Use ESPN Live Scores, Schedules & Game Odds Scraper with Python

Get live scores, final results and upcoming fixtures for 16 leagues across basketball, football, baseball, hockey and soccer, with optional per-game leaders, odds, attendance and headlines.

1. Choose the data you need

Review the published README for supported collection modes, examples, and limits. The recipe below uses the current published input definition.

2. Prepare a source-based input

This JSON contains published prefills and required-field defaults. Review every value for your task before running it; it is not a promise of successful collection.

{
  "date": "20240115",
  "eventIds": [],
  "includeDetails": false,
  "league": "nba",
  "maxItems": 3,
  "mode": "scoreboard",
  "seasonType": "2",
  "sport": "any",
  "status": "any",
  "timezone": "UTC"
}

Download input.example.json and save your reviewed copy as input.json.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`mode`	string	required	What to return: games for a scoreboard, a schedule, the league team directory, one record per sportsbook odds line, or a full game detail record.
`sport`	string	optional	Optional sport filter. Use it with League = All supported leagues to cover every supported competition in one sport.
`league`	string	optional	Competition to read. Choose All supported leagues only with a specific sport when you need broad coverage. Defaults to NBA when omitted.
`date`	string	optional	A day (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYYMMDD), a month (YYYY-MM), or a year (YYYY). Leave empty to use today, or use Season / Week instead. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, odds, gameDetail)
`startDate`	string	optional	First day of a custom window (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYYMMDD). Requires End date. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, odds, gameDetail)
`endDate`	string	optional	Last day of a custom window (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYYMMDD). Maximum 366 days. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, odds, gameDetail)
`season`	integer	optional	ESPN season year, for example 2024. Use it with Week for a single football week, or alone for the whole season. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, odds, gameDetail)
`seasonType`	string	optional	Which part of the season to read when Season is set. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, odds, gameDetail)
`week`	integer	optional	Week number for football and other week-based competitions. Requires Season. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, odds, gameDetail)
`team`	string	optional	Keep only games or teams matching this ESPN team ID, abbreviation, or name, for example 13, LAL, or Lakers. Prefix with a league code to disambiguate: nba:LAL. (mode=scoreboard, schedule, teams, odds, gameDetail)
`eventIds`	array	optional	ESPN event IDs for game detail or odds, for example 401585183. Leave empty to discover games from the date or season. (mode=odds, gameDetail)
`status`	string	optional	Keep only games in this state. Postponed and cancelled games are reported as their own values.
`includeDetails`	boolean	optional	Add leaders, odds, attendance, officials, article text, team stats, player stats and injuries to each game. (mode=scoreboard, schedule)
`maxItems`	integer	optional	Hard cap on records returned across all selected leagues.
`timezone`	string	optional	IANA timezone used for today/yesterday/tomorrow and for dateLocal, for example America/New_York.

3. Start an Actor run

Set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment. Python 3.10 or newer is sufficient; this recipe uses no third-party packages.

Execution may incur charges. Review current pricing on Apify. The request asks for a 120-second timeout and a charge limit; these settings are subject to Apify’s pricing and do not guarantee an all-inclusive spending cap.

import json
import os
import urllib.request

# Save the schema-derived example as input.json; review and edit it first.
with open("input.json", encoding="utf-8") as stream:
    actor_input = json.load(stream)

token = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
request = urllib.request.Request(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/gfEsNaZg6cUWKfAcj/runs?timeout=120&maxTotalChargeUsd=0.50",
    data=json.dumps(actor_input).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + token, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST",
)
# This starts a potentially billable run. Do not automatically retry this POST.
with urllib.request.urlopen(request, timeout=40) as response:
    run = json.load(response)["data"]
print("Run ID:", run["id"])
print("Status:", run["status"])
# Inspect and download results in Apify Console once the run succeeds.

4. Inspect the actual results

Open the run in Apify Console and wait for a successful completion. Use the published output schema to locate results and the dataset schema to understand declared views. Missing or optional record fields must not be treated as guaranteed values.

Game, team, odds, and full game-detail records from ESPN public data, including scores, schedules, venue, broadcasts, team records, sportsbook lines, leaders, officials, stats, injuries, and recaps.

Questions before you run

Which inputs are required?

The published required fields are mode

What does this guide verify?

The fields, prefills, and schema links are rendered from the published build. This is a usage recipe, not a paid live extraction test. Source availability and collection results can vary.

What if the run request times out?

Check Apify Console before retrying. The first request may already have created a run. Do not automatically repeat a run-creation POST.

Open on Apify Full Actor reference

Generated from source build nXre0KcQ0wFMsE4p4 and its README and schemas. Source changes regenerate this guide; no third-party editorial claims are inferred.