Case Study: Canadian Football League achieves better season scheduling with Frontline Systems Solver

Canadian Football League optimizes 81-game, 20-week schedules with Frontline Systems

The Canadian Football League faced the complex challenge of scheduling 81 games for nine clubs across a 20-week season, needing to balance competing priorities like revenue, TV ratings, and player rest while adhering to numerous constraints. They utilized optimization software from vendor Frontline Systems, specifically the Premium Solver Platform, to tackle this problem more effectively than manual methods.

Frontline Systems' solution enabled the CFL to scale up its Excel-based model to handle thousands of decision variables and incorporate critical league constraints. The vendor's consultants also assisted in refining the model for linear solving. The result was the creation of a significantly better, more sophisticated schedule that optimized player rest days and satisfied stakeholder requests through an iterative process, leading to the league's best schedule to date.

Canadian Football League