American football data hub

The American Football API for developers ballers.

NFL and NCAA football under one API: schedules, play-by-play with EPA and Win Probability on every play, and weekly player stats, built on a decade of NFL history. Live scores resume for the 2026 NFL season. That launch has happened: live score state is available while games are on.

Get an API key Browse leagues See the endpoints

Aggregate sport hub · choose a league before league-specific detail calls

250 req/day free (500 with GitHub). No credit card.

NFL · NCAAF · a decade of history · 294,989 plays with EPA + WP · fixed 2020-2025 snapshot; 291,603 carry both values · 2026 plays landing now

The NFL API page focuses on the NFL historical surface with field-level docs for plays and weekly stats. See the NFL API →

Featured league example · not aggregate coverage

NFL

single-league example · response shape, not coverage

1season · week

2home_team · away_team

3score · status

Open the NFL authority →

Leagues in this sport

7: seasons in the archive; 1,802 finished games, back to 2020

How far back the National Football League archive goes

7 seasons are on record, back to 2020 — 1,802 finished games you can query today. One route serves the full span. These figures are measured from the customer-facing routes listed below, so this page cannot silently drift from the product.

Archive	Route	Seasons	Reaches back to	Finished games
National Football League	/v1/matches	7	2020 – 2026	1,802

What each plan reaches

Edge & Pro: all 7 seasons
Solo & Trio: 5 seasons
Free: the current season

Edge and Pro reach everything listed above. Solo and Trio reach five seasons. Free covers the current season.

Unified schema

One American football envelope. League context stays explicit.

Canonical IDs, league keys, status and timestamps travel with the row. The hub describes shared fields; each league authority documents its own depth.

american_football

sport

selected key

league

canonical

id

served

status

No featured-league field is promoted to a sport-wide guarantee.

Event surface

League-native events inside the American football hub.

Event granularity differs by competition. Discover a match and league first, then use that authority’s event contract rather than assuming one featured feed applies everywhere.

1/v1/nfl/games/:game_id/playsPlay-by-play with EPA + Win Probabilitypro
2/v1/nfl/players/:player_id/statsWeekly player stats (passing, rushing, receiving, PPR)free
3/v1/nfl/players/:player_id/game-logPer-season chronological game logfree

What you can build

5 American football products from the connected sport surface.

Each concept points to a real league authority, guide or reference. The phone mockups are product patterns, not claims that every league supplies identical depth.

American football pattern 01

EPA / WP model

1 · season · week

2 · home_team · away_team

3 · score · status

Train win-probability and expected-points models on every play in the dataset.

Explore NFL →

American football pattern 02

Play-by-play research

1 · season · week

2 · home_team · away_team

3 · score · status

Query 294,989 plays with EPA and Win Probability for situational analysis. That is the fixed 2020-2025 snapshot; 291,603 rows carry both values, and 2026 plays are available as they land.

Explore NFL →

American football pattern 03

Fantasy historical tool

1 · season · week

2 · home_team · away_team

3 · score · status

Weekly player stats across seasons for projections and backtests.

Explore NFL →

American football pattern 04

Schedule explorer

1 · season · week

2 · home_team · away_team

3 · score · status

Season schedules with stadium, surface, and final scores.

Explore NFL →

American football pattern 05

Betting backtest engine

1 · season · week

2 · home_team · away_team

3 · score · status

Replay historical games against closing lines to validate a model.

Explore NFL →

Walk through it end to end:

League directory

Choose the American football competition you are actually building.

League pages own seasons, participants, examples and measured depth. This hub owns discovery across them.

League authority	Role	Next step

Coverage strength

What the aggregate American football surface connects.

Counts below describe published route rows on this hub, not a promise that every league fills every field.

0

League authorities

6

Published routes

5

Build patterns

4

FAQ answers

Endpoints

On the gateway at api.bigballsdata.com. Authenticate with the bearer token from /dashboard/keys.

Method	Path	Returns	Plan
GET	/v1/nfl/games?season=2024&week=1	NFL schedules filtered by season and week	Free
GET	/v1/nfl/games/:game_id	Single game with stadium, surface, scores	Free
GET	/v1/nfl/games/:game_id/plays	Play-by-play with EPA + Win Probability	Pro
GET	/v1/nfl/players/:player_id/stats	Weekly player stats (passing, rushing, receiving, PPR)	Free
GET	/v1/nfl/players/:player_id/game-log	Per-season chronological game log	Free
GET	/v1/standings?sport=american_football&league=nfl	Division + conference standings	Free

What you get, by plan

One row per capability, not per field per endpoint. Season spans are counted from rows that are actually populated, and each capability names the simplest endpoint that returns it.

Offensive stats

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Carries	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Completions	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Interceptions thrown	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Pass attempts	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Passing touchdowns	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Passing yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
PPR fantasy points	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Receiving touchdowns	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Receiving yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Receptions	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Rushing touchdowns	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Rushing yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Targets	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`

Defensive stats

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Defensive touchdowns	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Forced fumbles	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Interception return yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Interceptions caught	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Passes defended	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Quarterback hits	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Sack yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Sacks	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Safeties	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Solo tackles	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Tackle assists	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Tackle-for-loss yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Tackles for loss	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Tackles with assist	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Two-point attempts defended	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Two-point conversions defended	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`

Kicking and special teams

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Extra points blocked	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Field goals blocked	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`
Punts blocked	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/players/{player_id}/stats`

Play-by-play

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Defending team	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Distance to go	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Down	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Expected points added	—	—	—	—	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Field position	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Game clock	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Passer on a play	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Play type	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Receiver on a play	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Rusher on a play	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Score differential	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Team in possession	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Win probability	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`
Yards gained	—	—	—	—	7 seasons	`/v1/nfl/games/{game_id}/plays`

Team stats

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Completion percentage over expected	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Interceptions thrown (team)	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Passing air yards	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Passing EPA	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Passing first downs	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Receiving EPA	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Rushing EPA	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Rushing first downs	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`
Sacks taken	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/team-stats`

Schedules and fixtures

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Final score	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Game type	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Kickoff date	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Playing surface	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Rest days per team	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Roof type	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Stadium	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`
Week	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/games`

Injuries, rosters and depth charts

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Depth chart position	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/depth-charts`
Depth chart rank	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/depth-charts`
Depth chart validity interval	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/depth-charts`
Jersey number	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/players`
Listed position	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/rosters`
Practice participation status	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/injuries`
Reported injury detail	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/injuries`
Roster status	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/scores`
Weekly injury report status	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/injuries`
Years of experience	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/nfl/rosters`

Ratings and derived intelligence

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Current Elo rating	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/teams/{id}/elo`
Elo rating history	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/teams/{id}/elo`

Images and identity

Capability	Free	Solo	Trio	Edge	Pro	Endpoint
Player headshots	—	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/players`
Player name	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	`/v1/players`
Player position	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	`/v1/players`
Team abbreviation	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	PENDING	`/v1/matches`
Team name	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	`/v1/players`

Measured against production on 2026-09-13. A capability appears here only when it has rows, an endpoint that returns it, and a source we may both serve and quote.

Stats included

Every football stat field the API returns today — 108 in total, grouped by how they are produced. Each group carries its own freshness, because a sport is rarely uniformly current.

Per-game player stats

Post-game

Written after the game ends — not a live in-game feed. Last ingested 2026-09-16.

Endpoint: /v1/players/:id/stats
Last updated: 2026-09-16

Fields (89)

QB Hits, QB Rating, Adjusted QBR, Passes Defended, QB Hurries, Sacks, Solo Tackles, Defensive Touchdowns, Tackles for Loss, Total Tackles, Fumbles, Fumbles Lost, Fumbles Recovered, Interceptions, Interception Return Touchdowns, Interception Return Yards, Kick Return Average, Longest Kick Return, Kick Returns, Kick Return Touchdowns, Kick Return Yards, Field Goals, Longest Field Goal, Field Goal %, Kicking Points, Total Kicking Attempts, Extra Points, Yards per Attempt, Completions/Attempts, Interceptions Thrown, QBR, Passing Touchdowns, Passing Yards, Punt Return Average, Longest Punt Return, Punt Returns, Punt Return Touchdowns, Punt Return Yards, Punting Average, Punts Inside the 20, Longest Punt, Punts, Touchbacks, Punting Yards, Yards per Reception, Longest Reception, Receptions, Receiving Touchdowns, Receiving Yards, Yards per Carry, Carries, Longest Rush, Rushing Touchdowns, Rushing Yards, Completions Passing Attempts, Defensive Interceptions, Defensive Sacks, Extra Points Made, Extra Points Made Extra Point Attempts, Field Goal Attempts, Field Goals Made, Field Goals Made Field Goal Attempts, Fumble Recovery Touchdowns, Gross Average Punt Yards, Hurries, Interception Touchdowns, Interception Yards, Long Field Goal Made, Long Kick Return, Long Punt, Long Punt Return, Long Reception, Long Rushing, Passer Rating, Passing Attempts, Passing Completions, Passing Interceptions, Passing Sack Yards Lost, Passing Sacks Taken, Punt Yards, Punts Inside20, Receiving Targets, Rushing Attempts, Sacks/Sack Yards Lost, Total Kicking Points, Yards per Kick Return, Yards per Pass Attempt, Yards per Punt Return, Yards per Rush Attempt

Team stats (per game)

Post-game

Written after the game ends — not a live in-game feed. Last ingested 2026-09-16.

Endpoint: /v1/matches/:id/statistics
Last updated: 2026-09-16

Fields (25)

Completions/Attempts, Defensive Touchdowns, First Downs, First Downs (passing), First Downs (penalty), First Downs (rushing), Fourth-Down Efficiency, Fumbles Lost, Interceptions Thrown, Net Passing Yards, Time of Possession, Red Zone Attempts, Rushing Attempts, Rushing Yards, Sacks / Yards Lost, Score, Third-Down Efficiency, Total Drives, Total Offensive Plays, Total Penalties Yards, Total Yards, Turnovers, Yards per Pass, Yards per Play, Yards per Rush Attempt

Not included

Not shown here — player_per_week (new granularity, not yet mapped for display).
Not shown here — play_by_play: play-by-play events, not a stat line — mostly identifiers once classified.
Not shown here — rosters: roster listings — reference data, and no route serves them.

Missing a stat?

We build what people actually ask for. If a field you need is not on this page, tell us — requests are how we decide what to add next.

Player availability

American football availability is league-scoped.

Injury, lineup and participant availability vary by league and season. Missing rows stay missing; the hub does not borrow another league’s records.

Nullable by design

Check the selected league authority and response timestamp before presenting a status as current.

Next up

Schedules across American football competitions.

Each league publishes its own schedule and its own season boundaries. Call the league you selected and read the status and kickoff on the rows it returns, rather than inferring a season from this hub.

DiscoverGET /v1/leagues

Choose a real league key

Schedule/v1/nfl/games?season=2024&week=1

Keep league + season

DetailGET /v1/matches/{id}

Traverse canonical IDs

From response to product

A featured league example, rendered and raw.

This is visibly scoped to NFL, single-league example · response shape, not coverage; it demonstrates the shared envelope without claiming that league represents all American football.

Featured league example

NFL

single-league example · response shape, not coverage

season · weekhome_team · away_teamscore · status

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "canonical-id-from-response",
      "sport": "american_football",
      "league": "selected-league-key",
      "status": "finished",
      "home": {
        "name": "Home participant"
      },
      "away": {
        "name": "Away participant"
      },
      "score": {
        "home": null,
        "away": null
      }
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "example_scope": "NFL · single-league example · response shape, not coverage",
    "note": "Shape example; request the API for current values."
  }
}

American football resources

Docs, comparisons and build guides.

Every card is a real destination. League authorities remain separate from supporting product and documentation routes.

Real API example

Start at aggregate American football discovery.

The request deliberately omits a featured league when the route supports sport-wide discovery. Select a returned league key before league-specific calls.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $BBS_API_KEY" "https://api.bigballsdata.com/v1/nfl/games?season=2024&week=1"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "canonical-id-from-response",
      "sport": "american_football",
      "league": "selected-league-key",
      "status": "finished",
      "home": {
        "name": "Home participant"
      },
      "away": {
        "name": "Away participant"
      },
      "score": {
        "home": null,
        "away": null
      }
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "example_scope": "NFL · single-league example · response shape, not coverage",
    "note": "Shape example; request the API for current values."
  }
}

Integrate in a few lines

Node.js, @bigballsdata/sdktypescript

import { BigBallSportsClient } from '@bigballsdata/sdk';

const client = new BigBallSportsClient(process.env.BBS_API_KEY!);

type NflPlay = { posteam: string; play_type: string | null; epa: number | null; wp: number | null };

// Every play of a game, with EPA + win probability.
const plays = await client.get<NflPlay[]>('/v1/nfl/games/2025_01_DAL_PHI/plays');
for (const p of plays.data) {
  console.log(p.posteam, p.play_type, 'EPA', p.epa, 'WP', p.wp);
}

MCP

Connect an agent. Choose scope first.

An agent should discover American football leagues, select one explicitly, then traverse matches and players by returned canonical IDs.

1get_leaguessport: american_football

2get_matchesleague: selected key

3get_match_detailsmatch_id: returned UUID

Data freshness

Freshness belongs to the selected league and dataset.

The hub never turns a single-league example into a current sport-wide claim, and it states no season of its own.

Scoped

Schedules

Current when populated

Source: League response

Scoped

Scores

Event-driven

Source: Match response

Scoped

Stats

Category-specific

Source: Dataset response

Scoped

Example

single-league example · response shape, not coverage

Source: Static label

Plan decision

Choose by endpoint, not by the hub headline.

Each row preserves its league or sport scope and resolves against the endpoint plan registry when that route has a canonical entry.

Endpoint	Scope	Minimum plan
/v1/nfl/games?season=2024&week=1	League-specific	free
/v1/nfl/games/:game_id	League-specific	free
/v1/nfl/games/:game_id/plays	League-specific	pro
/v1/nfl/players/:player_id/stats	League-specific	free
/v1/nfl/players/:player_id/game-log	League-specific	free
/v1/standings?sport=american_football&league=nfl	League-specific	free

Founder pricing

Start with American football. Add depth as the product grows.

Prices and included dimensions come from the shared billing manifest; league coverage remains documented on each authority page.

Free

$0

✓ 1 sport
✓ 250 requests / day (500 with GitHub)
✓ Current season
✓ Scores, schedules, fixtures

Solo

$19per month

✓ Everything in Free, plus
✓ 1 sport
✓ 10,000 requests / day
✓ Up to 5 seasons

Trio

$49per month

✓ Everything in Solo, plus
✓ 3 sports
✓ 25,000 requests / day
✓ Up to 5 seasons

Edge

$149per month

✓ Everything in Trio, plus
✓ All sports
✓ 100,000 requests / day
✓ All available history

Pro

$299per month

✓ Everything in Edge, plus
✓ All sports
✓ 200,000 requests / day
✓ All available history

Start on the free tier

100 requests per minute and 250 per day, free — the highest per-minute burst of any free sports API we checked. Burst is what matters when something asks several questions in a row and waits on each answer.

Every sport and league we cover — the paid tiers add history depth and premium fields, not more leagues.
Calls are counted one for one — no credit weighting, no markets-times-regions arithmetic.
Link GitHub and the daily cap goes to 500.
No credit card.

Or ask your AI tool directly

Connect your account to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Perplexity or any other MCP-compatible tool and ask for football data in conversation — scores, standings, player stats and Elo ratings, with no API key to paste and no code to write. Your plan and limits carry over exactly as they do here.

Connect your AI tool →

Free covers a real app. Scale when you need to.

250 req/day free (500 with GitHub). Production starts at $49/mo. Live WebSocket push on Pro+.

Frequently asked

Answers before you choose a league.

Is American football data live right now?

Yes, while games are on. /v1/matches?sport=american_football carries live score state during games, and the historical surface (schedules, weekly stats, and play-by-play with EPA + Win Probability) is available at all times. Whether anything is on right now is a fact to read from the API rather than from this page: GET /v1/coverage?sport=american_football reports freshness.data_through and freshness.next_event per league.

Does it include EPA and Win Probability?

Yes. /v1/nfl/games/:game_id/plays returns per-play EPA and Win Probability across the six complete seasons (294,989 plays). That is the fixed 2020-2025 snapshot; 291,603 rows carry both values, and 2026 plays are also available as they land. GET /v1/coverage?sport=american_football reports the NFL match archive's current season span and match-level play-by-play coverage.

Does it cover NCAA football?

NCAAF schedules and records are covered via the college-football surface; the deepest play-level analytics (EPA / WP) are on the NFL surface today.

Is the American football API free?

Yes. It covers schedules, weekly stats and standings. There is a free tier; pricing lists what each plan covers. Full play-by-play logs, including EPA and win probability, need Pro. Free keys get 250 req/day (500 with GitHub). No credit card.

Get an API key in 30 seconds