Connect High School Sports

Know the three connections

News Desk has three credentialed feed systems. They solve different jobs and their tokens are not interchangeable.

• High School Sports private API — a minted highschoolsports.org base URL with a 64-character path token. It supplies scoreboard and standings data. Configure it under Coverage → Integrations.
• Inbound content integrations — a named News Desk endpoint URL plus a Bearer secret for an outside system that creates or updates posts. Configure it under Settings → Integrations.
• Score datasets — a per-dataset agent URL plus token for complete score-file feeds. Configure it under Coverage → Scores.

Before you begin

• ✓ A High School Sports administrator has minted the private API URL for WNY Athletics.
• ✓ The URL begins with the approved highschoolsports.org API path and includes the path token.
• ✓ You know the default geography path for coverage — WNY Athletics currently uses the New York / NYSPHSAA / Section 6 path.
• ✓ You are signed in as a News Desk editor or admin.
• ✓ You have a secure place to record the original credential in case it must be reissued. News Desk will not show the token again.

Save and test High School Sports

1. Open Coverage → Integrations

   The page is titled High School Sports private API. Do not use Settings → Integrations for this connection.

2. Paste the complete Minted API URL

   Paste the base URL exactly as supplied. The token is extracted and stored as a secret; later reads show only the origin and whether a token is configured.

3. Confirm the Default geo prefix

   Use the path that matches the territory. A sport may override it later when its HSS data lives under a different path.

4. Set Cache TTL

   TTL is the number of seconds a successful feed response may be reused. The default screen value is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

5. Choose Save connection

   The URL field clears after saving. A configured message shows the origin, not the token.

6. Choose Test connection

   News Desk makes one representative request and returns a redacted success or error. The token is never included in the message.

1 2 3 4

1. 1

   Paste the complete minted base URL here; it is blank after save.

2. 2

   Default geo prefix scopes coverage to the intended territory.

3. 3

   Cache TTL balances freshness against repeated HSS requests.

4. 4

   Save, test, or deliberately clear the private URL.

Add sports to the correct catalogs

Saving the connection does not publish any sport by itself. Scoreboard and Standings maintain separate catalogs because they present different information.

1. Open Scoreboard catalog

   Add the sports that should be selectable on /scoreboard. Choose HSS API for feed-backed sports and Manual for sports managed entirely by staff.

2. Open Standings catalog

   Add each sport and choose HSS API, Manual, or Hybrid. Select the public league/division/class views and a default view.

3. Publish deliberately

   Only published catalog rows appear to readers. Finish the setup and refresh once before switching a sport on.

4. Check the public pages

   Open /scoreboard and /standings. Confirm sport filters, groupings, dates, and last known data.

Rotate or clear the connection

Paste a newly minted URL and Save connection to rotate the credential. The old URL should be revoked at its source. Clear URL disables HSS-backed fetches; it does not delete manual scoreboard games or manual standings tables.

Set up an inbound article integration

Use Settings → Integrations only when an outside system needs to create or update News Desk posts. An admin gives the integration a label and optional default staff author/persona. News Desk creates an endpoint URL and a separate Bearer secret.

1. Create the named integration

   Choose a label that names the sender, such as High School Sports Articles. Set a default author or persona only when the sender should use it when no author is supplied.

2. Copy both values immediately

   The endpoint URL contains a path token. The Bearer secret is shown once. Give both to the integration owner through the approved secure channel.

3. Test discovery before posting

   The sender should call the endpoint with its Bearer secret, then read the authors and tags catalogs before sending posts.

4. Keep external IDs stable

   The sender’s external ID lets the same item update instead of creating duplicates.

5. Rotate one credential at a time

   Rotating the endpoint token changes the URL and makes old URLs return not found. Rotating the secret keeps the URL and makes old secrets unauthorized.

Frequently asked questions