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.

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.