[Back to News]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --October 14, 1999
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour-- 517.332.5046

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Oct. 27 - The Michigan High School Athletic Association has entered into an agreement with Michigan Live to provide high school sports fans audio and video of selected championship events via the Internet during the 1999-00 school year.

The MHSAA and Michigan Live have teamed up in recent years to provide live and on-demand audio of the Association's Boys and Girls Basketball Finals. This year, that package expands to include the semifinals in both tournaments, and audio of all eight championship games of the MHSAA Football Playoffs from the Pontiac Silverdome, November 26-27.

On-demand video will also be added this year, with MHSAA Finals in Boys and Girls Soccer and Girls Volleyball available for viewing. Video will be available after games have been aired on the MHSAA Championship Network.

In addition, Michigan Live will also archive video of the new weekly feature show, MHSAA Magazine, which debuts in January.

All of the audio and video can be accessed off the Michigan Live Prep Sports page - www.mlive.com/preps.

"This is just another way to provide exposure for the student-athletes and schools which participate in MHSAA tournaments," said John R. Johnson, communications director for the Association. "We're pleased to expand our package with Michigan Live to put the live audio of more games and on-demand video on the Internet."

"This is a great opportunity for us to give our users what they've been asking for," said Michigan Live Editor-in-Chief John Bebow. "With in-depth stories, forums, chats, rankings, and photo galleries, MLive already offers some of the best high school sports coverage available on the Web. We're very pleased that the MHSAA has chosen us as a webcasting partner. Our many viewers will be pleased, too."

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,300 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments conducted in 12 sports for girls and 12 sports for boys which attract approximately 1.3 million spectators each year.

Michigan Live at www.mlive.com is a comprehensive Web site featuring news and information about Michigan people, places, and things to do. Michigan Live features daily news, sports, entertainment, classifieds, business, travel, health, weather, chat and more. It's available free to anyone with Internet access. Michigan Live is an online division of Advance Publications, owner of 26 newspapers, Conde Nast magazines; Parade, React, and 10 other online services.