Hidden Post Status - Sports Leagues Docs

What it does: Display entities in shortcodes and standings without creating clickable pages for them
How to access: Any Sports Leagues entity → Publish metabox → Status → Hidden

Overview

Sports Leagues Premium adds a custom “Hidden” post status to all Sports Leagues entity types. Hidden entities remain visible in shortcodes, standings, and game displays—but without clickable links to their dedicated pages.

Key benefit: Display entities (teams, players) in your content without creating individual pages for them.

🎯 Common Use Case: Single-Team Website

If you run a website focused on one team, you still need opponent teams in the database for games, standings, and statistics. The Hidden status lets you:

• Show opponent teams in standings and game results
• Display opponent players in game lineups and statistics
• Avoid creating WordPress pages for entities you don’t want to feature

Example: Your website covers “Chicago Bulls”. All NBA opponent teams can be set to Hidden. They appear in game scores and standings, but visitors can’t click through to their team pages.

How to Set Hidden Status

Method 1: Edit Page

1. Edit any Sports Leagues entity (Player, Team, Game, etc.)
2. In the Publish metabox, click “Edit” next to Status
3. Select “Hidden” from the dropdown
4. Click OK, then Update

Method 2: Quick Edit

1. Go to the entity list (Players, Teams, etc.)
2. Hover over an item and click “Quick Edit”
3. Change Status to “Hidden”
4. Click “Update”

Method 3: Bulk Edit

Change multiple items at once:

1. Go to entity list (e.g., All Players)
2. Check the items you want to hide
3. Select “Edit” from Bulk Actions dropdown
4. Click “Apply”
5. Set Status to “Hidden”
6. Click “Update”

Behavior

When an entity has “Hidden” status:

Aspect	Behavior
Frontend page	Returns 404 (not accessible)
Search results	Excluded
Shortcodes	Displayed (name only, no link)
Standings	Displayed (name only, no link)
Game displays	Displayed (name only, no link)
Statistics	Included in calculations
Admin lists	Visible with “Hidden” label
Admin editing	Fully accessible

📚 More Use Cases

Opponent Players

When using API import to fetch game lineups, opponent player posts are auto-created. Set them to Hidden so they appear in game statistics without dedicated pages.

Retired Players

Hide players no longer active. Historical stats remain in games—players just won’t have accessible profile pages.

Postponed/Cancelled Games

Hide games temporarily removed from schedule. Change back to “Publish” when rescheduled.

Draft Content

Work on entities before public announcement. When ready, change to “Publish”.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Hidden status affect standings calculations?

For Teams: No. Hidden teams appear in standings.

For Games: Games with Hidden status are excluded from standings calculations. Hiding a finished game will change standings.

What’s the difference between Hidden and Draft?

Status	Frontend	Shortcodes	Stats
Draft	Not visible	Not included	Not included
Hidden	404 page	Included (no link)	Included

Will hidden entities break existing links?

Direct links to hidden entities return 404. Search engines will eventually remove them. Consider redirects if the pages had significant traffic.

Can I schedule automatic hiding?

No. Hidden status is a manual change only.

Technical Reference

Status slug: sl-hidden

Supported Post Types:

• sl_player – Players
• sl_team – Teams
• sl_game – Games
• sl_tournament – Tournaments
• sl_standing – Standings
• sl_staff – Staff
• sl_official – Officials
• sl_venue – Venues

Querying Hidden Posts (developers)

$hidden_players = get_posts( [
    'post_type'   => 'sl_player',
    'post_status' => 'sl-hidden',
    'numberposts' => -1,
] );

Including Hidden in queries

$all_teams = get_posts( [
    'post_type'   => 'sl_team',
    'post_status' => [ 'publish', 'sl-hidden' ],
    'numberposts' => -1,
] );