Creating an Event
To create a new event, go to Events → Add New in the WordPress admin. The Add New Event screen contains several meta boxes, each covering a different aspect of the event.
Title
The title field shows the placeholder text (Auto). You can leave this blank — if no title is entered, SportsPress automatically generates one from the names of the participating teams, joined by the configured delimiter (default: vs). If the Reverse Teams option is enabled in settings, the team order in the auto-generated title is reversed.
Date and Time
Set the event date and time using the standard WordPress Publish box at the top right. Set a future date to schedule the event as an upcoming fixture; set a past date or publish immediately for a completed event. The time is stored as part of the post date.
Format Meta Box
The Format meta box presents radio button options for the event format. The available formats are defined by SP_Formats::$event. The default is league when no format has been saved. Common values include:
League (
league) — Competitive event counting toward league standings.Friendly (
friendly) — Non-competitive; ignored in standings calculations.Tournament (
tournament) — For events associated with a tournament.
The selected format is stored in the sp_format post meta key.
Mode Meta Box
The Mode meta box controls whether the event is between teams or between individual players:
Team vs team (
team) — Standard team-based event.Player vs player (
player) — Individual player matchup.
The selected mode is stored in the sp_mode post meta key.
Event Details Meta Box
The Event Details meta box contains the following fields:
Match Day — Optional text field. Enter a number or label (e.g.,
5) to identify the match day or round. Stored insp_day. Displays as "Default" in the list view when empty.Full Time — Number field in minutes. Stores the match duration in
sp_minutes. Defaults to the global sportspresseventminutes option (default 90) when left blank.Competition — Taxonomy selector for
sp_league. Links the event to one or more competitions.Season — Taxonomy selector for
sp_season. Assigns the event to one or more seasons.Venue — Dropdown selector for
sp_venue. If left blank and the home team has a venue assigned, the home team's venue is used automatically on save.
Teams Meta Box
The Teams meta box is where you assign participating teams and their players.
By default, SportsPress shows one dropdown per team slot, up to the number configured in sportspresseventteams (default: 2). Each team slot is labeled with a Teams dropdown:
Team dropdown — Select the home team in the first slot and the away team in the second slot. Options can be filtered by league and season if those settings are enabled.
Below each team dropdown, tabs allow you to assign participants:
Players tab — A checklist of players to add to the event for that team. If performance sections are enabled, separate Offense and Defense tabs appear instead.
Staff tab — A checklist of staff members to assign to the event for that team.
Team selections are stored as multiple values of the sp_team post meta key. Player selections are stored as multiple values of sp_player.
Officials Meta Box
The Officials meta box appears when at least one duty (taxonomy: sp_duty) has been configured. It shows one multi-select dropdown per duty, allowing you to assign staff members in specific roles (e.g., Referee, Linesman). Officials are stored in sp_officials.
Publish
Click Publish (or Update for existing events) to save. If the title was left blank, SportsPress generates it automatically from the team names on save.