Step 1: Choose 3v3 or 5v5

This one decision sets your court count, roster size, game length, and whether you need refs.

	3v3	5v5
Court	Half court, one basket	Full court
Games at once per full court	2 (one at each basket)	1
Roster	4 is standard (3 + 1 sub)	8–10 is typical
Game length	Short: 10 minutes or first to 21 (FIBA 3x3)	Long: two halves, about a 60-minute slot
Officials	Often self-officiated in rec events	Refs expected, plus a scorekeeper
Best for	Big fields, small gyms, outdoor courts	Organized teams, league-style events

Rule of thumb: if you have one or two full courts and want 12+ teams, run 3v3. Every full court becomes two half courts, and short games mean more of them. If your players already play on organized 5v5 teams, or you're building toward a league, run 5v5 and plan for fewer teams or more hours.

Also decide early:

Division: men's, women's, or coed (and for coed, how many women on the floor).
Level and age: open, or capped (“no current college players” is a common line). Adults only is simpler: youth events bring waivers, guardians, and supervision questions of their own.
Indoor or outdoor: outdoor is often cheaper, and it depends on the weather. Have a rain plan or a rain date.

Step 2: Set game length and the clock

Game length is the biggest lever on your schedule. Pick a format you can run on time, then build the schedule around a slot: game time plus warm-up plus changeover.

3v3

FIBA 3x3 rules are a good default: one 10-minute period, and the first team to 21 wins early. Shots inside the arc are worth 1, outside it 2.
Plan a 20–25 minute slot per game once you add warm-up and the switch between teams.
A running clock (it only stops for timeouts or injuries) keeps slots predictable.

5v5

Rec tournaments commonly play two 20-minute halves on a running clock, stopping the clock only in the last couple of minutes of a close game.
Plan a 55–60 minute slot: halves, halftime, timeouts, warm-up, and changeover.
Decide overtime before the first game: a short period (2–3 minutes) or first to score. Sudden death keeps a tight schedule intact.

Write the time limits into the rules, and have a shorter fallback ready (for example, 15-minute halves) if the first round runs long. A 10-minute delay in round 1 carries into every game after it.

Step 3: Refs, scorekeepers, and fouls

5v5 needs refs. Two per game is common. Book them as early as you book the gym, confirm their pay rate per game or per hour, and give them the rules in writing.
Every court needs a scorekeeper. Someone runs the clock and tracks the score and team fouls. A volunteer with a phone timer works for 3v3. For 5v5, use the gym's scoreboard if it has one.
3v3 can be self-officiated. Players call their own fouls, and a court monitor or the organizer settles disputes. Say who has the final word before the first game.
Keep foul rules simple. Decide the personal foul limit, when the bonus starts, and whether a technical is an ejection. Tournament days are long, and tempers are shorter by the afternoon.

Step 4: Book courts and size the bracket

How long your day runs depends on waves: how many times you fill every court before the last game. A round can't start until the one before it finishes, so:

hours ≈ waves × slot length

Two examples, using the same math as our guide to tournament formats.

16 teams of 3v3 on 2 full courts (4 half courts), 25-minute slots

Format	Games	Guaranteed per team	Waves	Hours
Single elim	15	1	5	~2 h
Pool play (4 pools of 4) → top 8	31	3	9	~3.75 h
Double elim	30	2	11	~4.5 h
Swiss, 4 rounds → top 8	39	4	11	~4.5 h

5v5 on 2 full courts, 60-minute slots

Teams	Format	Games	Guaranteed per team	Waves	Hours
8	Single elim	7	1	4	~4 h
8	Pool play (2 pools of 4) → top 4	15	3	8	~8 h
8	Double elim	14	2	9	~9 h
16	Single elim	15	1	8	~8 h

What that tells you:

5v5 eats courts. Eight teams with a guarantee of more than one game is a full day on 2 courts. Either book more courts, take fewer teams, or accept single elimination.
Use powers of two. 8 or 16 teams fill a bracket cleanly. With 12, four teams get a first-round bye, which is fine if you seed it, but say how seeding works up front.
Rent courts only while you need them. Brackets narrow fast. By the semifinals you're using one or two courts, so if the gym rents by the hour, step your rental down as the day goes. We planned our first volleyball event that way: 8 courts, then 4, then 2.
Leave slack. The table is the ideal. Late teams, injuries, and overtime all add up. Pad the booking.

Step 5: Registration, rosters, and check-in

Take entry fees at registration. A paid spot is a team that shows up. A verbal “we're in” is not. An early-bird price gets teams to commit weeks out.
Cap rosters so a stacked team can't carry a bench of ringers, and lock rosters before the first game.
Waivers: check what your gym requires for insurance and waivers, and have every player sign before they play.
Jerseys: ask teams to bring matching shirts, or keep reversible pinnies on hand for color clashes.
Check-in 30 minutes before the first game. Late teams are the easiest way for a first round to run long. Post a forfeit time and stick to it.
Prize: state it before registration opens, including the split and when it's paid. A vague “cash prizes” invites arguments at the end of the day.

Sponsorships and gear: what we learned prepping our first event

Our first event is volleyball, not basketball, but this part carries over to any sport. The event is one day. Getting sponsors and gear in place takes months.

Start asking months ahead

Sponsorships need a long runway. Give a business time to decide, and whatever a sponsor pays for still has to be made and delivered before game day. Asking weeks out is too late. Start months before.

Walk in, and email the rest

When we prepped our first event, we drove around the area near the venue and walked into small local businesses to ask in person. For businesses that only exist online, we sent emails. Make the ask concrete: “Would you sponsor the court signs?” is easier to say yes to than “Want to sponsor us?”

The gear sponsors can pay for

Court labels. Numbered court signs, so teams find their game and a sponsor logo is on every court all day.
Retractable banners. At check-in and behind the championship court, and reusable at your next event.
And the rest of the small branded stuff that makes a gym look like an event instead of open run.

Order from overseas, but only if you have the time

You can buy this gear much cheaper from overseas manufacturers (a lot of it is made in China) if you have enough time to order. Lead time is the catch: production plus international shipping can take several weeks, and delays happen. Order well ahead, once a sponsor has said yes.

Planning timeline

Working back from the date. The early steps are set by sponsor, gear, and ref lead times, not by registration.

When	What to do
3+ months out	Pick 3v3 or 5v5, a date, and a gym. Start asking sponsors: walk into local businesses, email online ones.
10–12 weeks	Book courts for the hours you need. Line up refs and scorekeepers. Get quotes on gear.
8–10 weeks	Order sponsor gear, especially anything shipping from overseas. Write the rules.
6–8 weeks	Open registration with an early-bird price. Share the event link in every group chat and gym you can.
3–4 weeks	Message captains directly. Confirm refs, the gym’s insurance requirements, and the scoreboard setup.
1–2 weeks	Early-bird price ends. Check the gear has arrived. Send captains the rules and the schedule.
Week of	Close registration, finalize the bracket, confirm every ref by name.

Game-day checklist

Game balls (men's and women's sizes if you run both), a pump, and a needle
Court signs and banners up before check-in opens
Scoreboard working, or a timer and a scorebook for every court
Reversible pinnies for color clashes
A first aid kit and ice
The rules, ready to show on your phone
Refs' pay ready, and a plan for paying the prize
A charged phone and a battery pack

Running it on RNKD

RNKD handles the registration, brackets, and payments side:

Setup: basketball 3v3 or 5v5 (1v1 and 4v4 too), indoor or outdoor, men's, women's, or coed, with a roster cap and a team cap, in an eight-step wizard. You set your game length, courts, and hours, and it estimates whether your format fits.
Formats: single and double elimination, round robin, pools into a bracket, and Swiss. Not sure which? Single vs double elimination, pool play, and Swiss, compared.
Registration: teams pay the entry fee in the app when they register, and a spot isn't held until it's paid. Early-bird pricing is built in. You get your money.
Game day: players sign the event waiver in the app, which unlocks their check-in code. Games go to open courts automatically, you enter scores, and the bracket moves on while players follow it live.

How RNKD works for organizers →

Running volleyball instead? See how to run a volleyball tournament, built from the plan for our first event.

Run your next event on RNKD

Free to use. Paid registration, brackets, check-in, and courts, from your phone.