sunday.

The games affected, and their new times are as follows:

Norfolk @ San Diego => moved to Saturday 2/6 at 4:00PM EST / 1:00PM PST
Baltimore @ Los Angeles => moved to Saturday 2/6 at 7:30PM EST / 4:30PM PST
St. Louis @ Louisville => moved to 1:00PM EST
Louisiana @ San Antonio => moved to 1:30PM EST / 12:30PM CST
Seattle @ Washington => moved to 1:30PM EST

I'm also contemplating moving all Mothers Day games (except the Sunday night game) to Saturday. I don't want the GSL being responsible for ruining Mothers Day. This would also open up another prime time slot on Saturday night. I'll have to figure out which team hasn't had as many home night prime time games as the others.

Schedule changes for week 12:

I went ahead and moved all Sunday afternoon games to Saturday, at the same time slots.

One game was moved to Saturday night:
San Diego Breakers @ Colorado Cabras has been moved to Saturday 5/8 at 8:15PM EDT / 6:15PM MDT

Atlanta Flying Fleet wrote:Here's a question I asked Austin and he asked me to re-ask it here so everyone can see the answer:   So the road teams should wait for the home team to announce which uniform...? Or can they say... "I'm wearing this, unless home team is wearing white at home, in which case I'm wearing that."

Or should we make a rule that home teams have to declare their uniform two days in advance so that road teams know which uniforms they can bring?

Well I was planning on setting my whole uniform kits in advance. But I like the Idea to set a specifc date in which the home team declares which kit will be worn on which day. .

For My team (The MIAMI SOL). I plan to alternate my kits (which is very easy for me) for the standard kits. Just swap out the helmet decals, and facemask between SOL Blue to SOL Aqua. I am looking at the schedule to see which team(s) will encounter the solar event called "The Eclipse" (BFBS Unifrom).

I only have one regular season uniform set, and that's week 8 against Atlanta. We're wearing Navy jerseys over White pants.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/southwest/news/2021/01/13/west-milwaukee-plans-keep-miller-park-way-despite-new-ballpark-name/6645304002/

I came across this in regards the Stags' home

rbronish wrote:https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/southwest/news/2021/01/13/west-milwaukee-plans-keep-miller-park-way-despite-new-ballpark-name/6645304002/

I came across this in regards the Stags' home

Good catch!
I'll have to update the stadium name in the database, and that will automatically update the location for each game (except the one game in Green Bay).

I'm not sure where to put this since no regular season uniform threads are up, but there are three uniform combos/fields that I want to have set ahead of time:

Week 8 vs. Atlanta: Navy jersey, White pants, and this field:
http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GSL/fields/regular_season/LSV/r235/LSV_2021%5E3.png

Week 9 vs. Washington: Blue helmet, Cream jersey, White pants, and this field:
http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GSL/fields/regular_season/LSV/r235/LSV_2021%5E4.png

Week 18 vs. Toronto: Blue helmet, Cream jersey, Cream pants, and the same field as Week 9.
Edit: Toronto is able, and even encouraged, to bring Color uniforms to the Week 18 matchup if they so choose.

I don't really know where to put this, but I encourage all teams to wear colors (other than black) when they play in Oakland.

NeauXone wrote:I'm not sure where to put this since no regular season uniform threads are up, but there are three uniform combos/fields that I want to have set ahead of time:

Week 8 vs. Atlanta: Navy jersey, White pants, and this field:
http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GSL/fields/regular_season/LSV/r235/LSV_2021%5E3.png

Week 9 vs. Washington: Blue helmet, Cream jersey, White pants, and this field:
http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GSL/fields/regular_season/LSV/r235/LSV_2021%5E4.png

Week 18 vs. Toronto: Blue helmet, Cream jersey, Cream pants, and the same field as Week 9.
Edit: Toronto is able, and even encouraged, to bring Color uniforms to the Week 18 matchup if they so choose.

Done.

I haven't put up the regular season threads for uniforms and fields yet, and will probably wait to start putting those up about the time the first week of preseason rolls around.

And this is VERY important, so please read. In early March, Rob Holecko (founding member of the GUD, and owner of the Atlanta Flying Fleet) will take over as the main guy doing the uniform and field updates, so it is important that all uniform and field updates are done through the forums. A couple of you are still emailing me, but if you email me early March, I'll likely not be checking email, and Rob won't be able to put in the updates for your teams.

92Mafia wrote:I don't really know where to put this, but I encourage all teams to wear colors (other than black) when they play in Oakland.

I guess this is as good a place as any. You can also, when I put the regular season weekly threads up, request each week the away team where non-black color uniforms.

Are we going to have our own pro bowl: East vs West?

The complete uniform schedule for Oakland will be released within a week, however I've chosen the weeks for the Shimmer alternates.

Both sets will be worn on Monday Night Football. The all black Shimmer set will be worn Week 11 when playing Memphis, with the shimmer field. While, the all white Shimmer set will be worn Week 18 at St. Louis.

Ethanpancakes wrote:Are we going to have our own pro bowl: East vs West?

That will be a possibility. I think the game would have to be set between the conference championships, and the Gridiron Bowl. I'd have to figure out what I'd need to do for code changes and other logistics.

Austin Snelick wrote:

Ethanpancakes wrote:Are we going to have our own pro bowl: East vs West?

That will be a possibility. I think the game would have to be set between the conference championships, and the Gridiron Bowl. I'd have to figure out what I'd need to do for code changes and other logistics.

My idea: add up the point totals for each team into a total for each conference. Whichever conference has the most points scored total gets the higher rating on the scoring scale while the other conference gets a lower rating (ex. East scores more points, gets a rating of 6 while the West gets a 5 or 4), and the same could be done for the defensive side.

But the important question is who designs the Pro Bowl unis? I would suggest the team with the best record in each conference that misses the playoffs... But also I think it's important that they match so maybe one person should design both conferences.

NeauXone wrote:

Austin Snelick wrote:

Ethanpancakes wrote:Are we going to have our own pro bowl: East vs West?

That will be a possibility. I think the game would have to be set between the conference championships, and the Gridiron Bowl. I'd have to figure out what I'd need to do for code changes and other logistics.

My idea: add up the point totals for each team into a total for each conference. Whichever conference has the most points scored total gets the higher rating on the scoring scale while the other conference gets a lower rating (ex. East scores more points, gets a rating of 6 while the West gets a 5 or 4), and the same could be done for the defensive side.

That might be a good way to do it. My initial plan would be, based on the team rankings for each team in each conference, but weight how each team effects the offensive and defensive rankings. So, typically, the best teams in the NFL send the most players to the pro bowl. So, for the GSL All-Star Game, maybe, the best two teams in each conference send 5 "players", and that teams offensive and defensive rank would get counted five times towards a total. The worst teams may only send one player to the al star game, so their team rankings would only count once towards the total. Once I have all the rankings for a 53 man roster, I just divide by 53, and round to the nearest whole number, to give the conference all star team it's ranking.

Say, the best team has offensive and defensive rankings of 6 and 4. A bad team has offense and defensive rankings of 1 and 3. Excluding the other teams, just for a math demonstration, I'd get the conference team rankings by doing:
Offense = ((6x5)+(1x1)) / 6 = 31/6 = 5.1667, so offense = 5
Defense = ((4x5)+(2x1)) / 6 = 22/6 = 3.6667, so defense = 4
These numbers seem low, but with more players weighting the higher rankings for the better teams, and some of the worst teams getting 0 all-stars, the rankings for each conference will be 5's and 6's I assume.

For the All-Star game, I'd like to hold it at the same site as the Gridiron Bowl, in the week between the Conference Championships, and the Gridiron Bowl, and have the uniforms follow the color scheme of the Gridiron Bowl logo.

In my head, and not formally, I had already decided on who will be designing the uniforms for this first All-Star Game, but I may change that to be based on the outcomes of the season. I'm not sure when I'll make a decision on that, but I might just let the season play out a little bit first.

On a different note, I inserted baseball fields for the two teams who share a baseball stadium, based on the Padres and Brewers (baseball) schedules. Patrick, I know you gave me a guide on which fields the Stags should have, based on when the Brewers are home and away, and how many days between games, or if the Stags have a national game. I tried to follow that the best I could, so just let me know if I need to change any of the fields I have set.

I've noticed a slight scheduling issue, that I'm going to have to fix for the Texans and Comets in weeks 9 and 10. Both teams play each other in back to back games, which somehow slipped past me when making the schedule.

Fortunately, this will be an easy fix. Because the week 10 game was a Sunday night game, i want to keep that matchup in primetime. So, I'm moving the week 10 game to week 9 on Saturday night, and moving the week 9 game to week 12, at the same scheduled time, and to Saturday, with the rest of the weekend day games that week (games are Saturday in week 12 because of Mother's Day on Sunday). I will also need to pick a new Sunday night game for week 10, and that will depend on flex scheduling and the best matchup that week (that isn't primetime of the KDSF game of the week).

Schedule change has been made.

If the Comets would like to change their uniform selection for Week 12 (this was previously the week 9 matchup), they may feel free to do so.

Austin Snelick wrote:Schedule change has been made.

If the Comets would like to change their uniform selection for Week 12 (this was previously the week 9 matchup), they may feel free to do so.

Due to a shift in schedule, Memphis will change their uniforms for Week 12, vs San Antonio.

Time change for Week 15 Toronto @ Norfolk

The TOR @ NOR Week 15 Monday night game has been moved from 8:15PM to 2:30PM EDT.

This game falls on Memorial Day, and the GSL has decided to move the game to the afternoon, to establish the game as the Memorial Day Classic.

In future years, this game will feature either the Norfolk Commanders, Atlanta Flying Fleet, or Washington Stars as the home team in this game. If possible, if two of these teams are playing each other in the weekend of Memorial day, then that will be the game scheduled for the afternoon of Memorial Day.

2021 Week 15: http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GSL/controller/controller.php?action=weekly&year=2021&week=15&league=GSL

Well that's going to need a logo/patch... contest, anyone?

Rob Holecko wrote:Well that's going to need a logo/patch...  contest, anyone?

Actually, the Commanders already have a patch designated for that game.
We could possibly add a second patch, but then that would be more clunky. We can get back to patch later.

There could still be a logo. The logo would be displayed on promotional material, and could be placed on the field.

I was, however, contemplating if in future seasons, more than one game would be on Memorial Day. For instance, the Commanders host the afternoon game, and the Flying Fleet host a later game. Then, which game is the logo used for?

So I think the logistics of a logo will need to be worked out for future years as well, before we start any contest.

You know, what the heck.

Let's do a logo contest for the Memorial Day Classic for this season, and worry about other seasons later.


I'll start a thread with official contest rules later today, or tomorrow. For now, this is what I'm thinking so far.

The game is May 31st, so I would want voting complete by the end of Saturday May 22nd (11:59PM Eastern time).
So the logo creation period would end Sunday May 16th (11:59PM Eastern Time).

The logo itself should have:
1. Text: Memorial Day Classic
2. GSL logo or text somewhere (to make the logo read GSL Memorial Day Classic)
3. Date of game (this year is May 31, 2021, but any date format that has the month day and year works, like 5-31-21, or 05/31/2021, or 5.31.2021 all work)
4. Location of the game (this year is Norfolk, Virginia but Norfolk, VA also works)

Unlike the Playoff Bowl logo contest, the date and location can be in the logo, or can be below the logo.


Again, these are NOT official rules, but these are my first thoughts, if anyone wants to jump at ideas they may have.

Austin Snelick wrote:
Actually, the Commanders already have a patch designated for that game.
We could possibly add a second patch, but then that would be more clunky. We can get back to patch later.

There could still be a logo. The logo would be displayed on promotional material, and could be placed on the field.

I was, however, contemplating if in future seasons, more than one game would be on Memorial Day. For instance, the Commanders host the afternoon game, and the Flying Fleet host a later game. Then, which game is the logo used for?

So I think the logistics of a logo will need to be worked out for future years as well, before we start any contest.

I'm completely on board with forgoing the poppy patch for a logo patch

A third exhibition game has been scheduled for Thursday night (4/1/21) to start at 8:15PM, alongside the scheduled Thursday night game. This will help test having two live games running at the same time.

Change in game time for Toronto @ Washington this week. This game will move to 4:30PM, to even out the afternoon game slate, to three 1:00 games, and three 4:30 games, with the international game at 2:30.

Also, in the next week, the GSL will announce a game for Sunday Night in week 10, since the original Sunday night game in week 10 was previously moved.
The two possible games to move to the Sunday night slot are Wisconsin @ Pennsylvania, and Albuquerque @ Norfolk. The decision is expected to come either Tuesday or Wednesday this coming week.

The Week 10 game that will move to the vacant Sunday night slot, will be Albuquerque @ Norfolk.

Sunday night flex scheduling will be taking place in Week 11.

The (6-3) San Antonio Texans @ (3-5) Los Angeles Express game has been moved to 4:30PM EDT on Sunday May 2nd.
The (7-1) Arizona Eagles @ (7-1) Colorado Cabras game has been flexed into the Sunday night slot at 8:15PM EDT on Sunday May 2nd.

For future flex scheduling, I'll only update Sunday night games before the prior week starts (so for week 11, the cutoff would before the week 10 Thursday night game kicks off).
Week 12 is not subject to flex scheduling, due to the Mothers Day game being the only game that Sunday.

It looks like the next game that will be flexed out of the Sunday night slot won't be until week 15, which is (3-7) Jacksonville @ (1-10) Louisiana.

The GSL is considering three possible games to move to this slot, with a decision coming by Monday May 24th (after the week 14 Sunday games), with the result of the Colorado @ Arizona game playing a big part in who will play the following Sunday night.

The three possible games:

(11-0) Pennsylvania Keystones @ (6-5) Baltimore Bluebirds
This game being chosen will depend on Baltimore being in the playoff race (they have a road game @ Colorado, then @ Norfolk, two tough games)

(8-3) Arizona Eagles @ (8-3) Memphis Comets
A possible playoff preview matchup. It's possible this matchup could decide the top seed in the Western Conference. The loser could fall to second place in their division (if they aren't there already). Either way, a really good matchup.

(9-2) Colorado Cabras @ (7-4) San Antonio Texans
Another possible playoff matchup (could be the wild card matchup depending on division results). A big game for Colorado for the number 1 seed race. Colorado also has some tough games coming up, so it's possible this game could decide who hosts who in the wild card round, if both teams end up in second place.


Colorado plays at Arizona on Sunday night in week 14, that's why I threw the PEN @ BAL game in there as a third option, to avoid a team playing on Sunday night two weeks in a row. Both teams were also flexed into Sunday night in their first matchup a couple of weeks ago. If Baltimore is able to beat Colorado on the road, then Norfolk on the road, I think I would put the PEN @ BAL game into the Sunday night slot in week 15, since that would demonstrate Baltimore can compete with Pennsylvania.

Austin Snelick wrote:It looks like the next game that will be flexed out of the Sunday night slot won't be until week 15, which is (3-7) Jacksonville @ (1-10) Louisiana.

The GSL is considering three possible games to move to this slot, with a decision coming by Monday May 24th (after the week 14 Sunday games), with the result of the Colorado @ Arizona game playing a big part in who will play the following Sunday night.

The three possible games:

(11-0) Pennsylvania Keystones @ (6-5) Baltimore Bluebirds
This game being chosen will depend on Baltimore being in the playoff race (they have a road game @ Colorado, then @ Norfolk, two tough games)

(8-3) Arizona Eagles @ (8-3) Memphis Comets
A possible playoff preview matchup. It's possible this matchup could decide the top seed in the Western Conference. The loser could fall to second place in their division (if they aren't there already). Either way, a really good matchup.

(9-2) Colorado Cabras @ (7-4) San Antonio Texans
Another possible playoff matchup (could be the wild card matchup depending on division results). A big game for Colorado for the number 1 seed race. Colorado also has some tough games coming up, so it's possible this game could decide who hosts who in the wild card round, if both teams end up in second place.


Colorado plays at Arizona on Sunday night in week 14, that's why I threw the PEN @ BAL game in there as a third option, to avoid a team playing on Sunday night two weeks in a row. Both teams were also flexed into Sunday night in their first matchup a couple of weeks ago. If Baltimore is able to beat Colorado on the road, then Norfolk on the road, I think I would put the PEN @ BAL game into the Sunday night slot in week 15, since that would demonstrate Baltimore can compete with Pennsylvania.  

As stated in my previous post, the three games still up for a move to Sunday night in Week 15 are still all in play, pending results of Sunday's games. If Baltimore wins Sunday, I will likely (not guaranteed) move the Pennsylvania @ Baltimore game to Sunday night. Otherwise, the outcomes of the other games Sunday will be a factor. If Arizona and Memphis both win, then that game may have a chance of deciding the #1 seed in the Western Conference. In any case, Arizona @ Memphis game has been moved to 4:30PM, and Jacksonville @ Louisiana has already been moved to 1:00PM. All teams have been informed of their possible move to Sunday Night in Week 15, and a decision by the league will be made by Tuesday morning (I expect to be busy Memorial Day).

Well, I know before that I had narrowed down the week 15 Sunday night game to three options, and given the results of last weekend, I ended up going with a completely different game (looks like the GSL insiders were wrong this time around).

The Week 15 Sunday Night game will be
(9-4) Cincinnati Knights at
(7-6) Washington Stars

With Baltimore's lass this past weekend, they hurt their playoff chances a bit, and in reality, it's hard to stop the Keystones right now.
Colorado upset the Eagles in Arizona, and that really changed the Memphis Arizona game, which isn't for first place in the West.
Looking at the schedule in weeks 16 and 17, there's a good chance Colorado and Arizona get flexed into Sunday night games, so I didn't want to have one of those teams play on Sunday night a second week in a row, then play on Sunday night again in the near future.

Cincinnati at Washington will be a big game in the wild card race. For Cincinnati, a win would get them one step closer to securing a wild card spot, as they would now have head to head tie breaks over Baltimore and Washington, with a 3 game lead and 4 games to go (basically wrapping up a wild card spot). For Washington, a win would give them a head to head tiebreak over Cincinnati, and put them only one game behind the Knights, making for a closer wild card race down the stretch between those two teams.

Update to the Week 16 GSL Schedule.

The Sunday night game between Louisville and Los Angeles has been flexed out, and moved to 4:30PM EDT.

The Arizona @ Norfolk game has been moved to Sunday Night.


Week 17's Sunday night game, St. Louis @ Arizona, has been moved to 4:30PM EDT.

There has not yet been a decision on which game will move to Sunday night in week 17, but the league has narrowed it to two options:

1. San Antonio @ Albuquerque (this will be the Sunday night game, if either both teams win next week, both teams lose next week, or if the Atoms win and the Texans lose)
2. Memphis @ Colorado

The Week 17 Sunday night game has been decided.

(11-4) Memphis Commets @ (10-5) Colorado Cabras

This game will be big for a few teams. Of course, between these two teams themselves, a win for Memphis keeps them in the #1 spot int he Western Conference.
A Colorado win could result in them getting the #1 spot int he conference back, but they'd need some help, but, it would keep them in first place in their division.

For Arizona (home vs St. Louis in week 17), a win in week 17, with a Colorado loss, puts them in first place in the West division.
For Oakland (@ San Diego), a win, plus a Memphis loss means they would move up to the #1 seed in the Western Conference.

So a big game for many teams, that has big implications on the top seed in the Western Conference, and the West division.

Week 18s Sunday night game has been changed from Seattle @ Dallas to Miami @ Baltimore.
Regardless of the outcome in Wisconsin today, the Miami @ Baltimore game will have a playoff atmosphere, with either Baltimore trying to clinch a wild card spot, or Miami trying to jump Baltimore in the playoff race, or at least make the race closer.

The Arizona @ Albuquerque game has been moved from 4:30PM EDT / 2:30PM MDT, to an earlier time, due to excessive heat expected Sunday afternoon, with temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees during the originally scheduled game time.

This game has been moved to 12:00PM EDT / 10:00AM MDT, in the interest of player and fan safety.
Although the temperatures will be nearing 100 degrees toward the end of the game, the entire game will not be played in excessive heat, as it would have with the originally scheduled game time.

This change of game time is also in response to complaints filed to the league after last Sunday's San Antonio @ Albuquerque game, which saw a high temperature of 104 degrees during the game, and temperatures at or above 100 degrees throughout the game.

Excessive heat is again expected in Albuquerque for the following Sunday. Due to the possible playoff scenarios impacting the visiting Colorado Cabras, the league is exploring multiple options for moving this game.
It is likely that this game could again be moved to 12:00PM EDT/ 10:00AM MDT, with no other games moving this week, but the effect on other games in respect to playoff scenarios won't be known until the conclusion of Week 18.

well with the heat. How about the NAU Skydome in Flagstaff,AZ. Half way from Phoenix and Albuquerque.

John
Sfcom1

sfcom1 wrote:well with the heat. How about the NAU Skydome in Flagstaff,AZ. Half way from Phoenix and Albuquerque.

John
Sfcom1

Unlikely that the game moves stadiums. The biggest impact of the week 19 game not being played at its normally scheduled time, is the Arizona @ Las Vegas game. Even then, Arizona will likely be playing for a home Wild card game, if Colorado wins earlier in the day, so they still have something to play for, regardless if Colorado wins the division earlier in the day.

The Week 19 St. Louis @ Memphis game has been moved to 4:30PM EDT / 3:30PM CDT, to be played at the same time as other Western Conference games with playoff implications.

Since there is no game in week 19 that's a "win and in" scenario for both teams, there will be no Sunday night game scheduled. The GSL does not want a 2020 Week 17 Washington @ Philadelphia type game, where one team purposely loses the game, embarrassing the GSL on national TV, because one team deliberately tried to lose by putting in a third string quarterback who had no right to be on the field.