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Live streaming is the ticket for sports fans

By Chris Dugan newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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This screenshot was taken from the live steaming of a basketball game between Carmichaels and Monessen. Streaming video of sporting events has become a way of keeping fans connected to their favorite teams during the pandemic.

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A screenshot of the Jefferson-Morgan at California football game last fall. Streaming video of sporting events has become a way of keeping fans connected to their favorite teams during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the sports landscape in ways not even the most pessimistic fan could have envisioned a little more than a year ago.

From canceled or shortened seasons to empty stadiums, arenas and gymnasiums, from athletes, coaches and officials wearing face masks to socially distanced bench areas and lost revenue, sports has significantly changed.

Some of the biggest changes have been felt at the high school level. Because of state capacity guidelines, many relatives and friends who would normally be filling the bleachers to watch the latest hotshot athlete or the local team have been shut out.

With only 100 to 200 fans allowed to watch games in person, if regulations are strictly followed, viewing them electronically has become the next best thing for fans. So schools have been leaning heavily on video streaming of games, whether it’s done by their own IT department, private companies or streaming over social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.

The common thread throughout the WPIAL is giving fans a chance to watch games in a year when tickets are scarce. Streaming games online was already on the rise before the pandemic, but it has never been more important than this year.

“We started streaming our games more than a year ago,” Trinity athletic director Ricci Rich said.

Trinity’s events are streamed through the National Federation of High Schools network. NFHS charges subscribers $10.99 a month or $69.95 for the full year. Some schools are picking up that charge for families of players. Rich said Trinity pays the subscription fees.

“We didn’t want our families to miss seeing their kids play,” he said.

Trinity uses a Pixellot system, which streams events using automated cameras installed in stadiums and gymnasiums. At Hiller Hall, two cameras are mounted on the gym wall above the scorer’s table. The cameras are motion-sensitive, which allows them to follow the action without the need of a camera operator. Trinity can even connect audio from a radio broadcast to its streams.

Some schools have taken to in-house productions. For example, Carmichaels, California and Monessen, among others, stream their games on YouTube. Both Carmichaels and California have more than 560 subscribers to their channels.

“Mark Batis, who runs our IT program, is responsible for how ours works,” said Carmichaels athletic director John Krajnak. “He came up with the idea of Mikes Nation on YouTube and has some students, who he trained, and they are very involved in this and do a great job. It is a real school project.

“Our athletic programs have really good support from the community. I felt bad when we could only allow parents to attend games. It eliminated most of the community. Having the games streamed has helped in that area. We’ve had compliments from people who have watched, saying it’s just like they were there.

We’ve had a lot of alumni contact us and say they’ve watched. A few other schools, when we’ve played at their place, have contacted us and asked if we were going to do this. They couldn’t stream the game but wanted to know if we were willing to come into their place and stream it.”

Thanks to livestreaming, fans who have been unable to attend games because of pandemic restrictions are following their teams in increasing numbers online.

When Washington and Trinity met on the football field for the first time in 21 years last October, the game had more than 3,700 views. When Trinity’s girls basketball team ended Chartiers Valley’s state-record 64-game winning streak in January, the livestreaming had 2,458 viewers. Four Trinity events this school year have topped 2,000 views, including a football game against Ringgold that had 4,968.

Even the small schools are getting big numbers. On YouTube, the football game last fall between Avella and Carmichaels, with the winner gaining a playoff berth, has been viewed more than 1,900 times.

“There have been times when we’ve had more people watching our games than we would be able to get into the gym when we didn’t have capacity limitations,” Rich said.

“For the fan, there are advantages to the live streaming. You don’t have to worry about cooking dinner and getting out the door, finding a place to park. You can just fire up your iPad and watch from the comfort of your couch.”

Krajnak said he doesn’t think about what Carmichaels would have done if the pandemic had hit a few years earlier. The number of fans that would have been left out would have been staggering.

“I don’t know what we would have done. Nothing could have been done. We wouldn’t have had the technology and resources,” he said.

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