Rotation Numbers - Why 6 digits

[Tanko]

The rotation numbers on games are typically 3 digits. For some college basketball and football games they use 6 digit numbers for the "less popular" games, even in Division 1 games. Why?

It's not like they run out of 3 digit numbers and want to avoid overlapping them with other leagues (i.e. NBA). A perfect example is today... There are only 14 Div 1 CBB games. 12 games have 3 digit rotation numbers and the the other 2 games are 6 digits.

Why not just use 3 digit numbers for them all?


I've tried to find answers online but no luck. I'm hoping some of you who worked in the industry have the answer. I'm going to take a stab at it and say, 3 digit numbers are used for games that have lines come out "quickly". The "lesser" known games, have lines that come out later and thus get 6 digit rotation numbers.

 

[slickfazzer]

CBB board numbers run 601 to 900.

With the 8 extra conferences there aren't enough numbers to go around during the regular season without conflicting numbers on the screen.

And i guess they just keep it consistent in the post season.

 

[Tanko]

CBB board numbers run 601 to 900.

With the 8 extra conferences there aren't enough numbers to go around during the regular season without conflicting numbers on the screen.

And i guess they just keep it consistent in the post season.

That makes sense. I forgot we have 363 teams now.

Are you indicating the extra conferences are the ones that always get the extra digits? If so, I guess I never noticed it was always the same teams.

 

[slickfazzer]

Correct, there are 8 "extra" conferences that use the 6 digits.

 

[jjgold]

Does anyone have any use for rotation numbers unless you’re calling in wagers

 

[Tanko]

Does anyone have any use for rotation numbers unless you’re calling in wagers

I use them for referencing in spreadsheets.

Team names are not consistent from book to book so using rotation numbers resolves that issue when making comparisons.

 

[BobbyFK]

Does anyone have any use for rotation numbers unless you’re calling in wagers

I was going to say at this point we should get rid of them and just use the team names.

 

[slickfazzer]

Also easier for ticket writers rather than searching for a team?

 

[Tanko]

Also easier for ticket writers rather than searching for a team?

Perfect point.

Definitely need the numbers for in person betting.
There would be more mistakes than there currently are.