In 2008, an online broadcasting station was set up to cover sports played by Argyle High School in Texas.
In its infancy, the group in charge of the station suffered from a number of technical and reliability issues, and in 2013 they opted to move to a new provider in order to improve the quality and consistency of their output.
Sportsgram Network, who host broadcasts for other notable schools in the nearby area, introduced the Argyle team to Stack Streaming. Since then, there has been no looking back.
‘More excited than ever before’
“I didn’t know anything about Stack Streaming at the time, but we needed a more reliable way to do our broadcasting,” said Andy Smith, executive director of Argyle Radio and director of broadcasting for the Argyle Eagles Booster Club.
“Our work together started with American football, and then it moved on to boys and girls basketball, softball, baseball, volleyball and most recently, we did our first soccer broadcast.
“The whole idea of starting broadcasts for Argyle was to put a spotlight on the kids. We made a commitment that, if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right.
“We get text messages and emails from relatives of our athletes and coaches and also people from all over the world – they all love and appreciate the coverage.
“It’s been one of the most surprising benefits of doing this whole thing, and we’re more excited about using Stack Streaming than ever before.
“The software is in place for us to have aspirations of broadcasting as many sports as we possibly can, which is crucial to us because we just want to shine a spotlight on the kids.”
Growing revenue through sponsors and commercials
Today, Argyle Eagles provide audio coverage of many big events each month, covering a range of different sports.
They have also made excellent use of Stack Streaming’s revenue generation functionality, seamlessly integrating commercials into their broadcasts.
As listenership on their broadcasts continues on an upwards trajectory, Argyle are able to work closely with the local community and attract sponsors who are keen to play their part in supporting the development of grassroots sports across Texas.
“All of our sponsors and advertisers are integrated into the Stack Streaming software, and it’s been really successful for us,” Smith added.
“It’s not necessarily about advertising for these companies – it’s more PR-focused, even though we have good traffic on our broadcasts. Local businesses and organizations are donating over $250,000 per year to the Argyle Eagles Booster Club to support the school and sponsor the broadcasts.
“We are proud to have a rapidly-growing community, so a lot of the sponsors who have been with us from the start have become established as legacy-type companies.
“And with Argyle doing so well in the state, this only helps our current sponsors even more and attracts prospective sponsors, which can only happen as a result of the functionality provided by Stack Streaming.”
Catering to more sports
Revenue generated through sponsorship of Argyle’s broadcasts goes towards the aforementioned Argyle Eagles Booster Club – a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of raising funds for all of Argyle’s athletic programs.
There are many different strands to the Booster Club – broadcasting being one of the primary revenue drivers – and each method of growing revenue allows the Eagles to diversify the amount of different sports being covered.
Over the last 16 years, Argyle have taken huge strides of growth as they continue to develop – and with the support of Stack Streaming, Smith is confident that the journey towards a brighter future for both athlete and organization will be possible.
“Our purpose is to shine a light on the kids and the wider community so, in the future, we’d like to do every sport,” he said of their ambitions moving forward.
“We get a lot of messages from parents saying that they wished we did things like cross-country, track and other sports that we haven’t done before.
“With the help of the Booster Club and Stack Streaming, I think that it’s becoming a reality rather than what was once a dream.”
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