League Format
Divisions
VUL leagues are structured to provide teams with the opportunity to play against opponents that have similar skills and experience.
At the start of each season, teams are placed into groups of 8 or 10 teams called divisions. In the Summer, there are 6-7 divisions on each night. In the Fall, there are usually 3-5 divisions in each timeslot. For Winter and Junior Hat leagues, there are 1-3 divisions in each timeslot.
A team's starting division (seeding) is based on information provided by the captain during registration, other team's requests, and last year's results. Each division in Summer League can be roughly described as follows:
| Division | Description |
| 1 | Very experienced players (5+ years) and very competitive play |
| 2-3 | Experienced players (3-5 years) and competitive play |
| 4-5 | Players with some experience and a mix of competitive & recreational play |
| 6-8 | Players with some or no experience and/or a focus on recreational play |
Over a 4 week period, teams play other teams in their division: 2 games per night on most weeks (double-headers), and one game on some weeks (single-header). At the end of each 4-week period, teams are moved between divisions to provide for more balanced games over the course of the season. Usually 1-3 teams move up and 1-3 teams move down, although a team may move more than 1 division if necessary. Teams will not switch nights.
In Summer League, these 4-week periods are called trimesters (because there are 3) and in Fall League they are called semesters (because there are 2).
Playoffs
In Summer and Fall league, most teams have 3 weeks of playoffs. The exception is 10-team divisions, who have 2 weeks of playoffs. This is because their last trimester/semester is 5 weeks long so all teams in that division can play each other. The playoff format for Winter and Junior leagues varies depending on the number of teams.
The standings from the last trimester/semester determine the seeding for playoffs. Two points are awarded for a win, one point for a tie. Before rankings are set, these points are adjusted by the Spirit Score as follows:
Final Points = Base Points * Average Spirit / 9
where
Average Spirit = Total Spirit score / number of games played in last trimester/semester
So if Team X had 18 points and an average spirit of 9.5, they would have 19 final points (18 * 9.5 / 9), but if their average spirit rating was 5.5, they would end up with 11 points (18 * 5.5 / 9).
In the event of a tie, the first tie breaker is head to head competition, the second is points for the last semester/trimester before Spirit adjustments.