Seeding for the Empire 8 Men's Tennis Championship Tournament will be determined by conference standings using best conference records and/or tie-breakers below. A six-team single elimination tournament will decide conference champion.
The top three teams from the East Division and top three teams from the West Division make the postseason. The East Division opening round match will feature the No. 2 vs. No. 3 seeds from the division, played on Saturday or Sunday prior to Championship week. The West Division opening round match will feature the No. 2 vs. No. 3 seeds from the division, played on the Tuesday of Championship week.
The final four championship will be played on Friday and Saturday at the top seed, rotated on a yearly basis (West Division hosts in 2025, 2027 and 2029, East Division hosts in 2026, 2028 and 2030). In the semifinals, the No. 1 West seed will face the winner of the 2/3 East Division first round match, while the No. 1 East seed will face the winner of the 2/3 West Division first round match. The two semifinal winners will play for the championship.
Hosts must have both outdoor and indoor options. If they do not, they must have the ability to secure both, otherwise host duties will go to the next highest seed.
The tie-breakers shall be as follows (in the instance of a three or more way tie, once one team is advanced by a tie-breaker, the remaining teams will begin the tie-breaker process anew starting with the first criteria):
1. Head-to-head results
2. If three or more teams still tied, total points earned vs. other tied teams
3. If three or more teams remain tied, total points earned in all Empire 8 matches
4. If three or more teams remain tied, total points earned vs. teams in descending order, starting with the 1st place team
Examples:
Team A, B and C all finish at 5-3. The record amongst tied teams would have Team C at 2-0, Team A at 1-1 and Team B at 0-2. Team C would be advanced to the highest seed, leaving Team A and Team B to revert back to head-to-head results.
Team A, B and C all finish at 5-3. They all finished 1-1 amongst each other. The points earned vs the other tied teams would be...
Team A at 7 (L 2-7, W 5-4)
Team B at 9 (W 7-2, L 2-7)
Team C at 11 (L 4-5, W 7-2)
Team C with the most points earned would be advanced from the tiebreaker and Team A and Team B would revert to head to head.