EIDR Working Group on Sports Best Practices

EIDR has long provided the foundational infrastructure for identifying and managing film and television assets across the global media supply chain. However, as the industry evolves, new content types are presenting unique challenges that our community must address. One such area is sports and live events.

 

With sports increasingly distributed via streaming platforms, it has become evident that the metadata structures historically designed for film and television do not always align with the way sports content is organized, scheduled, or delivered. To address this, EIDR has established a new working group focused on Sports and Live Events, and we invite interested parties to participate.

The Challenge

Traditional entertainment metadata often relies on a well-established hierarchy: Series, Season, Episode, Edit, Clip, and so forth. This structure, however, does not always reflect the realities of sports programming.

 

Consider a typical EPG (electronic program guide) entry that lists only “Miami vs. Los Angeles.” While viewers may intuitively know which sport or league this refers to — whether it’s the NFL, NBA, MLB, or MLS — such sparse information is insufficient for metadata systems that must precisely identify content across diverse platforms and services.

Complexity increases further in the context of large multi-sport events like the Olympics, which occur every four years and differ significantly between Summer and Winter editions. Each event encompasses numerous disciplines, sessions, and feeds that do not fit neatly into a traditional episodic framework.

The same challenges extend to international sports, where multiple leagues operate within a single sport, such as football (soccer) in the United Kingdom and broader international competitions. The distinctions between national leagues, regional tournaments, and international events introduce additional layers of complexity for consistent and accurate identification.

Focus Areas

The EIDR Sports and Live Events working group is currently exploring:

• Mapping sports programming into the existing EIDR data model and identifying any areas requiring enhancement.
• Defining appropriate boundaries for works, such as determining whether a single game should be treated as a Series, Season, or Episode.
• Addressing structural variations across different sports, leagues, and event types.
• Supporting emerging distribution models, including streaming platforms and FAST channels.
• Ensuring metadata enables accurate identification and interoperability across the supply chain.

Join Us

Many EIDR contributors and consumers are already encountering these issues or developing solutions to address them. We encourage sports broadcasters, streaming platforms, sports leagues, and metadata providers to join this working group and contribute their expertise and perspectives.

Please contact EIDR if you are interested in participating. Together, we can ensure that the unique requirements of sports and live events are effectively integrated into industry metadata standards.