Getting started

Before your first request, you will need an API key. Send it in the x-rapidapi-key header with every request.

Your first request

NFL and NCAAF data comes with two subscriptions. An NFL & NCAAF API subscription covers the NFL and college football alone. An All Sports API subscription covers them and all other sports. Both are available on Highlightly and on RapidAPI, as the NFL & NCAAF API and the All Sports API.

Once you have a key, look up a team. The request below uses the NFL & NCAAF API base URL on Highlightly.

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://american-football.highlightly.net/teams?name=Bengals&displayName=Cincinnati%20Bengals' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  name: 'Bengals',
  displayName: 'Cincinnati Bengals'
})
const response = await fetch(`https://american-football.highlightly.net/teams?${params}`, {
  headers: {
    'x-rapidapi-key': process.env.HIGHLIGHTLY_API_KEY
  }
})

if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Highlightly responded ${response.status}`)
}

const data = await response.json()

import os
import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://american-football.highlightly.net/teams',
    params={
        'name': 'Bengals',
        'displayName': 'Cincinnati Bengals',
    },
    headers={
        'x-rapidapi-key': os.environ['HIGHLIGHTLY_API_KEY'],
    },
    timeout=10,
)

response.raise_for_status()
data = response.json()

With an All Sports API subscription, send the same request to https://sports.highlightly.net/american-football/teams. On Highlightly your API key stays the same and only the base URL changes. Through RapidAPI, use the key, base URL and x-rapidapi-host value for your All Sports API subscription, listed in Authentication.

If the request returns data, you are set up correctly. A 403 means the x-rapidapi-key header is missing. A 401 means the key was not accepted, so check it against the key in your account. On RapidAPI, use the API key issued for the NFL & NCAAF API.

Finding your way around

Under Endpoints each resource lists its own operations. Every endpoint page carries its parameters, a request in three languages, and the full response shape with nested objects expanded in place.

Finding a team

Teams can be filtered by name, displayName or abbreviation, such as CIN, so you can check whether a team exists without knowing its id. Matches and highlights accept the same forms for each side, such as homeTeamAbbreviation.

The league filter separates professional from college, which matters because this API covers the NFL and NCAA FBS through the same endpoints. See teams.

OpenAPI specification

Import the OpenAPI 3.0 document into Postman or Insomnia, or generate a client from it.