Competitions are the foundation of how your matches and graphics are organised in LIGR Live. Every match must be created under a competition, and the competition determines two critical things: which graphics theme appears during the broadcast, and what pre-configured settings automatically apply to new matches.
What Competitions Control
When you create a competition, you select a graphics theme. This theme determines the visual appearance of all overlays and graphics for every match created under that competition. The theme includes different colour profiles called skins, and controls what graphics look like during breaks, during play, and for player information.
Competitions also store pre-configured match settings such as half length, stats tracking options, and whether players are required. These settings automatically apply to all new matches created under the competition, saving you from manually configuring the same settings for every match.
Everything you create in a competition flows into match creation. The teams, players, and venues you assign to a competition become available when creating matches under that competition.
How Themes Work
A graphics theme is a package that controls the visual appearance of all overlays during a broadcast. Each competition must have one theme assigned. When you create a competition, you browse available themes and select the one you want.
After selecting a theme, you can preview how it looks during different match moments. The theme preview shows break graphics, in-match graphics, and player graphics so you can see exactly what your broadcast will look like.
Themes include different skins, which are colour profiles. If you want to change the colour scheme of your graphics, you select a different skin rather than changing the theme itself. For example, a theme might have a blue skin, a red skin, and a green skin.
You can change a competition's theme after creation. Navigate to the competition, click the Theme Instances tab, and add a new theme instance. The new theme will apply to the competition and all its matches.
Graphics Display Names
Graphics display names control how team names, competition names, and player names appear on broadcast graphics. You typically set three versions for each item.
Full Name is the longest version and appears when you have plenty of space in the graphic layout.
Medium Name is a mid-length version for moderate space constraints.
Short Name is the abbreviated version for small graphic areas where space is limited.
This system ensures names fit properly in different graphic layouts. A team might have the full name "Manchester United Football Club", the medium name "Manchester United", and the short name "MAN UTD". The graphics system automatically selects the appropriate version based on the available space in the overlay.
Setting Graphics Display Names
Graphics display names are set in multiple places depending on what you're naming.
For competitions, you set the graphics display name when creating the competition. Enter the competition name in the name field, then enter how it should appear on overlays in the graphics display name field.
For clubs and teams, you set graphics display names in the club or team settings. Navigate to Assets, select Clubs and Teams, choose the club or team, and you'll see fields for Full Name, Medium Name, and Short Name under the graphic display names section.
For players, the graphics name is set when creating or editing the player. Open the player's profile and enter their graphics position name, which determines how their position appears on overlays.
How Teams Inherit Competition Settings
Teams must be assigned to a competition to appear in match creation. When you create a match, you select a competition first. Only teams assigned to that competition will appear in the home and away team dropdowns.
When you create a team, you select which competition it belongs to. A team can be assigned to multiple competitions simultaneously. For example, a team might play in both a league competition and a cup competition.
To assign a team to a competition after creation, open the team in Assets, click the Competitions section in the General tab, and select one or multiple competitions from the dropdown.
Match configuration settings from the competition automatically apply to new matches. If you've set the half length to 45 minutes in the competition settings, all new matches under that competition will inherit that setting. Individual matches can override these settings if needed.
Changing Themes After Creation
If you want to change the colour scheme of your graphics without changing the entire theme, use the Theme Instances tab in the competition settings. Click Assets, select Competitions, choose your competition, and click Theme Instances. Find the theme you want to edit and click the Edit icon. Select Change Skin to modify the colour profile.
If you want to change to a completely different theme, click Add Theme Instance in the Theme Instances tab. Select your new preferred theme from the theme selection page and configure the settings. The new theme will apply to the competition.
When you change a competition's theme, it affects all future matches created under that competition. Existing matches that have already started retain their original theme, but new matches will use the updated theme.
Watermarks and Logos
Competitions require a logo and a primary watermark when you create them. These appear on broadcast graphics during matches under that competition.
The competition logo typically appears on scoreboards and match graphics. The primary watermark usually appears as a small overlay in the corner of the broadcast. You can optionally upload a secondary watermark as well.
When uploading logos and watermarks, you can crop the image and remove the background using the built-in image editor. This ensures logos appear cleanly on graphics without unwanted backgrounds.
Competition-Level Streams and Overlays
You can add stream destinations and overlay configurations at the competition level. These automatically apply to new matches created under the competition.
Navigate to the competition settings and click Settings, then Streams and Overlays. Click Add New Stream and fill out the stream configuration details. When creating the stream, choose between Create (saves to competition only) or Create and Apply to Unstarted Matches (also applies to existing matches that haven't started yet).
This feature saves time when you have multiple matches in a competition that all use the same streaming setup. Instead of configuring streams individually for each match, you configure once at the competition level and all matches inherit the settings.
How Display Names Appear in Match Graphics
During a live broadcast, the graphics system automatically selects which display name to show based on the graphic layout and available space.
If a scoreboard has a large area for team names, the Full Name appears. If a lower-third graphic has limited space, the Short Name appears. The system makes this decision automatically based on the theme design.
This is why setting all three versions is important. If you only set the Full Name and leave Medium Name and Short Name blank, the Full Name will appear everywhere, which may not fit properly in smaller graphic elements.
The same logic applies to competition names, player names, and venue names. Always populate all three versions to ensure graphics display correctly across all overlay types.
Common Mistakes with Competitions and Themes
The most common mistake is creating matches without assigning teams to the competition first. Teams must be assigned to the competition before they can be selected during match creation. If a team doesn't appear in the dropdown when creating a match, check that the team is assigned to the selected competition.
Another common mistake is changing a competition's theme and expecting existing live matches to update immediately. Theme changes only affect new matches. If you need to change the theme for a match that's already created, you must manually update that match's overlay settings.
Not setting graphics display names properly is also common. If you leave the Medium Name and Short Name fields blank, the Full Name will appear everywhere, which may be too long for some graphic layouts. Always set all three versions.
Relationship Between Competitions and Match Settings
The Additional Settings section in competition settings allows you to pre-configure match settings that automatically apply to all new matches. Navigate to Additional Settings and click Match Configuration.
For football, you can set half length, half time length, and enable extra time, golden goal, or shootout. Click Advanced for more options like clock display, clock direction, injury time clock, and cumulative stats.
These settings are sport-specific. Different sports show different configuration options. For example, rugby competitions show options for try length and conversion settings, while basketball competitions show quarter length and timeout options.
The Stats section under Additional Settings lets you select Minimum Stats (essential only) or Standard Stats (essential plus additional). You can also toggle Players on or off. If players are toggled off, all new matches under this competition will have players disabled by default.
Multiple Competitions and Theme Management
You can create as many competitions as needed. Many organisations create separate competitions for different leagues, age groups, or seasons. Each competition can have its own theme, or multiple competitions can share the same theme.
If you want consistent branding across multiple competitions, select the same theme for each competition when creating them. If you want different visual styles for different leagues, select different themes.
Theme Instances allow you to create variations of the same competition. For example, you might have a "Home Games" theme instance with team colours and an "Away Games" theme instance with neutral colours. Both instances belong to the same competition but display different graphics.
How Graphics Display Names Interact with Themes
Themes define the layout and design of graphics. Graphics display names define what text appears within those layouts. These two systems work together during broadcasts.
A theme might have a scoreboard with a team name area that can fit 20 characters. If your team's Full Name is longer than 20 characters, the theme will automatically use the Medium Name or Short Name instead.
This automatic selection is built into the theme design. You don't manually choose which name version appears during a broadcast. The theme makes that decision based on the available space in each graphic element.
This is why proper theme selection is important when creating a competition. Choose a theme that matches your naming conventions. If your teams have long names, choose a theme with generous space for team name displays.