Lacrosse Finals Continue MHSAA TV Championship Coverage

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

June 8, 2021

Four Girls & Boys Lacrosse Finals highlight Michigan High School Athletic Association streaming this weekend on the NFHS Network and MHSAA.tv, with a variety of pre-Finals games also being broadcast on the Network this week.

The Girls Lacrosse Finals will be played Saturday, June 12, at Novi High School, and the Boys Lacrosse Finals will be played at Parker Middle School in Howell. All of the action can be viewed by purchasing a Month Pass to MHSAA.tv for just $10.99. The Lacrosse Finals also will have live streaming audio on the MHSAA Network.

The schedule is as follows:

Girls Lacrosse
Division 2 – 2 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam685797ce48
Division 1 – 4:30 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam260b7d51f9

Boys Lacrosse
Division 1 – 2 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam8e7f6f7297
Division 2 – 5 p.m. – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam0f3b692607

All Lacrosse Semifinals will be played Wednesday (June 9). All four girls games and two boys games will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv, and the schedule is linked here: Lacrosse Semifinals.

Additionally, a number of Regional matchups in girls soccer, softball and baseball will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv this week. Among soccer games available Tuesday (June 8) will be a Division 1 Regional Semifinal matching up Troy Athens (14-1-4) vs. Romeo (14-2-2). This week’s Softball/Baseball Regional broadcast schedules are highlighted by the Division 3 Softball Regional hosted by Millington, which includes the top-ranked Cardinals, No. 2 Richmond, Bad Axe and Capac. The broadcast schedules for those three sports are available at these links: Girls Soccer | Baseball | Softball.

The 2020-21 MHSAA Finals schedule will conclude June 17-19 with Softball & Baseball Semifinals and Finals and Girls Soccer Finals; all will be streamed live. All events, including this weekend’s Lacrosse Finals, will be archived for on-demand viewing after their completion. Audio streaming also will be available for next weekend’s Soccer, Softball and Baseball.

Now in its 13th 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 the events. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and on-demand video from across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program. (Subscriptions must be cancelled before the 30-day period is over to avoid recurring charges.)

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.