SFA Wrapping Up First Season With ESPN3
2/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Last fall, Stephen F. Austin State University and ESPN announced an agreement for ESPN3 to carry SFA’s school-produced live, athletics events. In its first season under the ESPN3 banner, the production crew has broadcasted over three dozen live events from five different venues across the SFA campus.
The programming is produced entirely inhouse by SFA students under the direction of Korbin Pate, SFA's Coordinator of Athletic Video Productions. It has given fans, parents, and alumni access to SFA football, volleyball, soccer, men’s and women’s basketball on ESPN3 across WatchESPN platforms.
“This partnership with ESPN benefits SFA in so many ways. Our university and campus is being promoted year-round on the world’s largest sports network,” said Stephen F. Austin State University President Dr. Baker Pattillo. “It gives our students an opportunity to gain instrumental experience currently available to only a few schools in the country. Finally, our fans and alumni can now keep up with SFA athletics contests from anywhere around the world.”
The Athletics Department teamed up with the Department of Mass Communication to create a class to allow radio/television students the opportunity to get real-world experience with some of the top equipment in the industry. Currently there are 15 students enrolled and they operate everything from switcher, cameras, replay, audio, graphics, and shading stations during broadcasts.
“I have to give all the credit to the administration who listened to our request and gave the okay to move forward. We were able to share our vision of collaboration between athletics and academics that would benefit SFA in a multitude of ways,” said SFA Director of Athletics Robert Hill. “In just the short time we have been producing telecasts of our home games the benefits are already evident.”
In October of 2014, the SFA Board of Regents approved the project to build a new control room in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA enlisted the help of consultants from the Dallas-based group, Idibri, to help design a centralized control room that would allow the department to produce all sports from one venue beginning in the fall of 2015.
“When the discussion to bring ESPN3 to SFA began two years ago, our Director of Athletics Robert Hill and Associate Director of Athletics John Branch immediately bought in and helped make this a reality. Fast-forward to 2016 and we’ve produced over 30 broadcasts, we’ve had highlights on SportsCenter, and we had a live look-in of a basketball production on ESPNU. With their leadership, we continue to set the standard in our league with production and digital content,” notes Pate.
The high-definition broadcasts include a minimum of four cameras, instant replay, announcers, and the full ESPN graphics package. SFA’s Telecommunication Department laid 24 strands of fiber to each athletics venue on campus, allowing all games to be produced from one studio. The centralized control room also features some of the same equipment in many of the high-end studios and production trucks, giving students experience on professional level equipment before they leave SFA
“As a sports enthusiast it's literally a dream come true. I fall asleep every night watching ESPN and to be working with them is priceless,” said SFA student Kirby Hildebrand who is on the production crew. “A lot people said that students wouldn’t participate without being paid, but there are those of us that know the experience is invaluable on a resume, especially with such a high-profile company like ESPN.”
SFA was the first member of the Southland Conference to offer a full slate of games that meet the ESPN requirements and just the fourth Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school to produce a live football event on ESPN3. SFA is also one of 50 universities in the country that produces programming for ESPN3, in elite company with the likes of Duke, Miami, North Carolina, and Georgia Tech.
“We are extremely pleased to see SFA Athletics join with ESPN in this innovative broadcast partnership,” Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett said. “The Southland has had a successful history with ESPN over the last three decades, and we’re very excited that an institution has entered into its own agreement with the network.”
In addition to football, volleyball, soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, the department is currently working on connectivity solutions to bring SFA baseball and softball to ESPN3 in 2017. Fans will also continue to see events like National Signing Day, Midnight Madness, the SFA Spring Game, press conferences, and more on ESPN3.
“To stay relevant as a Division I member we have to be in the mix when it comes to media coverage. Having SFA teams on ESPN3 helps accomplish our goal of providing programming for our alumni, students, fans and supporters,” said Hill.
SFA will close out the 2015-16 broadcast schedule with of the basketball double-header against Houston Baptist on February 27 and the 2016 SFA Football Spring Game on April 16.
About Stephen F. Austin State University
Stephen F. Austin State University is a comprehensive, regional institution located in Nacogdoches, Texas. The university enrolls approximately 13,000 students and offers 83 undergraduate majors and 120 areas of study within six academic colleges - business, education, fine arts, forestry and agriculture, sciences and mathematics, and liberal and applied arts. SFA offers degree programs both online and on its beautifully wooded campus nestled in the heart of Texas Forest Country.
Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, SFA is ranked a Tier 1 Regional University by U.S. News and World Report. SFA provides the academic breadth of a state university with the personalized attention of a private school. With a student-to-faculty ration of 19:1 and an average class size of 26, professors get to know their students and provide classroom instruction tailored to each student's needs and goals. Smaller classes combined with hands-on study, internships and research opportunities give students valuable experience that translates to their chosen career paths.
About ESPN3
ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through WatchESPN. The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.
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