Keeping score by hand works, but it ties one person to the dashboard for the whole game. If you already have the score somewhere else, like a camera reading the venue scoreboard, a scoring program that writes a file, or a stat crew, the Data Hub can bring it into ScoreCastr for you. This guide explains the four ways in and which one fits your setup.
Where to find it
The Data Hub opens from the ScoreCastr button at the top of the Scoring tab, next to the sport's heading (for tennis and pickleball, in the corner of the scoring card). It's on the dashboard for football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, ice hockey, field hockey, baseball, softball, tennis and pickleball. MMA and swimming don't have it.
The button opens the ScoreCastr Data Hub window, with these tabs:
- Scoreboard OCR: the webhook (ScoreCastr Server) and the way into the XML File Monitor.
- Google Sheets: connect a spreadsheet.
- Other Sources: the XML File Monitor card.
- StatsCastr: link a StatsCastr game. This tab shows for every sport above except pickleball.
Once something is connected, the button shows it: Active when the webhook or XML feed is on, XML for an XML feed, and Sheets when a spreadsheet is connected.
Which plan you need
The Data Hub is part of the Pro plan ($25/month) and Enterprise. On Free and Starter the button shows a lock and a Pro badge, and clicking it offers an upgrade. See Plans explained.
The four methods compared
| Method | What it brings in | How it updates | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webhook (ScoreCastr Server) | Score, clock, period, game state and team stats | Instantly, each time your app sends an update | Scoreboard OCR and apps that can send web requests |
| XML File Monitor | The same fields, read from an XML file | Local file: checked 20 times a second. Cloud URL: every 1 to 60 seconds (2 by default) | Scoring software that writes an XML file |
| Google Sheets | Team names, venue, records, rosters, player bios and stats, lineups | When you click a sync or push button | Show info and rosters prepared before the game |
| StatsCastr | Player stats from a StatsCastr box score, on the Player Stats graphics | Live, as the stat crew records plays | A stat crew keeping the box score on a phone |
A match has one ScoreCastr Server connection: the webhook or the XML File Monitor, not both. Google Sheets and StatsCastr can run alongside either one. See Use more than one data source.
How to choose
- A camera reads the scoreboard: use the webhook with Scoreboard OCR. See Connect Scoreboard OCR.
- Your scoring program saves an XML file on the same computer: use the XML File Monitor with a local file. It's the fastest option and the right one for running clocks. It needs Chrome, Edge, Brave or Opera. See Read an XML file or URL.
- The XML file lives online: use a cloud URL. It lags by a second or more, so for football, basketball, soccer and ice hockey the setup page suggests a local file instead.
- You built your own tool or script: use the webhook. See Webhook API reference.
- You want team info and rosters without retyping them: use Google Sheets. See Google Sheets.
- A stat crew uses StatsCastr: link it from the StatsCastr tab. See Link StatsCastr.
What live data can change
A webhook or XML feed can update the score, clock, period and the sport's game state and team stats, for example down and distance, fouls and bonus, balls, strikes and outs, sets and games, shots on goal and power plays. Each sport's field list is in its own guide, starting with Webhook field names: football.
Some scorebug flags play on their own when the feed's numbers change. For example, a football score going up by 6 or 3 shows the touchdown or field goal flag, and a timeout count going down shows the timeout flag.
What it can't change
- The sport, the match owner and the ScoreCastr settings. A feed can't overwrite these.
- Which graphics are on air. Putting the scoreboard, lower thirds, lineups and other graphics on and off air stays with the operator, apart from the automatic flags above. See Show and hide graphics.
- The score, from StatsCastr. StatsCastr drives stats graphics only. The score, clock and period stay ScoreCastr's.
- Game state, from Google Sheets. Sheets brings in names, venue, records and player data, never the score or clock.
The dashboard keeps working while a feed is on, so the operator can fix a mistake or handle anything the feed doesn't send.
Checklist
- Pro plan active on the account that owns the match
- Method picked for each kind of data: webhook or XML for the game, Sheets for show info, StatsCastr for player stats
- Feed tested on a practice match before game day
- Someone watching the dashboard during the game to fix misreads
- Feed turned off after the game