The season started on 13 November 2015 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and ended with the final on 13 March 2016 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
[1] In total, six competition weekends were held at five different locations, 18 cups were contested (nine for men, and nine for women), and 88 races took place.
Additionally, there were two Grand World Cups, one for men and one for women, in which all individual races, regardless of distance, counted.
The World Cup is organized by the International Skating Union (ISU).
For the mass start and team pursuit events, skaters who had achieved any one of the above results were qualified.