Thursday’s 2010 Minnesota State High School Soccer Tournament Finals to be Video Streamed Live

A reminder that you will be able to watch the four 2010 Minnesota State High School Soccer Tournament Finals Thursday streamed live online.  This is the first time the MSHSL has offered any sort of live coverage of the games.

Go HERE for the schedule and link to go live.

IMS will be at the dome all day with staff writer Kyle Nelson, yours truly and photographer Jeremy Olson. We will be bringing you game reports shortly after each match with photos and post-game interviews.

Here is a reprint of the article I did last August on the video production:
The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) will be pairing with Grand Stadium TV and KSTC-TV Channel 45 to bring to you – for the first time – live video streaming with play-by-play and color commentary of the 2010 MSHSL Soccer Tournament Championship games. Boys and Girls Class A and AA championship games will be aired live online from the Metrodome.

Last fall, IMS reported that the MSHSL was looking at the possibility of covering the soccer finals with live streaming but would first observe several other tournaments that were scheduled for online coverage in the the 2009/2010 season.

Clayton Bosquez, Vice President of Product Development for Grand Stadium TV, reported that his company has been working with the MSHSL for 3 years. Up until last year, they had produced semifinals online coverage of the state football tournament.

Last year, the MSHSL experimented covering girls volleyball in the fall, boys wrestling in the winter and boys baseball and girls softball in the spring. According to John Millea, Media Specialist for the for the MSHSL, all those projects were successful, clearing the way for the State Soccer Championship games to be covered. The broadcasts will be free of charge to the public. Replays of the streamed games can be watched through Grand Stadium TV’s website but there is a charge for replayed games.

Bosquez said Grand Stadium is in the first year of a 5-year contract with the MSHSL. He explained that the online video company has partnered with both the MSHSL and Channel 45, which is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. Hubbard is the exclusive broadcast partner of the MSHSL for state tournaments.

The Grand Stadium TV executive explained that his company provides the equipment but all off-air talent such as camera persons, audio and producers will be carried out by high school students as part of a MSHSL program. He said that Grand Stadium TV provides training to the students and his company then helps as technical advisers at the games. Play-by-play and color commentary will be talent hired by Grand Stadium TV.