October 14 update: The ISL has released a second schedule which changes a number of the original dates, compresses the season, and includes two semifinals and the league finale in November as well:
Our original reporting:
The International Swimming League will mostly compete between Saturday and Tuesday for its 2020 regular season.
The ten-meet schedule features meets mostly clustered around weekends. In all but two sets of meets, competition will run Saturday-Sunday for the first group and Monday-Tuesday for the second group. The opening weekend is shifted, with the first meet running Friday-Saturday and the second meet Sunday-Monday. And the final week of the regular season features both matches on a Saturday-Sunday format.
Meets will still feature four teams at a time. That means in each week of competition, two four-team groups will compete and two teams will have bye weeks. Here’s a look at the schedule:
Update: this schedule has now been replaced by the one above.
| Week | Date | Time (Budapest) | Time (U.S. ET) | Teams | Teams on Bye |
| 1 | Fri. Oct 16 – Sat. Oct 17 | 4-6 PM Friday 8-10 PM Saturday |
10 AM – 12 PM Friday 2-4 PM Saturday |
Energy Standard Cali Condors LA Current NY Breakers |
Tokyo Frog Kings Toronto Titans |
| 1 | Sun. Oct 18 – Mon. Oct. 19 | 6-8 PM Sunday 4-6 PM Monday |
12-2 PM Sunday 10 AM – 12 PM Monday |
London Roar DC Trident Aqua Centurions Iron |
Tokyo Frog Kings Toronto Titans |
| 2 | Sat. Oct 24 – Sun. Oct. 25 | 12-2 PM Saturday 5-7 PM Sunday |
6-8 AM Saturday 12-2 PM Sunday |
Aqua Centurions Tokyo Frog Kings LA Current Toronto Titans |
Energy Standard London Roar |
| 2 | Mon. Oct 26 – Tue. Oct. 27 | 3-5 PM Monday 3-5 PM Tuesday |
10 AM – 12 PM Monday 10 AM – 12 PM Tuesday |
DC Trident Iron Cali Condors NY Breakers |
Energy Standard London Roar |
| 3 | Sat. Oct 31 – Sun. Nov. 1 | 12-2 PM Saturday 6-8 PM Sunday |
7-9 AM Saturday 12-2 PM Sunday |
London Roar DC Trident LA Current Tokyo Frog Kings |
Iron Cali Condors |
| 3 | Mon Nov. 2 – Tue. Nov 3 | 4-6 PM Monday 4-6 PM Tuesday |
10 AM – 12 PM Monday 10 AM – 12 PM Tuesday |
Energy Standard Aqua Centurions NY Breakers Toronto Titans |
Iron Cali Condors |
| 4 | Sat. Nov. 7 – Sun. Nov. 8 | 2-4 PM Saturday 2-4 PM Sunday |
8-10 AM Saturday 8-10 AM Sunday |
London Roar Tokyo Frog Kings Cali Condors NY Breakers |
Aqua Centurions LA Current |
| 4 | Mon. Nov 9 – Tue. Nov 10 | 4-6 PM Monday 4-6 PM Tuesday |
10 AM – 12 PM Monday 10 AM – 12 PM Tuesday |
Energy Standard DC Trident Toronto Titans Iron |
Aqua Centurions LA Current |
| 5 | Sat. Nov. 14 – Sun. Nov. 15 | 12-2 PM Saturday 12-2 PM Sunday |
6-8 AM Saturday 6-8 AM Sunday |
Energy Standard Iron Tokyo Frog Kings Toronto Titans |
DC Trident NY Breakers |
| 5 | Sat. Nov. 14 – Sun. Nov. 15 | TBA Saturday 6-8 PM Sunday |
TBA Saturday 12-2 PM Sunday |
London Roar Cali Condors LA Current Aqua Centurions |
DC Trident NY Breakers |
The ISL has not yet revealed its season points format, which will determine the teams that advance to the postseason.
You can see the full schedule reveal document here.
The ISL will run its second season over a five-week span, with all athletes and coaches living and training together in Budapest, Hungary. The season plan was shortened from its original plans amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s a match day! The schedule is wrong…
It would be great if we could bet online, I really missed doing so in the Olympics. Makes the sport go to the next level of enjoyment!
I do know that gambling is part of the plan long-term.
That being said, a big piece of gambling on sports is transparency and consistency of rules and information. Right now, there are two big hurdles to gambling:
1) The rules as produced aren’t always precisely adhered to (we learned this last year with some of the MVP scoring, and with the ‘roster limits,’ for example)
2) There is no transparency of information – for example, last season there were several instances where a final roster was announced Tuesday or Wednesday, and then *surprise,* Saturday rolled around, and one swimmer was off that roster and another swimmer on it. There was some number of people who knew that those… Read more »
I agree there is work to be done on the consistency of the rules, as well as injury reports to be able to have odds before a matchup begins. What they can still do is go ahead with live betting, as a few European sites do for major swimming championships. These sites only release the events once the heats/relay swimmers are confirmed.
I’m glad they didn’t schedule every single session for the European and US markets this time. I guess with a Japanese team entering the league they couldn’t get away with that again.
@Braden Keith, any word on the Pro Swim Series circuit and if it’s happening or not?
The 2020 dates aren’t happening. Hoping to start in 2021.
Broadcast schedule?