What is Bye (sports)?
A '''bye''' in [[sports]] and other [[competition|competitive activities]] can have two different meanings. Both mean that a [[wikt:participant|participant]] in a competition is not required to [[wikt:compete|compete]] while most of the other participants are. Its main use is in [[tournament]] competitions. In single-[[wikt:elimination|elimination]] tournaments, when there are an [[odd number]] of participants, a bye allows one or more to play in a later round. Other types of eliminator tournaments may also include a bye for others reasons. An [[example]] would be as a reward for the best [[wikt:ranked|ranked]] team(s). In [[wikt:round-robin|round-robin]] tournaments where there are an odd number of competitors, usually one gets a bye in each round. However, over the whole tournament, each team plays the same number of games. Similar to the round-robin context, in [[wikt:league|league]]s where most teams play on the same days during regular-season play, a team that does not play on a given day is said to be on bye. In sports that are played weekly, especially [[gridiron football]], a team that does not play at all during a given week is said to be on its '''bye week'''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fantasy Football Terms You Need to Know|url=http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fantasy-football-terms-you-need-to-know.html|access-date=22 October 2012}}</ref> For [[example]], during the regular [[American football|football]] [[Season (sports)|Season]] in the [[NFL]], each team gets a week off (bye week) during the [[regular season]].<ref>Wayne L. Winston, ''Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), p. 323</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Sports words]]