Tune In for Spring Tournament Coverage

May 21, 2019

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

The first three weekends of June will wrap up another school year of MHSAA Tournament action with live audio and video streams on MHSAA.tv and MHSAANetwork.com.
 
Finals coverage begins June 1 at 10 a.m. (EDT), with live streaming video from the Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula Track & Field Finals on MHSAA.tv. The following Saturday – June 8 – Lacrosse takes center stage, with audio streaming on MHSAANetwork.com joining the video streaming of the Boys & Girls Finals at Howell and Novi.
 
The third weekend features 28 games over three days in three sports. Audio and video streams of the Baseball and Softball Semifinals and Finals take place June 13-15, with four games each day. The Girls Soccer Finals also will have live audio and video June 14-15, with two games each day. All of the action will originate from Old College Field at Michigan State University.
 
All can be viewe
d on MHSAA.tv by purchasing a Month Pass for just $9.95. One subscription allows for three logons and is also good for watching other live high school events on the NFHS Network. The audio streams on MHSAANetwork.com are free. Instant downloads of audio and video files are available on the respective websites.
 
Select tournament games in Lacrosse and Soccer also will be available from MHSAA members participating in the School Broadcast Program.
 

Here is the schedule for Spring sporting events to be streamed live on MHSAA.tv for May 21-24:

Tuesday - May 21
Softball - Mattawan at Stevensville Lakeshore  - 3:52 PM
Boys Lacrosse Regional - Flint Powers v. Bay City Western  - 5 PM
JV Girls Soccer – Temperance Bedford at Saline  - 5:30 PM
Girls Soccer – Temperance Bedford at Saline  - 7 PM
Boys Lacrosse Regional - Pontiac Notre Dame Prep v. B. Hills Cranbrook Kingswood  - 7 PM
Girls Regional Lacrosse – Lake Orion at White Lake Lakeland – 7 PM
 
Wednesday - May 22
Baseball - Houghton at Negaunee  - 4 PM
Girls Soccer District – Wyandotte Roosevelt at Woodhaven  - 5 PM
Girls Lacrosse Regional - Royal Oak v. B. Hills Cranbrook Kingswood  - 5 PM
Boys Lacrosse Regional - Livonia Stevenson at Novi  - 6 PM
Boys Lacrosse – Detroit Cass Tech at St. Clair Shores Lake Shore  - 6 PM
Girls Soccer District - Clinton at Manchester  - 7 PM
Girls Lacrosse Regional - Vicksburg at E. Grand Rapids  - 7 PM
Girls Soccer District – Walled Lake Northern at White Lake Lakeland  - 7 PM
Girls Lacrosse Regional - Rochester Hills Stoney Creek v. Warren Regina - 7 PM
 
Thursday - May 23
Softball - Hancock at Negaunee  - 4 PM
Girls Soccer District – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern at Cedar Springs  - 6 PM
 
Friday - May 24
Softball - Portage Central at Stevensville Lakeshore  - 3:55 PM
Girls Soccer District – Battle Creek Pennfield at Plainwell  - 5:45 PM

In its 10th year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Pixellot – the NFHS Network’s automated streaming solution – is used by schools wishing to live stream games but lacking the ability to staff events. The SBP also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
 
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 a month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown 
live. School Broadcast Program participants also are selling Season and Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program. 
 
A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.

MHSAA.tv Live Postseason Views Approach 1 Million for 2020-21

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

July 14, 2021

Live postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv during the 2020-21 school year were viewed nearly 1 million times, with 15 events drawing more than 10,000 live views apiece. 

The final championship weekend of the Spring – featuring Girls Soccer Finals and Baseball and Softball Semifinals & Finals, all across four divisions June 17-19 at Michigan State University – saw nearly 70,000 live views on MHSAA.tv despite record attendance of those events at Old College Field. 

The Division 2 Softball championship game – which ended with Owosso claiming its first Finals title in any sport, drew a weekend-high 5,677 live views on the network. The previous weekend, the Division 1 Girls Lacrosse Final won by Rockford on June 12 led the way with 4,284 live views.

The total number of live postseason views on MHSAA.tv for 2020-21 was 962,371. The most-viewed live tournament events were the Individual and Team Wrestling Finals, which with all rounds over all four divisions combined drew 244,044 live views. Among individual games broadcast solely by MHSAA.tv, the Division 3 Boys Basketball Semifinal matching Iron Mountain and Schoolcraft (15,393 live views) and the Division 1 Volleyball Semifinal featuring Novi and Lowell (13,484) ranked among the most watched.

MHSAA.tv is a partner of the NFHS Network. Postseason events streamed on MHSAA.tv included most sports’ Finals, and Semifinals and Quarterfinals for some – especially sports where multiple concluding rounds were hosted by the same tournament site.

MHSAA.tv also ranked second among NFHS Network contributing states with 18,973 live events (postseason and regular-season combined) streamed during the 2020-21 school year. That total of nearly 19,000 live postseason events was an increase from 7,710 events streamed live during 2019-20 and 3,900 during 2018-19, and placed Michigan behind only Illinois.

The School Broadcast Program is responsible for nearly all production of regular-season events. Having now concluded its 13th year, the SBP gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Rockford – one of the state’s largest schools with nearly 2,500 students – broadcast 242 events, drawing an SBP-high 74,437 live views and 89,604 total with on-demand replays included. Much smaller Pewamo-Westphalia, a school of 300 students, received the second-most views of SBP members in 2020-21 with 56,009 including live and on-demand. Marquette, Lake Orion, Cedar Springs, Montrose and McBain also were among top SBP providers.

In addition to bringing local events on air nationally, the School Broadcast Program gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions. NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers receive access to all live and on-demand video from across the country. School Broadcast Program participants receive a portion of every subscription sold by a school to benefit its program.

Broadcasts from the majority of Michigan schools – especially those lacking the ability to staff events for production – are streamed using a Pixellot automated camera. Michigan schools have 774 Pixellots in service, third-most in the country behind only Texas and California. Most Michigan schools have one camera at an outdoor stadium and a second at the main indoor gymnasium.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.