Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

The advancement of technology continues to impress, and Hartselle High School is using it to its full advantage. College and Pro sports fans have become accustomed to being able to see their teams play on TV or online, but now it is becoming possible to watch your high school teams in action. The NFHS network is a national high school sports network that works to stream high school games online, in recent years AHSAA has partnered with them to broadcast high school games. However, it was all up to schools whether they wanted to broadcast games as they would have to come up with money for equipment and have someone to work it for them.

Hartselle has had great success with this as high teacher David Robinson has done a great job with his class to teach the kids how to use the equipment and to broadcast the games. Now, the Tigers are looking to branch out. In the past, games could be viewed on a Pay Per View basis, meaning a user could pay a certain price a month, year or per game to watch. This year Hartselle will be streaming all of it’s games, with the exception of postseason games, free. “In the past it was all done on a PPV basis,” Hartselle Athletic Director Pat Smith said. “We decided this year we were going to pay some extra money up front in order to make it free to the public.”

Hartselle will be streaming approximately 35 events, including all the Hartselle football games. “All the football games plus basketball, baseball, softball and so on,” Smith said. “We’re going to try to do something for every sport.” Hartselle is also currently trying to work out a deal to broadcast the Morgan County basketball tournament, which will take place at Priceville High School this year. “We’re in the preliminary stages of getting that worked out. Right now I’m playing phone tag with the Principal,” Robinson said. “But that’s something we would like to do for the county. I think it would be a big draw.”

To pay for the cost of making it free, Hartselle will be offering advertising for businesses to broadcast during commercial breaks during the game. “It’s a growing field I think. We’ll see how this year goes,” Smith said. “We would like to gauge what our viewership is so that we can really start to market it and get it out to advertisers.” Smith continued. “So many things are online now,” Smith said. “This is a lot different than just putting a banner on a fence. To be able to put it online is an important tool.”

To be able to watch the Tigers this year, users will need to make a free account on the NFHS network. The link address for Hartselle’s page is http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/hartselle-high-school-hartselle-al.

For more info, or to find out how to advertise contact Pat Smith at pat.smith @hartselletigers.org or David Robinson at david.robinson@hartselletigers.org.