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Forget the NFL or NBA, NBC is betting that the next big thing in streaming might be your local high school football game.
The media giant is launching a new streaming service that’s part ESPN+, part YouTube and part MasterClass, meant to appeal to families, schools and communities with amateur sports teams.
The service, SportsEngine Play, will stream live matches from amateur teams (think high schools, etc.). The company says it has 90 cameras installed in 85 venues; however, coaches or spectators can also stream matches live to the service via their own smartphones or iPads, and NBC Sports is trying to encourage as many schools and coaches as possible to take advantage of the streaming capabilities.
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Matches will also be available on-demand.
The service will also launch with complementary content featuring professional athletes, a MasterClass-esque offering with guides for specific sports and general advice for dealing with pressure or mental health, called The Pros.
The initial batch of athletes participating includes swimmer Michael Phelps, former NFL star Larry Fitzgerald, snowboarder Shaun White, volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings and soccer legend Megan Rapinoe.
“We see a great opportunity to be able to connect those athletes with this youth sport ecosystem,” says Nick Busto, vp at NBC Sports Next. “With the kind of relationships that NBC Sports has and the access NBC Sports has we see a large opportunity to be able to grow that into the future.”
Adds Walsh Jennings, “It’s a powerful thing when two dedicated and high-quality entities collaborate to create opportunities to learn, grow and inspire within a deserving community, such as youth sports. I’m proud of the work my fellow champions and I have created with The Pros and so happy our content has found such a great home. My goal is to forever inspire and empower as many people as I can and this partnership will allow for great and positive impact.
But the core of the service is the livestreaming of amateur matches, be it in Texas’ Frisco Independent School District (where NBC partnered with the district to create a Frisco Sports Live portal to stream its games), or your local league.
Sports that have been captured so far include football, basketball, baseball, hockey, volleyball, soccer and lacrosse, and additional sports like cheer, dance, figure skating, gymnastics and martial arts.
SportsEngine Play is “really the combination of kind of that personal with the professional content,” says Busto. “Let’s say I’m a dad, my daughter has her freshman soccer game and I can’t make it, I’m stuck at work. I can stream the game on my phone. And then when we get together later, we can watch the replay on the couch or watch her highlights and if we feel inspired, we can see Megan Rapinoe teach us how to kick a corner kick, and then go watch the women’s 16U national team to see what the best-of-the-best at her age group are doing, and have all of that in one destination.”
SportsEngine Play will have a free tier, which will let users capture and view livestream content. A premier tier will add on-demand content, plus the ability to edit and create highlight videos (especially relevant given the rise of “name, image likeness” deals for amateur athletes), and an all-access plan adding the instructional videos and pro athlete guides, as well as professional content from “premier amateur sports competitions.”
The premier and all-access plans are each priced at $9.99 per month or $79.99 annually in a special introductory discount offer.
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