SportsDataIO Help Center Frequently Asked Questions

How do you handle postponed, suspended, and canceled games?

When games are postponed and then later made up on a different date, the game will receive a new GameID. The old GameID will no longer need to be used as the game will no longer be updated. If a game is suspended and completed at a later time, the GameID will remain the same and coverage will pick up from the point of suspension. When a game is canceled, the game will not be played at all. 

For NFL, if a game is postponed and rescheduled for any reason and the game occurs in the same game week as the originally scheduled game, then we will maintain the same GameID and simply update the game record to reflect the new date and time. This is common when games are "flexed" into different timeslots, usually for television broadcast purposes. However, if a game is rescheduled and will be played in a different game week (which is extremely rare), the original game record will receive a status of Postponed and a new game record will be created.

Similarly in NBA, NHL, and MLB, if a game has a start time changed but will be played on the same day, the game record will simply be updated to reflect the new start time. If a game is postponed and rescheduled for a different day, the original record will be marked Postponed and a new game record will be created.

In MLB, since postponements and suspended games are far more common than in other sports, we have a few fields to help you out! Once MLB announces the date and time for the make-up game, we will create a new game record and we use two fields to associate the original game record with the new game record: RescheduledGameID and RescheduledFromGameID. When an MLB game is suspended, useSuspensionResumeDayandSuspensionResumeDateTimeto track when the game will return to an InProgress status.

What is your coverage for All-Star Games and other special events?

All-Star Game and special event coverage varies by league. Note that All-Star Games use "[YEAR]STAR" as the Season parameter (e.g. 2025STAR)

• NFL: No coverage for "Pro Bowl Games" events; final score delivered for the flag football game
• MLB: Teams, live scores, and odds coverage provided for the All-Star Game. No pregame rosters or lineups. Box scores provided postgame. Odds provided for Home Run Derby; no tracking of the event.
• NBA: Teams, rosters, live scores, stats and odds coverage provided for All-Star Game. Odds provided for non-ASG events (3-Point Contest, Dunk Contest, etc.).
• NHL: Coverage will vary depending on format each season. Please contact support@sportsdata.io for the latest coverage expectations.
• NASCAR: Live coverage of the All-Star race with leaderboards and odds. No projections offered for the race.
• College Basketball: Full game coverage for all in-season tournaments involving D1 teams and postseason tournament coverage for March Madness, NIT, and CBI.

How can I determine if a player played in a game?

To determine if a player appeared in a game, use the Games field in the PlayerGame object. When Games = 1, that indicates the player appeared in the game, while Games = 0 indicates the player did not appear.

Why am I seeing scrambled data?

If you are seeing scrambled data in your API endpoint responses, you are most likely using a free trial key. Complete and accurate data is reserved for paid subscriptions. If you are interested in signing up for a subscription, please contact sales@sportsdata.io!

To see which fields are scrambled, consult our Data Dictionary. For more information, view our Scrambled Data article.

Which season type parameters will I need to use?

Please use the table below for the various season types and associated sports:

How are neutral venue games handled?

Neutral venue games are common across all sports. In NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL, there is a denoted home team for each neutral venue game, allowing us to set the correct home/away ordering, along with the neutral venue site on the game record. In CFB and CBB, however, there can occasionally be ambiguity on which team is considered to be the home team. In some instances, neutral-site regular season games may have home and away teams listed inconsistently across various sources. SportsDataIO attempts to align with industry standards, but to maintain data stability and avoid deleting previously created games, we do not guarantee complete alignment with all external sources. In situations where a GameID must be removed and re-created, SportsDataIO will proactively notify clients of the change. Note that for structured tournament games, such as March Madness, this is not an issue due to the fact games are structured based on a bracket instead of stand-alone neutral site games.

Is your API down?

To check the status of our API's, go to https://status.sportsdata.io/. If you are experiencing issues, please reach out to support@sportsdata.io.

Do you cover MLB Spring Training games?

Yes! We typically have full coverage for Spring Training games, although we do use the preseason as our "testing ground" so data delays are more likely throughout Spring Training. Once Opening Day hits, you can rest assured that we'll have the bulletproof coverage our clients are accustomed to. Note that during Spring Training, we will not have projections and may not have probable pitchers for all games due to the nature of Spring Training.

Where can I find NFL timeframes?

For NFL, we have a Timeframes endpoint that will dynamically return the current & upcoming weeks at any point during the NFL season (including off-season). We also provide static fields, like CurrentSeason and UpcomingWeek to dictate the current point in time of the NFL Season. However, the timeframes endpoint will provide much more meta information than just the current season & week numbers.

• Current: This is the current timeframe. This timeframe includes the 24 hour period after all NFL games end. So, if all games for the week end on Monday evening at 11:45pm EST, the timeframe flips over on Tuesday evening at 11:59pm EST (approximately 24 hours later).
• Upcoming: This is the upcoming timeframe. This will always include the current timeframe in which games have yet to be completed. Once all games in the current timeframe have completed, this flips over to the next timeframe. For example, in a week where there is a Monday night game, the upcoming timeframe flips over to the next week as soon as the Monday night game is completed.
• Completed: This is always the timeframe immediately before the upcoming timeframe. Flips over once all games in upcoming timeframe have completed.
• Recent: This includes all recent and future timeframes. Any timeframe within 6 months of today's date is included.
• All: This includes all timeframes dating back to 2002.

Which time zone is used in your API endpoints?

All sports are observed in Eastern Time Zone (EST or EDT) except for Soccer and Tennis.

SportsDataIO observes daylight savings time and we automatically switch over when the time zones change from EST to EDT or EDT back to EST.

Developers can convert the time to their local time programmatically since the time zones are consistently in Eastern Time and UTC.

What are all of the game statuses used across sports?

All Sports

• Scheduled: The sports game is planned and has a set date and time but has not yet started.
• InProgress: The game is currently being played, with both teams actively competing.
• Final: The game has ended in regulation time, and the final score has been determined.
• F/OT: The game has ended after overtime (OT), with the final score determined in the additional period(s) beyond regulation time.
• Suspended: The game has been temporarily halted due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g., severe weather, power outage), with the intention to resume later.
• Postponed: The game has been rescheduled for a later date, typically due to weather or other extenuating circumstances.
• Delayed: The game's start time has been pushed back, but it is still expected to be played on the same day.
• Canceled: The game has been called off and will not be played or rescheduled, often due to extreme weather or other uncontrollable events.
• Forfeit: One team has conceded the game, resulting in an automatic win for the opposing team, typically due to a lack of players, rule violations, or other issues.

Soccer and NHL Only

• F/SO: The game has ended after a shootout (SO) to determine the winner following a tie in regulation and overtime.

MLB, NBA, NHL, and WNBA Only

• NotNecessary: The game is part of a series and is no longer needed, as the series outcome has already been determined based on the results of previous games. This can be considered analogous to a Canceled game.Example: The LA Dodgers and Chicago Cubs were set for a seven-game series in the National League Championship Series. However, Los Angeles won the sixth game to make it a 4-2 series. As Chicago could no longer bridge the gap in the remaining game, the seventh game was unnecessary and was not played. Thus, the seventh game changed from Scheduled to NotNecessary.

Once a game is Final, can changes to the score or stats still happen?

Yes. Changes to the final score should be extremely rare, but stat corrections will happen in every sport and the timeline for correction varies. To assist in properly closing games, we have a Closed flag, which should be used for deeming a game to be closed instead of simply using the Status field. The Closed flag flips from 0 -> 1 about 5-10 minutes after the game is over and it means our team has verified the results of the game. However, stat corrections will still happen outside of this closed flag based on league announcements. 

How are drafts handled?

Draft coverage varies across sports. For the NFL and NBA, the draft is covered live, pick-by-pick, and players are set to their respective teams with complete draft info as soon as they are announced. In MLB and NHL, drafted players are not guaranteed to sign contracts with the team that drafted them, so the draft is not covered live. Instead, players will be set to their respective teams as soon as they sign a professional contract.

Which sportsbooks does SportsDataIO offer?

SportsDataIO aggregates odds from a variety of sportsbooks, including DraftKings, FanDuel, picks operators, and more. For the most up-to-date list, use our Sportsbooks - by Active endpoint or contact our Sales team at sales@sportsdata.io.

What is your DFS coverage level?

We bring in salaries and slates from DraftKings and FanDuel for NFL, MLB, NBA, NFL, Golf, and Soccer (EPL, MLS, Champions League, Europa League, and World Cup). We offer the following slate types:

• Classic
• Showdown Captain Mode
• In-Game Showdown
• Tiers

When are SportsDataIO's maintenance windows?

In order to provide the best service possible, SportsDataIO carries out scheduled maintenance twice per month. Our maintenance windows are as follows:

• The first Wednesday of each month between 4am and 10am US Eastern time
• The third Wednesday of each month between 4am and 10am US Eastern time

If these windows ever change or are scheduled to be extended for any reason, we will alert clients in advance via our Client Notification System.