The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) recently announced that When We Were Young Productions (WWWYP) and PlayON! Sports will serve as the IHSA’s television and internet streaming broadcast partner after the Association’s Board of Directors approved a seven-year contract at its regularly scheduled meeting on September 13.
The partnership began last November, when WWWYP produced internet broadcasts of all 16 matches from the 2009 IHSA Girls Volleyball State Finals live on the IHSA.TV broadband portal launched last October. WWWYP went on to produce and stream eight other IHSA state finals during the 2009-10 school year, including cheerleading, boys and girls swimming & diving, boys and girls track & field, girls soccer, baseball and softball. The IHSA’s state final television broadcasts (football, boys basketball, girls basketball) were also simulcast on IHSA.TV, which provides all of its content free of charge to the viewer as well as full archives that can be viewed any time.
“This felt like a natural progression and one that anyone associated with the IHSA should be very excited about,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. “(WWWYP President and CEO) Tim Eichorst and When We Were Young are committed to providing expansive broadcasts of high school sports and activities and have achieved great success in partnerships with a number of high school associations across the country, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, Colorado and Missouri. Technology continues to change the way the IHSA is able to connect with its audience and we are confident that this partnership will not only allow us to continue to generate top quality broadcasts, but also keep us at the forefront of the emerging mediums and means of distribution.”
The Madison, Wisconsin-based WWWYP will produce the IHSA’s live television broadcasts in 2010-11, which will include the IHSA Football Playoff Pairing Release Show on Saturday, October 23 and all contests from the football state finals (November 27-28), the girls basketball state finals (Feb. 25-26, March 4-5) and the boys basketball state finals (March 11-12, March 18-19).
This season, internet webcast coverage on IHSA.TV will continue to expand to include state finals in all sports. Additionally, IHSA state finals that cannot be covered live on IHSA.TV because of the expansive nature of the event, such as golf or cross country, will be developed into highlight shows, which will be posted on IHSA.TV in the weeks that follow the state finals.
“When it comes to high school sports and activities, the state of Illinois has an incredible tradition and passionate fan base,” said Eichorst. “We look forward to providing the participants, coaches, parents, alumni and fans around the world with comprehensive coverage of all IHSA state finals through a variety of mediums while remaining consistent with the mission of the IHSA and its member schools.”
The channels carrying the IHSA Football Playoff Pairing Release Show around the state, along with the other state final television events, on the IHSA TV Network will be announced in early October.
“We anticipate that the distribution network for IHSA television events will look very similar to the past and that nearly all viewers will be able to find the IHSA TV Network on the same channel they did a year ago,” added Eichorst. “We are also actively exploring new television partners as well as other non-traditional forms of distribution to provide additional viewing options.”