The Lions home football games will be streamed live via the internet starting with homecoming.

Harding University student Chris Dascalos did a share of the work and promoted the venture.

“The first person I contacted with the idea was Jacki Romey, who most know is the Media Production teacher,” he said. “Right from the start, she seemed to have interest and jumped on board for making this a possibility.”
Jacki Romey had a different perspective.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it if it weren’t for being pushed into it by students from Harding,” she stated.

Dascalos tried to use his connections as a Harding student and the live sports director supported the idea.

“Everyone throughout the process thus far has been willing to work with us to make this a real possibility,” he added.

Dascalos said the setup was simple enough to get started, as the foundation was already in place.

However, there was much more work required to get off the ground, as the stream is a multi-angle production with live updates as opposed to one camera.

There will be two cameras on the field with two separate angles, as well as one up near the press box on top of the bleachers, where the stream will be controlled.

Whoever is running the stream can switch between the three feeds on the fly as well as add graphics and information in real time.

“It takes a lot of time preparing before the event to make sure you have all of the media that you need plus some more beforehand so that you aren’t scrambling when it comes time to broadcast,” said Dascalos. “There is a whole lot of work that has to get done behind the scenes that people don’t see in order to make the production a success and run smoothly.”

There have been some small hiccups in the road, but the setup was complete in time for homecoming.

Dascalos noted, “With everything, there are always small bumps in the road that can lead to problems, but it didn’t take long to figure those out and correct them.”

The stream can be watched thanks to USEducation TV and two more home games will be streamed: October 25 and November 8.

To watch the games, go to USEducationTV.com and find Searcy High School.

There is also a USEducationTV app available for Android and iPhone that allows fans to watch live events on their smartphones.

Romey expressed her happiness at this new development for the school.


“I’m really excited that people can be at the game and watching the game on their phone,” she said,