How can I get college football box scores as a feed or in a flat file?

September 4, 2009 10:14 AM

Is there an easy (or at least relatively straightforward) way to get all of the college football box scores for a weekend (or more) as a feed or in a flat file (txt, csv, xls, etc.)? I'm running an offline fantasy football league, and I would like to automate the scoring if possible. (Solutions that require scripting or macros would be fine.)
posted by gpen to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

If you don't need live scoring and downloading everything the next day or two is fine, you could get this data direct from the NCAA.
posted by toomuchpete at 11:37 AM on September 4, 2009

Might it be easier to take all your data (fantasy teams, league schedule) and put it online? You could have the web service run scoring as an online league and then relay the results to everyone offline. Don't worry if you have funky rules, because most of the providers have easily customizable and very detailed scoring settings. As commissioner of the league you would be able to have absolute power in making transactions and setting teams, and many sites have options specifically meant to handle offline drafts.

I don't think people would necessarily have to have their own accounts in order to have a team, but it depends on the service provider. I can't recommend a specific one because I haven't done a college FFL.

This might require a significant time investment up front, but it could compare favorably to writing your own scoring program.
posted by kyleg at 1:03 PM on September 4, 2009

Response by poster: @toomuchpete Thanks for the link—that might be exactly what we need.

@kyleg I don't think we can use an existing web service, because we use units (rushing offense, passing offense, etc.) rather than individual players. But I'll look into it, because you're right—that would definitely be easier than writing our own scoring program.
posted by gpen at 2:01 PM on September 10, 2009