About SDX

SDX was born from a shared obsession with solving customer problems. The lack of data standards in sports doesn't just affect our customers, it's a systemic industry failure that inhibits progress for everyone. We believe SDX is more than a product; it's a responsibility for anyone who chooses to create a solution.

SDX Project Partners

SportsDataIO has 20 years building one of the most trusted sports data platforms in North America while Enetpulse has spent 25 years doing the same across Europe and the rest of the world. Together we are uniquely capable, and willing, to bring needed change for all of us.

Multi-API Workflows

Every data provider uses a different internal ID system. Without a shared standard, teams spend months building and maintaining fragmented mapping tables just to connect records across sources. SDX solves this with a single universal ID layer that all providers can map to.

Without SDX

With SDX

How SDX Fits Together

SDX entity hierarchy: Sports, Competitions, Events, Participants, Venues, and People

Media Events vs Competitive Events: how fans consume sports mapped to the underlying competitive structure

30Sports

1,500Leagues

650KGames

750KPlayers

50KTeams

10KVenues

Competitions are the required structural container. Every Event must belong to at least one Competition.
Events are the atomic unit — the smallest contest that produces a distinct result.
Teams & Persons participate in Events. In individual sports (golf, tennis), Persons compete directly.
Venues are the physical locations where Events take place.

Competition

A Competition is the required structural container for all Events within SDX. Every event must belong to a competition to ensure full discoverability. A standard competition will have its own identity and continuity, its own definitive outcome, own participant pool, independent governance, and a regular cadence.

FIVE CRITERIA FOR A STANDARD COMPETITION

Own identity & continuity
Has a recognized name, brand, and history that persists across editions. Participants and stakeholders refer to it as a distinct thing.
Own definitive outcome
Produces its own champion, winner, or conclusive result independent of any other competition.
Own participant pool
Has a defined set of eligible participants that is determined by its own rules, not wholly inherited from another competition.
Independent governance
Governed by an identifiable body that sets its rules, format, and calendar.
Regular cadence
Recurs on a predictable schedule (annual, biennial, quadrennial, etc.).

COMPETITION TYPES

League Season-long, points-basedCup Knockout or hybrid formatTournament Discrete bracketed eventTour Unified series with cumulative rankingExhibition/Friendly Non-competitive or informal events

EXHIBITION / FRIENDLY COMPETITIONS

When events do not belong to a standard competition, they are assigned to an Exhibition/Friendly competition. These containers may not meet all five criteria but provide the structural home required for event discoverability. They fall into two patterns:

Recurring — A persistent container for an ongoing stream of events that share a common category but lack formal competition structure. Events are added continuously as they occur (e.g., international friendlies, non-title boxing bouts).
One-off — An individual container for a single event or irregular occurrence with no established recurrence pattern. If the event begins recurring, it may persist under its own name or be absorbed into a broader recurring container (e.g., charity matches, standalone exhibitions).

CONSISTENCY PRINCIPLES

Four principles govern how ambiguous cases are resolved — specifically, what gets its own Competition versus what lives within an existing one.

Tour Principle
Same participants + unified ranking system = one competition. Individual tour stops are events, not separate competitions.
Applies to: ATP Tour, PGA Tour, F1 World Championship, BWF World Tour, UCI WorldTour
Aggregation Principle
Same governing body + same teams + same season = one competition. Preseason, all-star games, and in-season tournaments live within the parent competition, not as separate competitions.
Applies to: NFL (+ Preseason + Pro Bowl), NBA (+ All-Star + Summer League), MLB (+ Spring Training + All-Star)
Tiered Competition Principle
Qualification tiers feeding the same outcome = phases of one competition.
Applies to: Davis Cup World Groups feeding Davis Cup Finals, Billie Jean King Cup tiers
Attribute Principle
Subdivisions that describe team characteristics, not competition boundaries = team attribute, not competition split.
Applies to: NCAA Football D1 (FBS/FCS is a team attribute)

COMPETITION RELATIONSHIPS

SDX only encodes relationships where Competition A cannot exist without Competition B. If A's entire reason for existing is defined by B, the relationship is recorded. If both can exist independently, no relationship is needed.

A → qualification_for → B
Competition A exists primarily as a pathway to determine entrants into Competition B. Without B, A has no reason to exist.
Examples: World Cup Qualifying → World Cup, FA Cup Qualifying → FA Cup, Bundesliga Relegation Playoff → Bundesliga
A → super_cup_of → B
Competition A is a super cup whose participants are entirely determined by the outcomes of Competition B. Without B, A's format is undefined.
Examples: Community Shield → super_cup_of → Premier League, UEFA Super Cup → super_cup_of → Champions League
A → development_league_of → B
Competition A is an official development league whose club structure is defined by affiliation with Competition B's franchises. Without B, A's clubs would not exist.
Examples: NBA G-League → NBA, MLS NEXT Pro → MLS, MiLB → MLB, ECHL → NHL

EXAMPLES

LeagueNFL
A season-long league with its own identity, champion, participant pool, governance (NFL Office), and annual cadence. Preseason, Pro Bowl, and in-season events live as phases within the NFL competition.
TournamentFIFA World Cup
A quadrennial tournament with its own identity, champion, qualification-based participant pool, FIFA governance, and regular cadence. Each edition is a discrete bracketed event producing a definitive winner.
TourPGA Tour
A unified series with cumulative ranking. Per the Tour Principle: same participants + unified ranking system = one competition. Individual tour stops (The Masters, The Open) are events, not separate competitions.

Event

An Event is the atomic unit of SDX. It is the smallest discrete contest that produces its own distinct result. Every match, game, bout, race, or session that resolves to a definitive outcome (a winner, final score, classification, etc.) is an Event.

Events live within Competitions and may belong to one or more CompetitionPhaseTemplates. The event is the anchor point — teams and persons participate in events, venues host events, and competitions organize events into meaningful structures.

Core principle: Event-first. The event is the atomic unit. Every match, bout, or race is an event. Competitions provide structure above events to organize them into meaningful containers.

EXAMPLES

Team SportChiefs vs. Bills — AFC Championship
A single NFL playoff game. One discrete contest, one definitive outcome. This event lives within the NFL competition under the 2024 season — Postseason — Conference Championship phase.
Individual SportDjokovic vs. Alcaraz — Wimbledon Final
A single tennis match within the Grand Slam competition. The match resolves to a winner and is the atomic unit — the tournament bracket is the phase structure above it.
ExhibitionUSA vs. Mexico — International Friendly
A standalone match that doesn't belong to a standard competition. This event is housed within the International Friendlies (Exhibition/Friendly) competition for discoverability.

Media Event

Media Events provide abstraction between competitive events and how fans think about and consume sports. For example, UFC 229 is a single Media Event that contains multiple Competitive Events: Nurmagomedov vs McGregor, Tony Ferguson vs Pettis, Reyes vs Saint Preux, Lewis vs Volkov, and Waterson vs Herrig.

Team

A Team is a sporting entity that competes as a collective unit in Events. Teams are the on-field/on-court/on-ice participants in team-based competitions. A Team may be a club (Liverpool FC), a franchise (Los Angeles Lakers), a national team (Team USA men's hockey team), or a constructed roster (Europe Ryder Cup Team).

Some teams are perpetual institutions with continuous rosters while others are assembled for a single competition cycle.

EXAMPLES

FranchiseDallas Cowboys
A perpetual NFL franchise. The team entity persists year over year with a continuous identity, even as rosters, coaches, and ownership change. Participates in events within the NFL competition.
National TeamTeam USA Men's Hockey
A national team assembled for specific competition cycles (Olympics, IIHF World Championship). The team entity persists across editions, but the roster is constructed fresh each time.
Constructed RosterEurope Ryder Cup Team
A team constructed for a single competition cycle. Players are selected specifically for this event — the team entity exists within the Ryder Cup competition context.

Person

A Person is an individual with a role in the sports ecosystem. A Person may be an athlete, agent, coach, executive, broadcaster, official/referee, or any other individual relevant to SDX.

Persons can hold multiple roles simultaneously or over time — former athletes may become coaches, broadcasters, agents, etc. In individual sports, such as golf and tennis, persons are participants within an Event.

EXAMPLES

Multi-RoleTom Brady
One Person, one SDX ID — spanning multiple roles over time. Player (NFL), broadcaster (Fox Sports), and minority owner (Las Vegas Raiders). SDX tracks the person across all roles without duplication.
Individual AthleteScottie Scheffler
In individual sports like golf, the Person is a direct participant on Events. Scheffler competes in PGA Tour events — no team intermediary. The Person entity connects directly to the Event.
CoachPep Guardiola
A Person in a coaching role. Linked to teams (Manchester City) and competitions (Premier League, Champions League) through that role. If he later moves to broadcasting, the same Person entity gains a new role.

Venue

A Venue is a specific physical structure or location where Events take place. It may be a stadium, arena, course, circuit, track, complex, or defined route.

EXAMPLES

StadiumLincoln Financial Field
A traditional stadium venue. Home of the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL). Events held here are linked to this venue entity — regardless of which competition they belong to.
CircuitSuzuka Circuit
A motorsport venue. Hosts Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix events, MotoGP events, and others. The circuit is a single venue entity that connects to events across multiple competitions.
Defined RouteBoston Marathon Route
A venue doesn't have to be an enclosed structure. The 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Copley Square is a defined route — a venue in SDX just like any stadium or arena.