Fall Live Streams Return to MHSAA TV
August 23, 2018
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
The MHSAA Network gets started for the 2018-19 school year this week, with live streaming football on MHSAA.tv.
The MHSAA.tv Website starts the 2018 football season with the NFHS Network streaming 11 games in three days from the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Flint and the Battle at the Big House in Ann Arbor on Thursday, the Thursday and Friday games at the Prep Kickoff Classic in Detroit and the West Michigan Sports Commission Gridiron Classic in Allendale on Saturday.
The MHSAA School Broadcast Program will be involved at three of the four sites for the NFHS Network this weekend. Montrose High School will produce the games at Flint. Lake Orion High School will produce the games in Ann Arbor, and Cedar Springs High School will produce the games at Allendale.
Topping off the weekend’s streaming activity will be a number of games being produced by other members of the MHSAA School Broadcast Program – which has experienced great growth since last year due to the NFHS Network’s automated production solution, Pixellot. Three dozen schools will be utilizing a total of 50 Pixellot units in the year ahead, with some schools installing multiple units to cover outdoor and indoor events.
All sporting events – live or delayed – are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.
Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members and the NFHS Network:
Thursday – Aug. 23
Football - Vehicle City Gridiron Classic - Flint vs. Flint Beecher - 1 p.m.
Football - Battle at the Big House - Warren Mott vs. Ann Arbor Skyline - 3:30 p.m.
Football - Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic - Oak Park vs. Utica Eisenhower - 4 p.m.
Football - Vehicle City Gridiron Classic - Flint Hamady vs. Byron - 4 p.m.
Freshman Football - Marshall vs. Freeland - 4:30 p.m.
Junior Varsity Football - Marshall vs. Freeland - 6:30 p.m.
Football - Battle at the Big House - Lapeer vs. Lake Orion - 7 p.m.
Football - Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic - Detroit Catholic Central vs. Walled Lake Western - 7 p.m.
Football - Vehicle City Gridiron Classic - Fenton vs. Ortonville Brandon - 7 p.m.
Football – Chippewa Valley vs. Saline - 7 p.m.
Football – Chippewa Valley vs. Saline - 7 p.m.
Football - Westland vs. Novi - 7 p.m.
Football – Bay City Central vs. Frankenmuth - 7 p.m.
Football - Cass City vs. Montrose - 7 p.m.
Friday – Aug. 24
Football - Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic - Allen Park vs. Trenton - 4 p.m.
Field Hockey - Skyline vs. Novi - 4:30 p.m.
Junior Varsity Field Hockey - Skyline vs. Novi - 6 p.m.
Football - Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic - Davison vs. Southfield - 7 p.m.
Saturday – Aug. 25
Football - West Michigan Sports Commission Gridiron Classic - East Kentwood vs. Muskegon Mona Shores - 4 p.m.
Football - West Michigan Sports Commission Gridiron Classic - Zeeland East vs. East Grand Rapids - 7 p.m.
Junior Varsity Girls Volleyball - Freeland - 9 a.m.
Varsity Girls Volleyball - Norway - 9:30 a.m.
Monday – Aug. 27
Freshman Girls Volleyball - Notre Dame Prep vs. Macomb Lutheran North - 5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Volleyball – Ann Arbor Greenhills - 9 a.m.
Tuesday – Aug. 28
Freshman Boys Soccer – Ann Arbor Pioneer vs. Saline - 4 p.m.
Junior Varsity Boys Soccer - Ann Arbor Huron vs. Saline - 5:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Volleyball – Rock Mid Peninsula vs. Norway - 6 p.m.
Varsity Boys Soccer - Ann Arbor Huron vs. Saline - 7 p.m.
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 per 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 will be 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.
Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
December 7, 2021
Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.
Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.
“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”
Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.
“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”
And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.
PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)