Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a more detailed set up guide?

Danny at Smart Home Pursuits has written a great guide providing step-by-step instructions for setting up a TeamTracker sensor including how to pull in information on upcoming games beyond what is available via the ESPN API from Google Calendar.

And here's another one by SHS at Smart Home Scenes. It goes into more detail on Custom API Configurations and how to exclude your sensors from the Recorder to keep your database size under control.

Will you add support for my favorite soccer team/league?

Chances are it is already supported, just not natively. ESPN has APIs for hundreds of soccer leagues. I have chosen to support only the top leagues natively. The rest can be added using a Custom API Configuration. There are just too many leagues. Their abbreviations vary by language and they overlap with each other as well as league abbreviations in other sports. Including the top leagues natively and allowing anyone to add whatever other ones they want to via a configuration seemed like the best way to handle all of the variations.

What about cricket?

Cricket is supported, however due to the way the ESPN API behaves, there are meaningful differences from most other sports:

• League IDs can change from one year to another and so you will likely need to set up a new sensor each year.
• Just because a league ID works on https://www.espncricinfo.com/ does not mean ESPN has an API to support it.
• The ESPN API for cricket does not allow multiple days to be requested at once, therefore games will show up as NOT_FOUND until less than 24 hours before they start. If ESPN ever supports multiple dates in a single call, the sensor will automatically pull them in. DO NOT REPORT A DEFECT OR ASSUME YOU SET THE SENSOR UP INCORRECTLY UNLESS https://www.espncricinfo.com/ SHOWS THE GAME IN PROGRESS AND YOU ARE STILL GETTING NOT_FOUND.
• Like soccer, teams can play in multiple "leagues" and a sensor will need to be set up for each one of them to track all of the games. *Due to the ever-changing nature of the league IDs, there is no native support for any cricket leagues. You have to set up a Custom API Configuration.

For more information and an example, see this Wiki entry specific to cricket.

My team plays in multiple leagues, is there a way to set up a single sensor for all of their games?

No.

For some sports - soccer is one of them - teams play in multiples leagues. For example, Barcalona plays in La Liga, the Champions League, and friendlies. Cricket is another example. You have to set up a separate sensor for each league.

You can use a combination of the Vertical Stack and Conditional Cards to only display cards that have a state of PRE, IN, or POST. This will prevent your Dashboard from being filled up with a bunch of NOT_FOUND cards.

See Using Conditional Cards to Hide NOT_FOUND Status in the Wiki for an example.

Why is the state of the sensor NOT_FOUND?

See the NOT_FOUND Troubleshooting section of the Wiki

Why is the state of the sensor unavailable?

See the unavailable Troubleshooting section of the Wiki

Does the sensor support sports such as rugby and water polo?

It should, but I haven't tested them to confirm.

The integration should support all sports supported by the ESPN scoreboard APIs. As long as an ESPN API exists, it should be possible to set up a Custom API configuration to call it. If so, please update the Custom API Configuration portion of the Wiki with the information.

There may be sport-specific variances that cause it to fail. If you run into problems, please report them in the Issues section.

Does the sensor support sports such as tennis, golf, MMA, racing, etc?

Yes. This sensor should support all sports supported by the ESPN scoreboard APIs, even those with multiple competitors or multiple competitions in a single event.

There may be sport-specific variances that cause it to fail. If you run into problems, please report them in the Issues section.

Why is my homeassistant_v2.db file growing since I started using the teamtracker integration?

By default, Home Assistant saves the prior states of sensors for 10 days. Because the team_tracker sensor updates every 10 seconds while a game in going on, all of these updates are saved. This can cause the database to grow significantly.

See the section on Turninng Off the Recorder to change the default functionality.

Can I use the TeamTracker sensor and card to display league standings?

No, however you it is relatively easy to create a REST sensor to pull the league standings and use the flex-table-card to display the standing on your dashboard. See this Wiki entry for details on how to set up the sensor and this Wiki entry for details on how to use the flex-table-card to display it on your dashboard.

Where can I go if I need help?

This thread on the Home Assistant Community Forums has a number of people who can help you if you have questions. I check in pretty regularly.

I am also on r/homeassistant on Reddit and a member of the Home Assistant group on Facebook. If there is a defect, open an issue. For other questions or suggestions, you can start a discussion and I will eventually see it, but the other places have a better chance of getting additional eyes on it and a quicker response.