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SportsDataverse Table Themes

Saiem Gilani
@saiemgilani @saiemgilani

Source: vignettes/sdv-table-themes.Rmd
sdv-table-themes.Rmd
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sdvplotR puts team logos, headshots and colors inside gt tables. The table around them still needs a look, and two themes are built for that:

Both follow the same rules. Titles and column labels are set in Chivo, and the body in Lato with tabular figures, so digits line up down a column. Column labels keep the case you give them. The one accent is a line under the column labels, so logos and team colors stay the loudest thing in the table.

The data

The final 2025 AFC West standings. nflseedR::nfl_standings() computes them from nflverse’s schedule, read with nflreadr, NFL tiebreakers included, and sdv_teams() adds each team’s full name. The logos come from gt_sdv_logos(), which resolves the abbreviations through sdv_resolve().

nfl_teams <- sdv_teams("nfl")

standings <- nflseedR::nfl_standings(nflreadr::load_schedules(2025), verbosity = "NONE") |>
  subset(division == "AFC West")
standings <- standings[order(standings$div_rank), ]
standings <- data.frame(
  team = standings$team,
  name = nfl_teams$name[match(standings$team, nfl_teams$abbr)],
  w = standings$true_wins,
  l = standings$losses,
  pct = standings$win_pct
)

standings_table <- gt(standings) |>
  gt_sdv_logos(columns = "team", league = "nfl", height = 26) |>
  cols_label(team = "", name = "Team", w = "W", l = "L", pct = "Win pct") |>
  # win percentage without the leading zero, as box scores print it (.647)
  fmt(columns = "pct", fns = function(x) sub("^0", "", sprintf("%.3f", x))) |>
  tab_header("AFC West standings", "2025 regular season") |>
  tab_source_note("Data: nflverse via nflreadr and nflseedR")

The house theme 

standings_table |> gt_theme_sdv()
AFC West standings
2025 regular season
Team W L Win pct
Denver Broncos Denver Broncos 14 3 .824
Los Angeles Chargers Los Angeles Chargers 11 6 .647
Kansas City Chiefs Kansas City Chiefs 6 11 .353
Las Vegas Raiders Las Vegas Raiders 3 14 .176
Data: nflverse via nflreadr and nflseedR

The line under the column labels is the SportsDataverse gradient, the same one in the package logo. It is the only decoration, drawn once across the whole table rather than per cell.

Dark

style = "dark" sets the same table on the SportsDataverse navy. It matches the dark mode of this site, and suits posts that sit on a dark background.

standings_table |> gt_theme_sdv(style = "dark")
AFC West standings
2025 regular season
Team W L Win pct
Denver Broncos Denver Broncos 14 3 .824
Los Angeles Chargers Los Angeles Chargers 11 6 .647
Kansas City Chiefs Kansas City Chiefs 6 11 .353
Las Vegas Raiders Las Vegas Raiders 3 14 .176
Data: nflverse via nflreadr and nflseedR

A team’s colors

gt_theme_sdv_team() takes a team and a sport. It uses the colors sdv_team_colors() returns: the title block is filled with the primary color, the line under the labels uses the secondary color, and the labels are set in the primary color. Any abbreviation, alias or full name sdv_resolve() accepts works as team. Here the division winner’s yardage leaders, from nflverse’s season player stats, wear the winner’s colors.

winner <- standings$team[1]
players <- nflreadr::load_player_stats(2025, summary_level = "reg")
players <- players[players$recent_team == winner, ]

leader <- function(stat, label) {
  top <- players[which.max(players[[stat]]), ]
  data.frame(player = top$player_display_name, stat = label, yards = top[[stat]])
}

rbind(
  leader("passing_yards", "Passing"),
  leader("receiving_yards", "Receiving"),
  leader("rushing_yards", "Rushing")
) |>
  gt() |>
  cols_label(player = "Player", stat = "", yards = "Yards") |>
  fmt_number(columns = "yards", decimals = 0) |>
  tab_header(
    paste(nfl_teams$short_name[nfl_teams$abbr == winner], "yardage leaders"),
    "2025 regular season"
  ) |>
  gt_theme_sdv_team(team = winner, league = "nfl")
Broncos yardage leaders
2025 regular season
Player Yards
Bo Nix Passing 3,931
Courtland Sutton Receiving 1,017
J.K. Dobbins Rushing 772

Colors that would not read

Team colors are chosen for jerseys, not for text on a white table, so the theme checks contrast rather than using the colors as they come:

  • Title text on the filled block is black or white, whichever contrasts more with the primary color.
  • A secondary color too pale to see on white (Duke’s is white) gives way to the primary color for the line.
  • A primary color too light to read as text (the Saints’ gold) gives way to the SportsDataverse navy for the column labels.

Each table below shows the team’s own colors as sdv_team_colors() returns them, dressed in those colors.

color_record <- function(league, team) {
  data.frame(
    team = team,
    primary = unname(sdv_team_colors(league, team, "primary")),
    secondary = unname(sdv_team_colors(league, team, "secondary"))
  )
}

color_record("mbb", "DUKE") |>
  gt() |>
  tab_header("Duke Blue Devils", "A white secondary: the line takes the primary") |>
  gt_theme_sdv_team(team = "DUKE", league = "mbb")
Duke Blue Devils
A white secondary: the line takes the primary
team primary secondary
DUKE #00539b #ffffff 

color_record("nfl", "NO") |>
  gt() |>
  tab_header("New Orleans Saints", "A gold primary: the labels go navy") |>
  gt_theme_sdv_team(team = "NO", league = "nfl")
New Orleans Saints
A gold primary: the labels go navy
team primary secondary
NO #d3bc8d #000000

With team = NULL the table wears the SportsDataverse navy and cyan.

Sizing for where it goes

Every theme takes density. "comfortable" is the default, "compact" tightens type and row padding for long tables, and "social" scales both up to the size gt_save_crop() and gt_social_crop() export at.

standings_table |> gt_theme_sdv(density = "compact")
AFC West standings
2025 regular season
Team W L Win pct
Denver Broncos Denver Broncos 14 3 .824
Los Angeles Chargers Los Angeles Chargers 11 6 .647
Kansas City Chiefs Kansas City Chiefs 6 11 .353
Las Vegas Raiders Las Vegas Raiders 3 14 .176
Data: nflverse via nflreadr and nflseedR

Changing one thing

Anything in ... goes to gt::tab_options() after the theme’s own options, so it overrides them. Center the heading and keep everything else:

standings_table |> gt_theme_sdv(heading.align = "center")
AFC West standings
2025 regular season
Team W L Win pct
Denver Broncos Denver Broncos 14 3 .824
Los Angeles Chargers Los Angeles Chargers 11 6 .647
Kansas City Chiefs Kansas City Chiefs 6 11 .353
Las Vegas Raiders Las Vegas Raiders 3 14 .176
Data: nflverse via nflreadr and nflseedR

Saving an image

theme_bg records the background each theme paints. Pass it to gt_save_crop() so the padding around the saved image matches the table instead of framing it in white. Saving drives a headless Chrome through webshot2, so this chunk is not run here.

bg <- theme_bg$bg[theme_bg$theme == "gt_theme_sdv" & theme_bg$has_style == "dark"]

standings_table |>
  gt_theme_sdv(style = "dark", density = "social") |>
  gt_save_crop("afc-west.png", bg = bg)

To see these next to every other theme that needs only the table, on your own data, run gt_theme_preview(standings).

Our Authors

Citation

To cite the sdvplotR R package in publications, use:

BibTeX Citation

@misc{gilani_carl_lee_kay_weatherman_sdvplotR,
  author = {Gilani, Saiem and Carl, Sebastian and Lee, Jared and Kay, Camden and Weatherman, Andrew},
  title = {sdvplotR: The SportsDataverse's R Package for Multi-League Sports Plotting.},
  url = {https://sdvplotR.sportsdataverse.org},
  year = {2026}
}