ESPN Scores

A Python package for fetching live sports data from ESPN's API, with a clean, minimal, dictionary-based interface. Supports NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, WNBA, College Football (CFB), College Basketball (CBB), Soccer (top leagues + any ESPN-supported competition), Golf (PGA/LPGA), and Tennis (ATP/WTA).

Features

• NFL support (weeks, preseason, playoffs)
• NBA, NHL, MLB, WNBA support (date-based queries)
• CFB support (weeks, postseason, conference filtering)
• CBB support (date-based queries, conference filtering)
• Soccer support: named top-league instances (EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, MLS, Champions League) plus a generic function for any other ESPN-supported competition
• Golf (PGA/LPGA) and Tennis (ATP/WTA) support, with their own leaderboard/match-based response shapes
• Simple dictionary-based responses
• Real-time data from ESPN
• Filter by game status (final, live, upcoming)
• Opt-in "rich data" functions for teams, standings, box scores, news, and rankings - kept separate from the default minimal scoreboard response

Installation

pip install espn-scores

Quick Start

NFL (Week-based)

from espn_scores import nfl

# Get current week's scores
scores = nfl.current_week()

# Get only final games
final_games = nfl.final_games()

# Get a specific week
week_10 = nfl.week(10)

# Get preseason/playoff games
preseason = nfl.preseason(3)
playoffs = nfl.playoffs(1)  # Wild Card

NBA / NHL / MLB / WNBA (Date-based)

These four leagues share an identical date-based interface:

from espn_scores import nba, nhl, mlb, wnba

# Get today's games
games = nba.today()

# Get games from a specific date
yesterday = nba.date("20251117")  # or "2025-11-17"

# Get only final games from today
finals = nba.final_games()

# Same interface for nhl, mlb, and wnba
mlb.today()
wnba.date("20260801", status='final')

CFB (Week-based)

from espn_scores import cfb

# Get current week's scores
scores = cfb.current_week()

# Get only final games
final_games = cfb.final_games()

# Get a specific week
week_1 = cfb.week(1)

# Get postseason games (bowl games + playoffs)
bowls = cfb.postseason()

# Filter by conference using string names (case-insensitive)
sec_games = cfb.current_week(groups='SEC')
acc_games = cfb.current_week(groups='acc')
big_ten = cfb.week(5, groups='Big Ten')

CBB (Date-based)

from espn_scores import cbb

# Get today's games
games = cbb.today()

# Get games from a specific date
yesterday = cbb.date("20251117")

# Get only final games from today
finals = cbb.final_games()

# Filter by conference using string names (case-insensitive)
acc_games = cbb.today(groups='ACC')
big_ten = cbb.date("20251117", groups='Big Ten')
sec_finals = cbb.final_games(groups='SEC')

Soccer

Named instances for the most popular club competitions, plus a generic soccer.league(slug) for anything else ESPN covers. All soccer leagues use the same date-based interface as NBA/NHL/MLB/WNBA (today/date/final_games/live_games/upcoming_games).

from espn_scores import soccer

# Named top-league instances
epl_games = soccer.epl.today()
la_liga_games = soccer.la_liga.today()
bundesliga_games = soccer.bundesliga.today()
serie_a_games = soccer.serie_a.today()
ligue_1_games = soccer.ligue_1.today()
mls_games = soccer.mls.today()
ucl_games = soccer.champions_league.today()

mls_finals = soccer.mls.final_games()

# Any other ESPN-supported competition, by slug
liga_portugal = soccer.league("por.1").today()
europa_league = soccer.league("uefa.europa", display_name="Europa League").today()

Golf

⚠️ Golf has a different response shape from every other sport - it's a many-player leaderboard, not a head-to-head matchup, so there's no sport/games key.

from espn_scores import golf

pga_leaderboard = golf.pga.today()
lpga_leaderboard = golf.lpga.today()

# Or for a specific date
masters = golf.pga.date("20260410")

Response format:

{
    "tournament": "The Open Championship",
    "status": "in_progress",  # "scheduled" | "in_progress" | "final"
    "leaderboard": [
        {"rank": 1, "player": "Rory McIlroy", "score_to_par": -12, "thru": "F", "rounds": [-5, -4, -3]},
        {"rank": 2, "player": "Scottie Scheffler", "score_to_par": -11, "thru": "F", "rounds": [-4, -4, -3]},
        ...
    ]
}

Tennis

⚠️ Tennis also has a different response shape - matches are grouped by tournament "draw" (e.g. Men's Singles), not simple head-to-head events.

from espn_scores import tennis

atp_matches = tennis.atp.today()
wta_matches = tennis.wta.today()

# Filter to a specific draw
mens_singles = tennis.atp.today(draw="singles")

# Or for a specific date
matches = tennis.atp.date("20260701")

Response format:

{
    "tournament": "Wimbledon",
    "matches": [
        {
            "draw": "Men's Singles",
            "status": "final",  # "scheduled" | "in_progress" | "final"
            "players": [
                {"name": "Novak Djokovic", "winner": True, "sets": [6, 6, 4]},
                {"name": "Carlos Alcaraz", "winner": False, "sets": [4, 3, 6]},
            ]
        },
        ...
    ]
}

Response Format

Every team-sport method (NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB/WNBA/CFB/CBB/soccer) returns a dictionary with minimal game data:

{
  "sport": "NFL",
  "league": "NFL",   # alias for "sport"
  "week": 11,
  "season": 2025,
  "games": [
    {
      "id": "401772945",
      "status": "final",  # or "in_progress" or "scheduled"
      "away_team": {"name": "Jets", "abbreviation": "NYJ", "score": 14},
      "home_team": {"name": "Patriots", "abbreviation": "NE", "score": 27}
    }
  ]
}

Live games include game_time with quarter/period and clock. Scheduled games include start_time.

Date-based leagues (NBA/NHL/MLB/WNBA/CBB/soccer) return a "date" key instead of "week".

Golf and tennis use their own response shapes entirely - see the sections above.

Opt-in Rich Data

The default scoreboard methods above stay intentionally minimal. Every team-sport league instance (nfl, nba, nhl, mlb, wnba, cfb, cbb, and every soccer.* league) also exposes these opt-in methods for richer ESPN data:

from espn_scores import nfl, mlb, cfb

teams = nfl.teams()
bills = nfl.team("BUF")             # by abbreviation
bills = nfl.team("2")               # or by ESPN team ID
roster = nfl.roster("BUF")
season_schedule = nfl.schedule("BUF")
standings = nfl.standings()
box_score = nfl.box_score("401772945")
headlines = nfl.news(limit=5)

top_25 = cfb.rankings(poll="AP")

# Player-level data
player_id = mlb.roster("CIN")["roster"][0]["id"]
profile = mlb.athlete(player_id)
game_log = mlb.gamelog(player_id)

# In-game detail for a specific matchup
plays = mlb.play_by_play("401901849", limit=10)  # 10 most recent plays
win_prob = mlb.win_probability("401901849")

event_id for box_score()/play_by_play()/win_probability() is the "id" field from a game in a scoreboard result. athlete_id for athlete()/gamelog() is the "id" field from a player in a roster() result. Both athlete() and team() raise AthleteNotFoundException/TeamNotFoundException respectively for an unresolvable id.

API Reference

NFL

Season Types: 1 = Preseason, 2 = Regular Season, 3 = Postseason

NBA / NHL / MLB / WNBA

Identical interface across all four:

CFB

Season Types: 2 = Regular Season, 3 = Postseason

Conference Groups: Use groups parameter to filter games involving teams from a conference (string or int).

• String names (case-insensitive): 'SEC', 'ACC', 'Big Ten', 'Big 12', 'American', 'Sun Belt', etc.
• Or numeric IDs: 1=ACC, 4=Big 12, 5=Big Ten, 8=SEC
• Or constants: Conferences.SEC, Conferences.BIG_TEN, etc.
• Note: Returns ALL games involving teams from that conference (including non-conference games)

CBB

Conference Groups: Use groups parameter to filter games involving teams from a conference (string or int).

• String names (case-insensitive): 'ACC', 'Big Ten', 'Big 12', 'SEC', 'Big East', 'American', 'A-10', 'WCC', etc.
• Or numeric IDs: 2=ACC, 4=Big East, 7=Big Ten, 8=Big 12, 23=SEC
• Or constants: CBBConferences.ACC, CBBConferences.BIG_TEN, etc.
• Note: Returns ALL games involving teams from that conference (including non-conference games)

Soccer

Golf

Tennis

Status Filters: 'final', 'in_progress', 'scheduled'

Examples

from espn_scores import nfl, nba, nhl, mlb, wnba, cfb, cbb, soccer, golf, tennis

# NFL - Current week
games = nfl.current_week()
finals = nfl.final_games()

# NFL - Specific week and playoffs
week_10 = nfl.week(10, status='final')
playoffs = nfl.playoffs(1)  # Wild Card

# NBA / NHL / MLB / WNBA - Today's games
games = nba.today()
finals = mlb.final_games()

# NBA - Specific date
yesterday = nba.date("20251117")
finals = nba.date("2025-11-17", status='final')

# CFB - Current week
games = cfb.current_week()
finals = cfb.final_games()

# CFB - Specific week and postseason
week_1 = cfb.week(1, status='final')
bowls = cfb.postseason()  # Bowl games + playoffs

# CFB - Conference filtering (strings or IDs)
sec_games = cfb.current_week(groups='SEC')      # String name
acc_games = cfb.current_week(groups='acc')      # Case-insensitive
big_ten_w5 = cfb.week(5, groups='Big Ten')      # String name

# CBB - Today's games
games = cbb.today()
finals = cbb.final_games()

# CBB - Conference filtering (strings or IDs)
acc_games = cbb.today(groups='ACC')             # String name
big_ten = cbb.date("20251117", groups='Big Ten') # Case-insensitive
sec_finals = cbb.final_games(groups='SEC')      # String name

# Soccer - named leagues + generic fallback
epl_games = soccer.epl.today()
mls_finals = soccer.mls.final_games()
liga_portugal = soccer.league('por.1').today()

# Golf / Tennis - different response shape (see sections above)
pga_leaderboard = golf.pga.today()
atp_matches = tennis.atp.today()

# Opt-in rich data
standings = nfl.standings()
bills = nfl.team('BUF')
top_25 = cfb.rankings(poll='AP')

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• requests
• python-dateutil

License

MIT License

Disclaimer

This package is not affiliated with ESPN. It uses ESPN's publicly available API.