# ESPN College Basketball Scraper (`parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes college basketball scoreboard, teams, and news from ESPN. Returns each game, team, or headline as a flat row for analysis.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Sports, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $7.69 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### ESPN College Basketball Scraper

**Scrape college basketball scores, teams, and news from ESPN, up to a million records per run.** Every game comes with its score, status, and broadcast info. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

ESPN's public college basketball data is scattered across scoreboards, team pages, and news feeds. This actor reads the public endpoints directly, filtering by date and content type, and returns each match in one fixed schema. It works for today's games, historical dates, team rosters, and breaking news.

| Who uses it | What they scrape ESPN for |
|---|---|
| Sports analysts | Pull daily scoreboards to track game outcomes and conference standings. |
| Content creators | Gather team rosters and news for pre-game or post-game articles. |
| Bettors and handicappers | Collect historical scores to feed predictive models. |
| App developers | Populate a college basketball app with live scores and team data. |

### What it does

This Actor collects college basketball data from ESPN's scoreboard, teams, and news endpoints and returns each record as a flat row.

- 🏀 **Scoreboard mode:** fetches games for a specific date, including final scores, game status, and broadcast details.
- 📋 **Teams mode:** returns college team rosters, records, and basic team information.
- 📰 **News mode:** collects the latest college basketball headlines and article summaries from ESPN.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with ESPN data

**📊 Build a historical game database.**

A data engineer runs the scoreboard endpoint daily for past seasons to compile a complete college basketball results archive.

**📝 Automate pre-game content.**

A sports blogger pulls team rosters and news each morning to draft matchup previews with current player and story data.

**📈 Feed a betting model.**

A quantitative analyst collects daily scores and team records to update a model that predicts point spreads and totals.

**📱 Power a live scores app.**

A developer schedules the scoreboard endpoint every few minutes to display real-time college basketball scores in a mobile app.

### Why choose this scraper

| | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key required** | Reads ESPN's public feeds directly, no registration or OAuth. |
| **Date filtering** | Pull scoreboards for today or any historical date you specify. |
| **Fixed flat schema** | Every game, team, or news item arrives in a predictable row format. |
| **High volume** | Paid users can collect up to 1,000,000 records in a single run. |

### How it compares

This actor focuses on college basketball data from ESPN, while the competitors below scrape a wider range of sports or serve data through an MCP interface.

| Feature | ParseForge | ESPN MCP Server | ESPN Sports Scraper | ESPN Sports Scraper - Scores, Odds, Stats & Standings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| College basketball focus | Yes, dedicated to college basketball endpoints | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Scoreboard by date | Yes, with YYYYMMDD date filter | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Team rosters | Yes | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| News headlines | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| No API key required | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Yes |
| Up to 1,000,000 records per run | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor by selecting an endpoint and an optional date, and the max items limit controls how many records reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
 "endpoint": "scoreboard",
 "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
 "endpoint": "scoreboard",
 "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.0085 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $0.85 |
| 1,000 results | $8.50 |
| 10,000 results | $85.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [ESPN College Basketball Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to ESPN through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results from the scoreboard?**

Check that the date you entered is in YYYYMMDD format and that games occurred on that date. During the off-season, many dates will return an empty scoreboard.

**The actor returns fewer records than my max items setting.**

The max items setting is an upper limit. The actor stops when it has read all available data from the endpoint, which may be fewer records than the limit you set.

**I got an error or timeout.**

ESPN's public feeds may occasionally be slow or unreachable. Retry the run after a few minutes. If the problem persists, reduce the max items value to shorten the run duration.

**The data looks different from what I see on the ESPN website.**

The actor returns structured data from ESPN's underlying feeds, which may not include every visual element or formatting you see on the rendered page.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What college basketball data can I scrape? | You can scrape game scores and statuses from the scoreboard, team rosters and records from the teams endpoint, and headlines and summaries from the news endpoint. |
| Can I get historical scores, not today's games? | Yes. Use the optional date filter in YYYYMMDD format to pull the scoreboard for any past date. |
| Does this cover men's and women's college basketball? | The actor reads whatever college basketball data ESPN publishes on its public endpoints, which typically includes both men's and women's games. |
| How many records can I get in one run? | Free users are limited to 10 records as a preview. Paid Apify users can set the max items limit up to 1,000,000. |
| Do I need an ESPN API key or account? | No. This actor reads the same public feeds your browser sees, so no login or API registration is required. |
| What format does the output come in? | You can export your dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify run console. |
| Can I run this on a schedule? | Yes. Use Apify's scheduler to run the actor every few minutes or once a day to keep your dataset current. |
| Does it scrape play-by-play or box score details? | The actor returns the top-level game record from the scoreboard endpoint. Detailed play-by-play or box score breakdowns are not included in the current schema. |
| What happens if I leave the date field empty? | When the date field is empty, the scoreboard endpoint defaults to today's games. |
| Can I filter by a specific team or conference? | The input schema does not include a team or conference filter. You can pull all teams or all scoreboard games and filter the results after export. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ESPN, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `endpoint` (type: `string`):

ESPN sub-endpoint to fetch.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Free users are limited to 10 records (preview). Paid users can collect up to 1,000,000.

## `dates` (type: `string`):

Optional YYYYMMDD date for scoreboard. Leave empty for today.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "endpoint": "scoreboard",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "endpoint": "scoreboard",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "endpoint": "scoreboard",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "endpoint": "scoreboard",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/espn-college-basketball-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/4u8bHhypLOMyphdgj/builds/Z72a2Vv8b7y4rPgFB/openapi.json