ESPN Launches ESPN Development Center

ESPN has launched the ESPN Developer Center (http://developer.espn.com/), a website that offers software engineers and developers the opportunity to join the company’s API (application programming interface) Program, which provides access to ESPN content and data for the purpose of creating new web and mobile apps for sports fans.

As part of the launch, ESPN made available to the public its Headlines API, which allows independent developers to tap into hundreds of ESPN’s unique daily news stories covering dozens of sports and hundreds of athletes and teams every day. Developers seeking access to an ESPN API can now go to the ESPN Developer Center and request a developer key.

“The ESPN Developer Center allows us to scale more quickly and to reach more fans in new ways with the ESPN content they want,” said Jason Guenther, vice president of ESPN Digital Media Technology. “Making ESPN APIs available to innovative partners and independent developers helps ensure that we remain nimble, efficient, and creative in our own product development, which translates to more and better ESPN products for fans.”

ESPN’s new APIs are already part of mobile applications developed by leading news aggregators Pulse andFlipboard, as well as Foursquare’s location-based social networking app.

ESPN’s Headlines API can be used to create apps for delivering ESPN stories to any smartphone or tablet, finding content related to an ESPN article, creating a Top Stories summary, and more.

Other APIs available at the ESPN Developer Center include a Research Notes API, which gives strategic partners access to ESPN’s vast archive of exclusive sports facts and figures compiled by the ESPN Stats and Information Group. An additional set of data are available to select partners in a private beta, including a Scores and Schedules API that provides start times, venues, competitors, scores and stats across every major sport, as well as APIs that offer standings, team, and athlete information.

ESPN will showcase its APIs and other digital media technology projects later this week at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.