API example

NFL endpoints

All NFL endpoints live under https://api.balldontlie.io/stories/nfl. Every request requires a Bearer API key in the Authorization header.

NFL content is short-form and supports both stats and betting audiences in editorial and humor tones. Preseason games are included, and every scoring play is eligible for a score update. Betting stories use captured kickoff markets and are suppressed when no valid kickoff market is available. Periods 1–4 are regulation quarters; period 5 and above represent overtime in regular-season and postseason games. Preseason games end after Q4.

List games

Returns all NFL games scheduled on a given date. Use this endpoint first to discover game IDs, then pass those IDs to the story endpoints below.

GET/stories/nfl/games

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
date	string	Yes	ISO-8601 calendar date in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g. 2026-04-12).
timezone	string	No	IANA timezone name used to resolve the date boundary. Defaults to UTC.

Example request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.balldontlie.io/stories/nfl/games?date=2025-11-16&timezone=America/New_York"

Example response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 424095,
      "home_team": {
        "id": 5,
        "conference": "AFC",
        "division": "East",
        "location": "Miami",
        "name": "Dolphins",
        "full_name": "Miami Dolphins",
        "abbreviation": "MIA"
      },
      "away_team": {
        "id": 21,
        "conference": "NFC",
        "division": "East",
        "location": "Washington",
        "name": "Commanders",
        "full_name": "Washington Commanders",
        "abbreviation": "WSH"
      },
      "start_time": "2025-11-16T09:30:00.000-05:00"
    }
  ]
}

Response schema

data

Games scheduled on the requested date, ordered by start_time ascending.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Game identifier. Pass this value as :game_id to the story endpoints below.
home_team	object	Home team. See Team below.
away_team	object	Away team. See Team below.
start_time	string (date-time)	Scheduled tipoff in RFC 3339 format. The UTC offset reflects the timezone query parameter (UTC when omitted).

Team

Returned on both home_team and away_team for every NFL game.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Stable BallDontLie team identifier. Joins to the NFL teams endpoint.
abbreviation	string	Three-letter team code (e.g. MIA).
full_name	string	Full display name (e.g. Miami Dolphins).
name	string	Team nickname (e.g. Dolphins).
location	string	Home market (e.g. Miami).
conference	string	Conference abbreviation (AFC or NFC).
division	string	Division name (e.g. East).

Get pregame story

Returns a single aggregated pregame story. Generated within 1 hour before the scheduled start time. Returns 404 if the story has not been generated yet (game is more than 1 hour away).

GET/stories/nfl/games/{game_id}/pregame

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
audience	string	No	Either betting or stats. Defaults to betting.
tone	string	No	Either editorial or humor. Defaults to editorial.

Example request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.balldontlie.io/stories/nfl/games/424095/pregame?audience=betting&tone=editorial"

Example response

{
  "game": { "id": 424095 },
  "story": {
    "id": 1454,
    "created_at": "2026-08-01T15:55:39.467Z",
    "content": "MIA is a small favorite at -2.5 (-121 Caesars) and -148 on the moneyline at DraftKings, while FanDuel lists WSH +126. The total is 47.5, and Zach Ertz’s catch line is 3.5 at FanDuel/BetRivers vs 4.5 at most books.",
    "entity_tags": {
      "teams": [
        { "id": 5, "name": "Miami Dolphins", "abbreviation": "MIA" },
        { "id": 21, "name": "Washington Commanders", "abbreviation": "WSH" }
      ],
      "players": [
        { "id": 1011, "name": "Zach Ertz", "team": "WSH" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Response schema

game

Compact reference to the game this response is scoped to. Echoes the :game_id path parameter.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Game identifier matching the one supplied in the request path.

story

The single narrative object for this phase. Deterministic for a given (game_id, audience, tone) tuple.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Stable story identifier. Safe to use as an idempotency key.
created_at	string (date-time)	RFC 3339 timestamp (UTC) marking when the narrative was written.
content	string\| null	Tweet-length narrative body (≤280 characters). Null only in the rare case that the requested tone has not yet been rendered for this story.
entity_tags	object	Teams and players referenced in content. See entity_tags below.

entity_tags

Structured list of the teams and players referenced in the narrative. Use the IDs to join to the corresponding BallDontLie sport APIs.

Field	Type	Description
teams	array<object>	Teams mentioned in the story. Each element is { id: integer, name: string, abbreviation: string }.
players	array<object>	Players mentioned in the story. Each element is { id: integer, name: string, team?: string }, where team is the abbreviation when known.

Get live stories

Returns event-driven stories for a live game, sorted oldest to newest by created_at. Live games produce guaranteed period-end checkpoints plus conditional stories triggered by momentum shifts, prop breaches, and milestones. Returns an empty array if no live stories have been generated yet.

GET/stories/nfl/games/{game_id}/live

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
audience	string	No	Either betting or stats. Defaults to betting.
tone	string	No	Either editorial or humor. Defaults to editorial.

Example request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.balldontlie.io/stories/nfl/games/424095/live?audience=betting&tone=editorial"

Example response

{
  "game": { "id": 424095 },
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 1457,
      "created_at": "2026-08-01T15:55:51.920Z",
      "type": "score_update",
      "content": "R. Patterson’s 46-yard FG gives MIA a 3-0 lead at 10:35 of Q1. In the pre-kickoff snapshot, the Dolphins were -2.5 and are covering by 0.5; the 3-point start is well under 47.5.",
      "entity_tags": {
        "teams": [
          { "id": 5, "name": "Miami Dolphins", "abbreviation": "MIA" },
          { "id": 21, "name": "Washington Commanders", "abbreviation": "WSH" }
        ],
        "players": []
      },
      "game_snapshot": {
        "period": 1,
        "home_score": 3,
        "away_score": 0,
        "minutes_remaining": 10
      }
    }
  ]
}

Response schema

game

Compact reference to the game this response is scoped to. Echoes the :game_id path parameter.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Game identifier matching the one supplied in the request path.

data

Array of live stories for the game, ordered oldest to newest by created_at. Empty if no live stories have fired yet.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Stable story identifier. Safe to use as an idempotency key.
created_at	string (date-time)	RFC 3339 timestamp (UTC) marking when the narrative was written.
type	string	Detection module that produced this story (e.g. game_over, close_game, prop_exceeded, batter_breakout). Useful for routing stories into downstream product surfaces.
content	string\| null	Tweet-length narrative body (≤280 characters). Null only in the rare case that the requested tone has not yet been rendered for this story.
entity_tags	object	Teams and players referenced in content. See entity_tags below.
game_snapshot	object	Score and clock at the moment the story fired. See game_snapshot below.

entity_tags

Structured list of the teams and players referenced in the narrative. Use the IDs to join to the corresponding BallDontLie sport APIs.

Field	Type	Description
teams	array<object>	Teams mentioned in the story. Each element is { id: integer, name: string, abbreviation: string }.
players	array<object>	Players mentioned in the story. Each element is { id: integer, name: string, team?: string }, where team is the abbreviation when known.

game_snapshot

Point-in-time state of the game when the story was generated. Useful for rendering a score banner alongside the narrative.

Field	Type	Description
home_score	integer	Home team score at the moment the story fired.
away_score	integer	Away team score at the moment the story fired.
period	integer	Quarter number. 1–4 for regulation; 5+ for overtime in regular-season and postseason games. Preseason games end after Q4.
minutes_remaining	integer	Whole minutes remaining in the current period.
clock	string\| null	Raw game-clock string when available (e.g. "6:22"). Present on most live triggers; may be absent on period-boundary events.

Get postgame story

Returns the most recent postgame story, generated immediately after the game goes final. Evaluates the pregame narrative against actual results. Returns 404 if no postgame story has been generated yet.

GET/stories/nfl/games/{game_id}/postgame

Query parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
audience	string	No	Either betting or stats. Defaults to betting.
tone	string	No	Either editorial or humor. Defaults to editorial.

Example request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.balldontlie.io/stories/nfl/games/424095/postgame?audience=betting&tone=editorial"

Example response

{
  "game": { "id": 424095 },
  "story": {
    "id": 1496,
    "created_at": "2026-08-01T15:58:34.553Z",
    "content": "MIA won the moneyline, covered -2.5, and stayed under 47.5 in a 16-13 OT win. Zach Ertz went under 46.5 rec yds and under 0.5 anytime TD, but over 3.5 receptions; Robbie Chosen also stayed under 0.5 TD.",
    "entity_tags": {
      "teams": [
        { "id": 5, "name": "Miami Dolphins", "abbreviation": "MIA" },
        { "id": 21, "name": "Washington Commanders", "abbreviation": "WSH" }
      ],
      "players": [
        { "id": 1011, "name": "Zach Ertz", "team": "WSH" },
        { "id": 1060, "name": "Robbie Chosen", "team": "WSH" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Response schema

game

Compact reference to the game this response is scoped to. Echoes the :game_id path parameter.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Game identifier matching the one supplied in the request path.

story

The single narrative object for this phase. Deterministic for a given (game_id, audience, tone) tuple.

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	Stable story identifier. Safe to use as an idempotency key.
created_at	string (date-time)	RFC 3339 timestamp (UTC) marking when the narrative was written.
content	string\| null	Tweet-length narrative body (≤280 characters). Null only in the rare case that the requested tone has not yet been rendered for this story.
entity_tags	object	Teams and players referenced in content. See entity_tags below.

entity_tags

Structured list of the teams and players referenced in the narrative. Use the IDs to join to the corresponding BallDontLie sport APIs.

Field	Type	Description
teams	array<object>	Teams mentioned in the story. Each element is { id: integer, name: string, abbreviation: string }.
players	array<object>	Players mentioned in the story. Each element is { id: integer, name: string, team?: string }, where team is the abbreviation when known.