Building an NBA Game Day Notification System with AWS Lambda, SNS & EventBridge

🏀 NBA Game Day Notification System

This project is an AWS Lambda-powered notification system that sends NBA game updates via Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service). It fetches game details from SportsData.io and notifies subscribed users via email. The function runs on a scheduled Amazon EventBridge rule.

Features

• Fetches NBA game data from SportsData.io API
• Sends real-time updates on game status, scores, and channels
• Uses AWS Lambda, SNS, and EventBridge for automation
• Supports multiple game statuses: Final, In Progress, and Scheduled

Prerequisites

Before deploying, ensure you have:

• AWS Account with Lambda, SNS, and EventBridge permissions
• SportsData.io API Key (Create a free API key here)
• Email Subscription to the SNS topic

Setup Instructions

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1️⃣ Create an SNS Topic

• Open AWS SNS and create a new topic named gd_topic.
• Subscribe an email address to this topic and confirm the email subscription.

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2️⃣ Create an IAM Role for Lambda

• Open IAM → Roles → Create Role.
• Select AWS Service → Lambda.
• Attach the AmazonSNSFullAccess policy.
• Create a custom JSON policy with the following:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "sns:Publish",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:XXXXXXXXXXXX:gd_topic"
    }
  ]
}

Replace XXXXXXXXXXXX with your AWS Account ID.

• Name the role gd_lambda_role and attach it to your Lambda function.

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3️⃣ Deploy the AWS Lambda Function

• Navigate to AWS Lambda → Create Function → Author from Scratch.
• Function Name: gd_notification
• Runtime: Python 3.13
• Attach gd_lambda_role to the function.
• Paste the following Python script into the function editor:

import os
import json
import urllib.request
import boto3
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone

# Function to format NBA game data
def format_game_data(game):
    status = game.get("Status", "Unknown")
    away_team = game.get("AwayTeam", "Unknown")
    home_team = game.get("HomeTeam", "Unknown")
    final_score = f"{game.get('AwayTeamScore', 'N/A')}-{game.get('HomeTeamScore', 'N/A')}"
    start_time = game.get("DateTime", "Unknown")
    channel = game.get("Channel", "Unknown")

    if status == "Final":
        return f"Game Status: {status}\n{away_team} vs {home_team}\nFinal Score: {final_score}\nStart Time: {start_time}\nChannel: {channel}\n"
    elif status == "InProgress":
        return f"Game Status: {status}\n{away_team} vs {home_team}\nCurrent Score: {final_score}\nChannel: {channel}\n"
    elif status == "Scheduled":
        return f"Game Status: {status}\n{away_team} vs {home_team}\nStart Time: {start_time}\nChannel: {channel}\n"
    else:
        return f"Game Status: {status}\n{away_team} vs {home_team}\nDetails are unavailable.\n"

# Lambda function handler
def lambda_handler(event, context):
    api_key = os.getenv("NBA_API_KEY")
    sns_topic_arn = os.getenv("SNS_TOPIC_ARN")
    sns_client = boto3.client("sns")

    utc_now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
    today_date = (utc_now - timedelta(hours=6)).strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
    api_url = f"https://api.sportsdata.io/v3/nba/scores/json/GamesByDate/{today_date}?key={api_key}"

    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(api_url) as response:
            data = json.loads(response.read().decode())
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error fetching data: {e}")
        return {"statusCode": 500, "body": "Error fetching data"}

    messages = [format_game_data(game) for game in data]
    final_message = "\n---\n".join(messages) if messages else "No games available for today."

    try:
        sns_client.publish(TopicArn=sns_topic_arn, Message=final_message, Subject="NBA Game Updates")
        print("Message published to SNS successfully.")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error publishing to SNS: {e}")
        return {"statusCode": 500, "body": "Error publishing to SNS"}

    return {"statusCode": 200, "body": "Data processed and sent to SNS"}

• Click Deploy.

• Add Environment Variables:

  • NBA_API_KEY: Your SportsData.io API Key
  • SNS_TOPIC_ARN: ARN of your SNS Topic (e.g., arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:XXXXXXXXXXXX:gd_topic)

• Increase timeout under General Configuration to 5 seconds or more.

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4️⃣ Test the Lambda Function

• Click Test, create a test event, and run it.
• Check your email inbox for an NBA game update notification!

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5️⃣ Automate with AWS EventBridge

• Open Amazon EventBridge → Create Rule
• Rule Name: gd_rule
• Schedule Pattern:

  0 9-23/2,0-2/2 * * ? *

(Runs every 2 hours from 9 AM - 11 PM UTC and 12 AM - 2 AM UTC)

• Target: AWS Lambda → NBA-GameDay-Notifier
• Click Create Rule.

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Email Notification

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Summary

• AWS SNS sends game notifications to subscribed emails.
• AWS Lambda fetches NBA data and publishes updates.
• Amazon EventBridge schedules function execution.