For the Marist School in Atlanta to keep up its athletic schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic, the private Catholic school has limited spectators to some events, allowing only two family members per player to watch the games in person.
But that rule doesn’t mean other students can’t watch the games at all, thanks to a partnership with Atlanta-based PlayOn! Sports, a high school sports streaming startup.
Thomas Marshall, the Marist School athletic director, said the school has been partnered with PlayOn for about a decade, but the pandemic has made the digitization of high school sports a necessity for a season's success rather than a luxury.
"Students are not able to go and support their peers, so they watch it online,” Marshall said. “It allows us to keep showcasing our athletic teams.”
PlayOn, founded in 2008 by CEO David Rudolph, operates the NFHS Network, a joint venture with the National Federation of State High School Associations and its member state high school associations, which started in 2013.
Viewership of that network has exploded in the COVID-19 era, increasing from 375,000 to 1.1 million in the first two months of this school year, according to PlayOn. Rudolph said PlayOn is expected to be partnered with 10,000 schools by the end of the year, up from 3,000 over the summer. The network streams 27 different sports.
"This is not just about the varsity games or big sports,” Rudolph said. “Now the JV games, freshmen games and middle school games across every sport are really important because they’re all facing attendance restrictions,” Rudolph said. “Parents and fans of those games are just as passionate about being able to see those as the varsity games.”
Much of that growth in demand has been fueled by the companies Pixellot cameras that automatically capture and stream games to the network. The company raised $25 million in a Series B round at the end of last year to expand those automated services. Atlanta-based BIP Capital, whose portfolio includes PlayOn, led the round.
Starting in July, PlayOn gave away more than 4,000 free Pixellot cameras to high schools that did not have production capabilities to stream sports games because of the pandemic, according to the company.
Marshall said Marist has five of those automated cameras that are used for softball, football, soccer and indoor sports games. The school contacts the company about what time to turn on the cameras for each game, and subscribers can watch the game live or on demand.
Rudolph said he hopes that the company will eventually be able to stream every high school game both to engage the audience and for the student engagement. He plans to continue to improve the streaming quality of the games to resemble college- and pro-level sports.
When the pandemic did not require attendance restrictions, Marshall said PlayOn was still an asset to the school. A student crew from the Marist Broadcasting Club normally runs the equipment to livestream bigger sporting events, such as playoffs or varsity football games. That club evolved into a course that Marist students can take in broadcasting, which was an interest sparked because of the PlayOn partnership.
"We're one of their early customers, and it's been neat to see them evolve and add more features," Marshall said.
