MHSAA TV Ends 17-18 with 28-Game Finale

June 12, 2018

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties  

A total of 28 games over three days will close out the championship coverage of MHSAA Tournaments for the 2017-18 school year with live streaming audio and video in three sports on MHSAA.tv and the MHSAA Network.

Baseball and Softball Semifinal coverage begins Thursday and runs through Saturday’s Finals from Old College Field at Michigan State University. On Friday and Saturday, you also can catch the Lower Peninsula Girls Soccer Finals from Williamston High School.

Today and Wednesday, the final events of the year for the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program will be originated by Comstock Park and Cedar Springs High Schools, which are hosting Semifinal games in Girls Soccer. Here’s that schedule:

Tuesday – Girls Soccer Quarterfinals – Division 4

Wednesday – Girls Soccer Quarterfinals – Division 3

The NFHS Network will feature landing pages on MHSAA.tv for the Baseball, Softball and Girls Soccer games this weekend. Audio of all games will be available on the home page of the MHSAA Network.

Here’s the complete schedule of games on MHSAA.tv and the MHSAA Network this weekend: 

Thursday Baseball Semifinals (Quarterfinals on Tuesday)

  • 9 a.m. – Division 2 – Livonia Clarenceville/Orchard Lake St. Mary’s winner v. Grand Rapids West Catholic/Stevensville Lakeshore winner
  • 11:30 a.m. – Division 2 – Muskegon Oakridge/Saginaw Swan Valley winner v. DeWitt/Tecumseh winner
  • 2:30 p.m. – Division 1 – Grosse Pointe South/Macomb Dakota winner v. Midland/Holland West Ottawa winner
  • 5 p.m. – Division 1 – Grand Ledge/Brownstown Woodhaven winner v. Birmingham Brother Rice/Northville winner

Thursday Softball Semifinals (Quarterfinals on Tuesday)

  • 10 a.m. – Division 1 – Garden City/Warren Regina winner v. Alpena/Caledonia winner
  • 12:30 p.m. – Division 1 – Howell/Plymouth winner v. Clarkston/Hartland winner
  • 3 p.m. – Division 2 – Dearborn Divine Child/Richmond winner v. Spring Lake/South Haven winner
  • 5:30 p.m. – Division 2 – Escanaba/Saginaw Swan Valley winner v. Eaton Rapids/Flat Rock winner 

Friday (June 16) Baseball Semifinals (Quarterfinals on Tuesday)

  • 9 a.m. – Division 4 – Indian River Inland Lakes/Gaylord St. Mary winner v. Beal City/Muskegon Catholic Central winner
  • 11:30 a.m. – Division 4  - Plymouth Christian/Unionville-Sebewaing winner v. St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic/Petersburg-Summerfield winner
  • 2:30 p.m. – Division 3 –  Gladstone/Standish-Sterling winner v. Madison Heights Bishop Foley/New Lothrop winner
  • 5 p.m. – Division 3 – Michigan Center/Riverview Gabriel Richard winner v. Montague/Schoolcraft winner

Friday Softball Semifinals (Quarterfinals on Tuesday)

  • 10 a.m. – Division 3 – Negaunee/Sanford Meridian winner v. Sandusky/Millington winner
  • 12:30 p.m. – Division 3 – Clinton/Allen Park Cabrini winner v. Stanton Central Montcalm/Coloma winner
  • 3 p.m. – Division 4 – Rudyard/Rogers City winner v. Frankfort/Coleman winner
  • 5:30 p.m. – Division 4 – Waterford Our Lady/Unionville-Sebewaing winner v. Centreville/Ottawa Lake-Whiteford winner

Friday L.P. Girls Soccer Finals (Semifinals on Tuesday)

  • 1 p.m. – Division 4 – Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett/Lansing Christian winner v. Kalamazoo Christian/North Muskegon winner
  • 4 p.m. – Division 1 – Troy/Novi winner v. Midland/Grand Blanc winner

Saturday Baseball Finals

  • 9 a.m. – Division 2
  • 11:30 a.m. – Division 1
  • 2:30 p.m. – Division 3
  • 5 p.m. – Division 4 

Saturday Softball Finals

  • 10 a.m. – Division 2
  • 12:30 p.m. – Division 1
  • 3 p.m. – Division 4
  • 5:30 p.m. – Division 3 

Saturday L.P. Girls Soccer Finals (Semifinals on Wednesday)

  • 1 p.m. – Division 3 – Warren Regina/Flint Powers Catholic winner v. Grand Rapids Catholic Central/Freeland winner
  • 4 p.m. – Division 2 -  Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Richland Gull Lake winner v. DeWitt/Bloomfield Hills Marian winner

A $9.95 subscription allows viewing of live content on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network for 30 days. All events will be archived for free on-demand viewing beginning three days after their completion. Subscriptions must be cancelled before the 30-day period is over to avoid recurring charges. Instant Downloads of all games are available for $19.95.

The MHSAA Network website has provided free live audio coverage of various MHSAA Championships since the 2005-06 school year. Instant Downloads of all games are available for $4.99.

Completing its ninth 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.  

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.