Dev.to
7/18/2026

How to Design a Live Scoreboard Without Overloading Your Backend
Short summary
A practical guide to architecting live sports scoreboards without overwhelming your backend. It recommends separating initial state (cacheable via REST) from live state (push via WebSocket/SSE), caching fields at different freshness windows, and handling correction events gracefully. The article ends with promotional links to TheSports data feeds.
- •Separate static fixture data from high-frequency live match state
- •Cache fields at different TTLs based on how often they change
- •Use WebSocket or SSE for push updates instead of client polling
- •Handle correction events since sports data can be updated or canceled
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