Tie-Breaking Procedures

Tie-breaking procedures: NEFL Rules and Regulations, Article X Section 1

Teams will be seeded in the playoff tournament based on their regular season record within their conference. The higher seeded team in each playoff game will be awarded home field. For the conference championship games, if both finalists have the same seed number, the team with the better regular season record will be awarded home field. Should finalists have both the same seed number and regular season record, the wild-card tie breaker will be used to determine home field priority.

If, at the end of the regular season, two or more clubs in the same division finish with identical won-lost-tied percentages, the following steps will be used to determine seeding for said teams.

Two Clubs
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division if there is divisional play for that season.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
4. Strength of victory.
5. Average points per game allowed versus playoff teams in the conference.
6. Coin toss.

Three or More Clubs
(Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated during any step, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of the two-club format).
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games among the clubs).
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division if there is divisional play for that season.
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
4. Strength of victory.
5. Average points per game allowed versus playoff teams in the conference.
6. Coin toss.

If it is necessary to break ties to determine the Wild-Card clubs from the same division, apply the divisional tie breaker. If the tied clubs are from different divisions apply the following steps:

Two Clubs
1. Head-to-head, if applicable.
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
3. Strength of victory.
4. Average points per game allowed versus playoff teams in the conference.
5. Coin toss.

Three or More Clubs
(Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of applicable two-club format.)
1. Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2 if there is divisional play for that season. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the Wild-Card participants.
2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
4. Strength of victory.
5. Average points per game allowed versus playoff teams in the conference.
6. Coin Toss.

OTHER TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURES

1. Only one club advances to the playoffs in any tie-breaking step. Remaining tied clubs revert to the first step of the applicable division or Wild-Card tie breakers. As an example, if two clubs remain tied in any tie-breaker step after all other clubs have been eliminated, the procedure reverts to step one of the two-club format to determine the winner. When one club wins the tie breaker, all other clubs revert to step 1 of the applicable two club or three-club format.

2. In comparing division and conference record or records against common opponents among tied teams, the best won-lost-tied percentage is the deciding factor since teams may have played an unequal number of games.

3. When applying the “average points per game allowed versus playoff teams in the conference” tie-breaker to determine a final playoff spot, the two or more teams tied for said spot will have their points allowed included in the average point allowed calculations. In the event of the need to use this tie-breaker two or more times for ties within the same conference, any tie for a final playoff spot will be conducted first, and only the team advancing to the playoffs will have their points allowed included in any calculations for the remaining ties.