Single or double elimination?
Single elimination is the shortest tournament there is. Double elimination costs roughly twice the matches and buys a much more credible winner. The decision is almost entirely about how much court time you have.
- Single elim
- teams − 1 matches
- Plus a third-place match.
- Double elim
- ≈ 2 × teams − 2
- Everybody but the winner loses twice.
- 8 teams
- 8 vs 14 matches
- 16 teams
- 16 vs 30 matches
What single elimination gets wrong
One bad match ends a tournament. If the two best teams are drawn against each other in round one, one of them finishes last-equal, and the bracket has produced a result that nobody watching believes.
Seeding reduces this but cannot remove it, because seeding is only as good as the information behind it, and in most one-day tournaments there is none.
It is also a poor day out. Half the field has finished after one match.
What double elimination costs
About twice the matches, which on two courts at 25 minutes a slot is the difference between a morning and most of a day. That is the whole argument against it.
It is also harder to explain and harder to schedule, because the losers bracket has to stay in step with the winners bracket and a delay in one holds up the other.
The middle option nobody considers
Groups then a single-elimination playoff usually beats both. It guarantees everybody three matches, the group stage parallelises perfectly across courts, and the bracket at the end is short because only the top teams are in it.
Eight teams in two groups of four then semi-finals is 16 matches — the same as an eight-team double elimination minus two — and it gives every team three guaranteed games instead of two.
Double elimination is the right answer mainly when the field cannot be split into groups sensibly, or when the convention of the sport expects it, which in esports it does.
Common questions
How much longer does double elimination take?
About twice as long for the same field. Eight teams is 14 matches instead of 8; sixteen teams is 30 instead of 16.
Is there a bracket reset in the grand final?
Some rulebooks give the winners-bracket finalist the advantage of needing to be beaten twice. Whistle.day plays one grand final.
What about groups then a knockout?
Usually the best answer for a one-day tournament — more guaranteed matches than double elimination, in less time.