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When showing a tournament calendar with an odd number of teams, how can I say (in sport terms) to indicate the team that is not playing on a given match day?

For example a tournament with five teams (A, B , C , D, and E):

A vs B

C vs D

E "has a day off"

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Team E "is just trying to take it zero games at a time" – psr Jul 11 '12 at 16:31

4 Answers

up vote 23 down vote

I know this as a bye, as in Team E has a bye this round.

The term appears to have originated with cricket, in which a bye is a run scored when the batsman has not hit the ball. This phrase was later applied to tournaments in which a team advances without playing. In baseball, American soccer, and American and Canadian football it has been further extended to gaps in the regular season when a team does not play, either because there are an odd number of teams in the league or because, in the case of the NFL, there are more weeks in the season than games for any team.

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Most sources I've looked for an explanation give another definition. E.g., dictionary.com: in a tournament, the preferential status of a player or team not paired with a competitor in an early round and thus automatically advanced to play in the next round. – Arturs Licis Jul 11 '12 at 13:25
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This may be what OP meant, but it is certainly not what he asked for. When the Rugby tournament was the Five Nations, every week saw four teams playing, and one 'sitting out'. But, as a league system. byes didn't come into it. – TimLymington Jul 11 '12 at 16:29
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I don't think it's a bye unless the team is advancing despite not playing (e.g. by being the odd-one out in a series of elimination matches). A tournament may include group/round-robin/league matches too. – e100 Jul 11 '12 at 16:30
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@TimLymington But in the NFL (perhaps the US?) it is called a bye week even though it's not a knockout situation: "BYE WEEK: Cowboys, Lions, Raiders, Buccaneers " – robertc Jul 11 '12 at 17:33
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_cricket_terms - Rest day: a non-playing day in the middle of a multiple day game. These were once common, but are seldom seen in the modern era. Bye: extras scored in the same way as normal runs when the ball does not make contact with any part of the batsman (bat, protective gear, body parts). – osknows Jul 11 '12 at 17:44
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up vote 7 down vote

I have seen rest day being used to describe such days in newspapers. Not that the team would be taking a rest on that day, though.

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This is often used for pitchers in baseball, who routinely play in only a portion of the team's total games, and rest up (missing games) in preparation for the next game that they will play. Overall, "rest day" has a connotation of being for an individual, not a team. – Zoot Jul 11 '12 at 16:16
@Zoot: yesterday was a rest day for the teams in the Tour de France. – e100 Jul 11 '12 at 16:27
@e100 But that "rest day" means that no one competed, right? Baseball, basketball, and hockey teams will have "travel days" and "rest days" in a multi-game series, but those teams aren't playing anyone else during that time. – Zoot Jul 11 '12 at 16:33
up vote 2 down vote

Idle is a term that is sometimes seen in sports pages. It is particularly used in the case were the schedule is not rigid, such as basketball or baseball. Not every team plays every day, even if there are an even number of teams.

When National Football League teams don't have a game, that is referred to as a Bye week. In the playoffs the word "bye" would mean that you are exempted from that round, whereas "idle" means that is your day off. "Idle" is used when college football teams don't play for a week.

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up vote 0 down vote

Perhaps free is a sound option.

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