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Where 4Football's data comes from
Every score and stat on this site comes from a source that publishes it openly or under a documented API. We credit each one here, as their licences require, and we say plainly what we do not use.
| Source | Licence / terms | What we use it for | Refresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| nflverse | CC-BY 4.0 | NFL schedule, scores, betting lines, rosters, injuries, player and team stats, snap counts, combine, contracts (OverTheCap), draft history | Scores every 5 min in season · stats nightly · rosters & injuries daily |
| NCAA.com via ncaa-api | Open-source wrapper (MIT); unofficial | College scoreboards (FBS, FCS, D-II, D-III), line scores, scoring plays, AP & Coaches polls, conference standings, school logos | Every minute while games are live |
| CollegeFootballData.com | Documented API (key) | Live FBS scoreboard overlay, betting lines, team colours and venues | Live during games · daily otherwise |
| ESPN public endpoints | Undocumented; match facts only | Live in-game scores, clock, possession, quarter-by-quarter scores, TV network, scoring plays and team box scores — NFL and college | Every minute while games are live |
| National Weather Service | Public domain (US Government) | Game-day forecasts for outdoor NFL stadiums | Hourly |
| ffopportunity (ffverse) | GPL-3 | Expected fantasy points | Daily |
| DynastyProcess | GPL-3 | Dynasty trade values (their model output only) | Daily |
| The Odds API | Documented API (key, free plan) | Multi-sportsbook lines | Twice daily |
| Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia | Trademarks of their owners | Small NFL team logo thumbnails (self-hosted) | Fetched once |
How it works
A single server-side job collects data on a schedule and writes small snapshot files. Your browser only ever reads those snapshots from 4Football — visitors never touch an upstream source, so a busy Sunday for us is still one polite request a minute for them.
Our collector identifies itself honestly as 4FootballBot. If a source declines a request we stop and fall back to another source or to the last good snapshot (you will see a "scores delayed" note). We do not disguise the client to get around a block.
What we deliberately don't use
- ESPN's journalism — we read match facts from their public endpoints (who scored, the clock, the down) and nothing else. Their headlines, articles, photographs and video stay theirs; news here comes from our own search index. We only call the endpoints that answer our named crawler,
4FootballBot, and that set no crawler restriction — where ESPN says no, we don't go, and we never pretend to be a browser to get in. - Sleeper — their API is free for non-commercial use only.
- MaxPreps, Pro-Football-Reference and similar — their terms prohibit automated reuse. High-school coverage instead links to original local reporting through our search engine.
- Player headshots — not ours to republish.
Feed status
| Feed | State | Provider | Last run | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nfl_games | OK | nflverse | 272 games, week 8 | |
| nfl_history | OK | nflverse | ||
| nfl_teams | OK | nflverse | ||
| weather | OK | nws | ||
| nfl_live | OK | espn + nflverse | idle, 14 games | |
| nfl_daily | OK | nflverse | rosters, injuries, leaders, team stats, draft | |
| nfl_players | OK | nflverse + ffopportunity + dynastyprocess | player pages, fantasy hub | |
| odds | OK | none | no keys configured - NFL lines still come from nflverse | |
| college_daily | OK | ncaa | season files, rankings, standings | |
| college_fbs | OK | espn + ncaa | gameday, 63 games | |
| college_fcs | OK | espn + ncaa | gameday, 62 games | |
| college_d2 | OK | espn + ncaa | gameday, 79 games | |
| college_d3 | OK | espn + ncaa | gameday, 118 games |
4Football is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the NFL, the NCAA, or any team, conference or school. Team names, logos and marks belong to their owners and appear for identification only. Rights-holders can contact us to have a logo replaced with a neutral badge.