Football is the most popular sport in the United States. Making over $18 billion in a season, the NFL is the most profitable league in the United States. Due to the popularity of the NFL, high school football is incredibly popular as well. With almost 1.1 million active high school football players nationwide, the demand to live stream high school football has never been higher.
With high school sports fans reaching the millions, technology is finding ways to connect viewers to their favorite teams no matter where they are as more high schools begin to live stream their football games.
Challenges Associated with High School Football Live Streaming
Although students will help with each live stream, community members, teachers, or parent volunteers are also vital to the quality and success of each stream. Schools will need to have the proper equipment, funds, and resources to allow for a high-quality live streaming service.
When a school has all the necessary resources, there is no reason why they shouldn’t live streaming their football games. If your school is asking, ‘how can we get a live streaming sports program underway?” Keep reading and find out!
Appropriate Data Connection
A fast, reliable data connection is vital to live streaming a high school football game – it’s the lifeblood of the broadcast. Without a fast and reliable connection, the broadcast won’t go live, or at best, the quality will be extremely poor, leading to upset fans.
Proper Broadcasting Equipment
As soon as an appropriate data connection has been established, a school will need to make sure they have the proper broadcasting equipment. Without proper equipment, the quality of each live stream will suffer. By utilizing different school programs, drives, and donations, an athletic department can obtain proper microphones, cameras, and video editing equipment. Having the correct live stream equipment can go a long way.
Finding the right live streaming partner can help school leaders get the right gear. Some schools need a basic setup while others may opt for the highest quality gear available, taking an ESPN approach to their games. When you have a partner who helps you get the right gear for your situation, you avoid wasting money on equipment you don’t need.
Having the Right Personnel
After a trustworthy data connection has been established and proper equipment is obtained, the right personnel will be needed to create each live stream. It is important to have someone with prior experience in live streaming to educate the students and volunteers. Without the help of someone with experience, the live stream may never be broadcast.
This is another area where a live streaming partner can be of help. They may be able to provide your team with training and support so you have the confidence that you’ll never be alone.
Where to Live Stream High School Football Games
Technology evolves every day, which allows for new opportunities for live streaming to arise. Sports streaming services are no different! Live event streaming has become normal in today’s sports climate, especially in light of the limitations we’ve experienced in attending in-person events over the last few years.
The best school live streaming programs broadcast their games and events through multiple channels including:
- YouTube
- School’s website
- Roku
- Amazon
- Apple
- Chromecast
Making your high school football games easy to watch is crucial for engaging your fan base. And if there’s anything we’ve learned in the last few years, it’s the importance of staying connected to people virtually.
What to Look For in a Live Streaming Service
Some schools will opt to tackle live streaming on their own. This entails:
- Building up the broadcast program
- Recruiting and training the staff and student volunteers
- Acquiring the gear
- Securing a data connection
- Setting up the streaming channel(s)
- Managing the broadcasts
Other schools choose to work with a live streaming partner who can help them manage all the details so they can focus on the students and community. If you are considering a live streaming partner for your school, here are several questions to ask:
- Do they make gear recommendations?
- Will they help you acquire the broadcasting gear or will you need to source it yourself?
- Will they help you set up the gear?
- What type of data connection are they providing?
- What’s the average speed and uptime of their data network?
- What do they have in place to avoid/minimize outages?
- What type of support do they provide you?
- When is their support team available to you?
- Do they provide training for your team (staff, students, volunteers)?
- What OTT channels do they include in their service?
- Do they charge for any bandwidth or data storage overages?
Have Questions About High School Football Live Streaming?
As a school leader, you face a number of choices when it comes to live streaming your school’s football games. If you have questions, we would love to have a conversation to help you get answers so you can make the best decision for your school. You can schedule a call with us and get answers to your questions.