I quote from http://developer.espn.com/terms:

  The following default rules apply to all Apps:

  - Branding. All Apps must include an approved ESPN trademark, logo or other 
    intellectual property (each, an "ESPN Mark").

  - Advertising. No advertising or sponsorship of any kind may appear on or be
    associated with any App (unless included in the Content made available by
    ESPN).

  - No Charge. All Apps must be offered free of charge to download or 
    otherwise access and may not contain any in-App purchase features.

  If you are interested in creating a for-profit App, please
  contact us at apipartneropps@espn.com to discuss a 
  potential partnership opportunity. All for-profit Apps 
  must be pre-approved in writing by ESPN (such approval to 
  be granted or withheld in ESPN’s sole discretion). To the
  extent any for-profit Apps are approved in writing by ESPN
  (in its sole discretion), you will be solely responsible 
  for any and all taxes due in connection with the 
  distribution of such App in any territory.

Kind of limits the use cases...

Word on the street is that ESPN has a tendency to listen to an idea, not make the deal, and build it themselves instead. So even going the partnership route is risky...

Doing anything that involves licensing pro sports is pricy, thats why ESPN is the most expensive cable channel by a long shot. They do have to be vultures about their for reasons that are outside their control (for all we know, they're making an uncharacteristically huge margin too, but even if they weren't the restrictions would probably be about the same).

And I highly recommend you consult with a lawyer before scraping for data if you plan to do anything public with it.

In 2009 Fox Sports Net along with ESPN were the only two cable channels with subscriber fees of over $1. Full list: http://allthingsd.com/20100308/hate-paying-for-cable-heres-t...

This is what happens when the lawyers get ahold of a good idea.

Lawyers didn't stamp "Nerds" in 143px font on the front page. Their lawyers are no better than the rookie management/marketing team who made that call.

Ya, that was pretty unimpressive too. Thanks ESPN for helping me relive my highschool name calling! /sarcasm

Can't say I'm shocked by that - reading the book "These Guys Have All The Fun" lead me to believe that ESPN is an jockocracy based on power rather than talent.

Agreed, this API is a good first attempt but there are too many restrictions for me to be interested.

Jefe - you may want to check out sportsdatallc.com. They're working on a simple self serve api for stats that would be very cheap (or even free) if you're not hitting it daily.

We're using them at StarStreet.com and have been really happy with them.

Let me know if you'd like an intro to them, we just split a booth with them at the sloan sports conference and their new stuff is really exciting.

You aren't kidding: http://developer.espn.com/branding

The terms of service are even better, make sure to read the three bullet points in section 3...

So you can't charge for an app and you can't place any ads either (except the ones that come from the API).

But it'll look great in your portfolio!