Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting

Highlights

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 7, 2021

DETROIT – An hour before kickoff of the first game of 11-Player Football Finals weekend – the Division 8 championship decider between Hudson and Beal City – Bally Sports Detroit announcers Evan Stockton and Rob Rubick were busy preparing to call the action from the television booth on the third level of Ford Field.

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.

Mount Pleasant SBP “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.)

Highlights

MHSAA TV: 1,000 Live Events & Growing

September 24, 2019

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

Less than two months into the 2019-20 school year, MHSAA.tv is topping the 1,000 mark for live streamed video of interscholastic athletic events on the NFHS Network.

Just a year ago, just under 300 live streams had been produced by a combined 34 schools. This week began with MHSAA.tv having streamed 986 events originated at 84 schools.

The surge in events is powered by the addition of Pixellot, the NFHS Network’s automated production solution at a growing number of MHSAA member schools. Since this time last year, units at more than 50 schools have been activated. In all, 108 schools have launched or will be launching more than 180 Pixellots at gymnasiums and outdoor athletic facilities around the state.

Here’s a breakdown of the MHSAA member schools utilizing Pixellot:

Active Indoor & Outdoor Units – Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Bad Axe, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Birmingham Seaholm, Brighton, Brownstown Woodhaven, Cadillac, Chesaning, Clare, Calumet, Cedar Springs, Corunna, East Grand Rapids, Frankenmuth, Freeland, Grand Blanc, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Howell, Ishpeming, Manchester, Maple City Glen Lake, Montrose, Norway, Novi, Ovid-Elsie, Petoskey, Plainwell, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Rockford, Saginaw Heritage, Saline, South Lyon, South Lyon East, St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, St. Joseph, Stevensville Lakeshore, Troy, Troy Athens. Watervliet, West Bloomfield, White Lake Lakeland.

Active Outdoor Units – Ithaca, Portage Northern.

Active Gymnasium Units – Ann Arbor Greenhills, Big Rapids, Bear Lake, Brethren, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Dollar Bay, Fenton, Flint Kearsley, Flint Powers Catholic, Fremont, Grand Rapids Christian, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian, Grandville, Harbor Beach, Harrison, Hart, Hemlock, Highland Milford, Kalamazoo Christian, Linden, Madison Heights Lamphere, Morley-Stanwood, Mt. Morris, New Lothrop, Otisville-LakeVille, Pellston, Southfield Christian, St. Charles, Waterford Our Lady.

Schools With Pending Installations – Armada, Birmingham Groves, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Hills Roeper, Burton Bendle, Caro, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, Detroit Catholic Central, East Kentwood, Flushing, Grand Ledge, Holly, Livonia Clarenceville, Macomb Dakota, Macomb L’Anse Creuse North, Munising, Niles, Painesdale Jeffers, Plymouth Christian, Portage Central, Riverview Gabriel Richard, Saginaw Swan Valley, St. Ignace, Sterling Heights Stevenson+, Sturgis, Traverse City Central*, Traverse City West*, Utica+, Utica Eisenhower+, Utica Ford+, Vicksburg, Walled Lake Central, Walled Lake Northern, Walled Lake Western, Waterford Kettering, Waterford Mott, Williamston. (* Includes installation at Thirlby Field.) (+ Includes installations at Swinehart and Runkel Fields.)

The Pixellot schools join the following traditional School Broadcast Programs – Bay City John Glenn, Calumet, Cedar Springs, Charlevoix, Comstock Park, East Lansing, Fowlerville, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, Lake Orion, Marquette, Midland Dow, Montrose Mt. Pleasant, Negaunee, Onsted, Pewamo-Westphalia, Rockford, Rogers City, Vestaburg, Warren De La Salle Collegiate.

Here’s the complete list of varsity-level events to be streamed live in the coming week on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network:

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