Troubleshooting Blackbaud Athletic Teams and Event Sync

Tyler Sivavec

February 11, 2025 17:00

The Blackbaud Education Management athletics sync can occasionally encounter issues with team creation, event import, or result updates. This article covers common symptoms and the diagnostic steps to resolve athletics sync problems between Blackbaud and Finalsite.

💡Quick answers

Why might a Blackbaud athletics team not appear in Finalsite's Athletics Manager? The team may not match the Description field used for matching, or the initial sync hasn't run yet; confirm the Description field in Blackbaud matches the expected import criteria.
Events are syncing from Blackbaud but not displaying on the site — what should you check? Confirm that the Calendar element on the relevant Composer page is connected to the correct Athletics Manager calendar and that the event date is within the element's configured display range.
Can synced athletics events be manually edited in Finalsite? Yes; standard event edits can be made in Athletics Manager, but re-syncing may overwrite them. For persistent changes, update in Blackbaud and let the sync propagate.
Who should you contact if the Blackbaud athletics sync is broken? Contact Finalsite Support with details about what's not syncing; they will work with you and Blackbaud to diagnose and resolve the integration issue.

Finalsite provides an athletics sync through the Blackbaud Education Management integration, which regularly syncs teams and events from Blackbaud to Finalsite's Athletics Manager. If events added in Blackbaud are not appearing in Finalsite, this guide will help you troubleshoot potential issues.

Important Notes:

Only teams and events from the current school year in Blackbaud are eligible to sync.

Common Issues and Solutions

Case 1: Events Are Not Syncing

After adding events to teams in Blackbaud, ensure that the team schedules are published in Blackbaud. Events will only sync if they are published. You can find instructions for publishing schedules here: Blackbaud Knowledgebase - Publish Team Schedules.

If practices need to sync, they must also be published in Blackbaud.

Case 2: New Teams or Team Name Changes

New Team Added in Blackbaud

When a new team is added in Blackbaud, a blank row will appear at the top of the Teams tab in Athletics Manager.

To display this team on your website, mouseover the row, select the edit pencil, and update the team properties (e.g., sport, division, gender).
Team properties are not set or updated by the integration and must be configured manually in Athletics Manager.
Video Tutorial: Adding team properties to a new team.

Team Name Changed in Blackbaud

If a team's name is changed in Blackbaud, the sync may create a duplicate team in Finalsite.

To resolve this:

Copy the importID from the newly created blank team.
Delete the duplicate team.
Paste the copied importID into the team you want to sync events to.
Team events will resync via the integration after ~48 hours.
Video Tutorial: Assigning a new importID to an existing team.

By following these steps, you can ensure that Blackbaud teams and events sync properly with Finalsite. If issues persist, contact Finalsite Support for further assistance.