# ESPN Scores: Multi-League Schedules and Results (`quilldata/espn-scores`) Actor

Public ESPN scoreboards for NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, EPL and more. One dataset row per game with start time, teams, score, status, venue and event link. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/quilldata/espn-scores.md
- **Developed by:** [Quill Data](https://apify.com/quilldata) (community)
- **Categories:** Sports
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 games

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## ESPN Scores: Multi-League Schedules and Results

Public ESPN scoreboards as clean dataset rows — one row per game. Choose leagues and a date (or a short date range), and get start times, teams, scores, status, venue and a public game link. Built for sports dashboards, alerts, research and media apps.

No login, no browser, no betting lines. The Actor reads ESPN’s public `site.api` scoreboard JSON only.

### What you get

- **MVP leagues:** NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, EPL (Premier League).
- **Also available:** WNBA, NCAAB (men’s college basketball), NCAAF (college football).
- **States:** scheduled, in_progress, final, postponed, cancelled.
- **Fields:** league, sport, UTC and local start time, home/away names and abbreviations, scores, status text, venue when listed, ESPN event id, public game URL.
- **Provenance:** every row sets `source` to `espn`.

### What this Actor does not do

Odds, injuries, news, player box scores, play-by-play, standings, team directories or roster dumps. Those belong in other products.

### Input

| Field | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| leagues | — | Required. Codes: nba, nfl, mlb, nhl, mls, epl, wnba, ncaab, ncaaf |
| date | today in `timezone` | YYYY-MM-DD |
| endDate | same as date | Inclusive range, capped at 7 days |
| timezone | America/New_York | IANA name for the calendar day and `start_time_local` |
| statuses | all five | scheduled, in_progress, final, postponed, cancelled |
| maxGames | 500 | 1–2000 across the whole run |
| requestDelaySecs | 1.5 | Minimum 1 second between requests |
| maxRequestsPerRun | 100 | Hard HTTP cap |

#### Input example

```json
{
  "leagues": ["nba", "nfl"],
  "date": "2026-11-05",
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "statuses": ["scheduled", "in_progress", "final"],
  "maxGames": 50
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "espn_event_id": "401809123",
  "league": "nba",
  "league_name": "National Basketball Association",
  "sport": "basketball",
  "name": "Orlando Magic at Phoenix Suns",
  "start_time_utc": "2026-11-06T03:00:00Z",
  "start_time_local": "2026-11-05T22:00:00-05:00",
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "home_team": "Phoenix Suns",
  "home_abbreviation": "PHX",
  "home_score": "113",
  "away_team": "Orlando Magic",
  "away_abbreviation": "ORL",
  "away_score": "94",
  "status": "in_progress",
  "status_text": "In Progress",
  "venue": "Mortgage Matchup Center",
  "event_url": "https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401809123",
  "date_requested": "2026-11-05",
  "scraped_at": "2026-11-06T04:20:00Z",
  "source": "espn"
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.001 per game row**. Empty days and failed runs that push nothing are not charged. Cap spend from the platform with `maxTotalChargeUsd` on the run.

### Request etiquette

One request at a time, at least one second apart. Each league × day is a single scoreboard call. HTTP 429 sleeps once using `Retry-After` when present (capped at 30s). `maxRequestsPerRun` stops the run before it hammers the host.

### Data source and terms

Scores come from public ESPN scoreboard JSON (`site.api.espn.com`). No login or API key is used. ESPN is part of Disney Products. The [Disney Terms of Use](https://disneytermsofuse.com/english/) restrict using Disney Products for commercial or business-related use, and restrict accessing, monitoring, copying or extracting Disney Products with a robot, spider, script or other automated means (including data mining or web scraping), except limited public search-engine indexing. **You** are responsible for whether your use is allowed. This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by ESPN or The Walt Disney Company.

### Also from Quill Data

- **[Tennis Scores](https://apify.com/quilldata/tennis-scores)** — ATP, WTA and Challenger results with automatic source failover.
- **[Google Hotels Prices](https://apify.com/quilldata/google-hotels)** — nightly and total-stay hotel rates from public Google Hotels search.
- **[Google Flights Cheapest Fare Monitor](https://apify.com/quilldata/google-flights)** — cheapest public Google Flights fare for a route and date; failed or empty runs are free.

### Limits

- Live scores are a snapshot at run time. Schedule the Actor for regular updates.
- Date ranges longer than 7 days are truncated from the start date.
- Some leagues have sparse calendars (for example NFL mid-week). An empty day is normal.

# Actor input Schema

## `leagues` (type: `array`):

League codes to fetch. MVP: nba, nfl, mlb, nhl, mls, epl. Optional: wnba, ncaab, ncaaf. One ESPN request per league per day.

## `date` (type: `string`):

Scoreboard day as YYYY-MM-DD in the timezone below. Required for a single day. Omit to use today in that timezone.

## `endDate` (type: `string`):

Inclusive end of a date range with date. Cap is 7 calendar days including the start. Longer ranges are truncated.

## `timezone` (type: `string`):

IANA timezone for interpreting date/endDate and for start_time_local (for example America/New_York or Europe/London).

## `statuses` (type: `array`):

Keep only these game states. Default keeps all.

## `maxGames` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many pushed games across all leagues and dates.

## `requestDelaySecs` (type: `number`):

Pause between ESPN scoreboard requests. Minimum 1.

## `maxRequestsPerRun` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on HTTP requests in one run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "leagues": [
    "nba",
    "nfl"
  ],
  "date": "2026-11-05",
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "statuses": [
    "scheduled",
    "in_progress",
    "final",
    "postponed",
    "cancelled"
  ],
  "maxGames": 500,
  "requestDelaySecs": 1.5,
  "maxRequestsPerRun": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `games` (type: `string`):

Default dataset of scoreboard rows.

# 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 = {
    "leagues": [
        "nba",
        "nfl"
    ],
    "date": "2026-11-05",
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("quilldata/espn-scores").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 = {
    "leagues": [
        "nba",
        "nfl",
    ],
    "date": "2026-11-05",
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("quilldata/espn-scores").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 '{
  "leagues": [
    "nba",
    "nfl"
  ],
  "date": "2026-11-05",
  "timezone": "America/New_York"
}' |
apify call quilldata/espn-scores --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/dQ9OGmRJjfsfwzCYj/builds/em5KGTbswZwNTx44E/openapi.json