Stadium To Televise Weekly High School Football Games With ‘Thursday Night Lights’ And ‘Friday Night Rivals’

CHICAGO, IL– Stadium, the first 24/7 multi-platform sports network, today announced that it will televise 22 high school football games featuring some of the country’s top teams and players.

This marks Stadium’s first season of televising high school football, as well as one of the largest number of games in a single season a sports network has televised.

In addition to televising the 22 games live nationally via Stadium’s over-the-air channel, the games will also be available free on WatchStadium.com, Facebook, the Stadium iOS, tvOS, Android TV and Android mobile apps, Twitter (@WatchStadium), Twitch (Twitch.tv/stadium) and dedicated channels on Roku and Fubo TV.

The 11-week schedule will begin on Thursday, August 16th at 9pm ET with a “Thursday Night Lights” matchup between Utah state powerhouses Bingham High School and Orem High School. It will culminate on Friday, October 26th at 7:30pm ET with a “Friday Night Rivals” showdown between Pennsylvania defending 6A state champion Pine-Richland High School as they face North Allegheny High School.

Some highlights of the 2018 schedule that Stadium will televise across the entire U.S. includes:

  • Top matchups from a dozen states including Alabama, California, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin 10 teams that won a state championship in 2017
  • More than a dozen teams that finished in the top 10 of their state rankings (USA Today)
  • Multiple highly ranked players including commits to all of the major college football conferences
  • Number-one ranked teams from at least 4 different states

 

In addition to the “Thursday Night Lights” and “Friday Night Rivals” telecasts, Stadium will also debut a new 30-minute, Monday through Friday show titled EMERGE, beginning on Tuesday, September 4th at 2pm ET. EMERGE will spotlight the best high school talent across the country, delivering in-depth player profiles while featuring interviews with players and coaches throughout high school football. Stadium is also pleased to announce the addition of Michael Felder, UNC football alumnus and former lead college football video analyst for Bleacher Report. Felder will be heavily featured on EMERGE and throughout various Stadium platforms.

“I’m beyond excited to be joining Stadium this August,” Felder said. “Being involved in the production of content, more specifically in the creative process to get to that content is a legit motivator on my end. I think my skills and Stadium’s goals are a great match and I’m very much looking forward to hitting the ground running for the 2018 season and beyond!”

The complete 2018 Stadium high school football schedule is as follows (NOTE: Cities in parentheses highlight television market):

Thursday, August 16: Bingham @ Orem (Salt Lake City, Utah) 9pm ET

Saturday, August 18: Cedar Grove @ Summerville (Charleston, South Carolina) 5pm ET

Thursday, August 23: Archbishop Alter @ Kettering Fairmont (Dayton, Ohio) 7pm ET

Friday, August 24: Ensworth @ Christ Presbyterian Academy (Nashville, Tennessee) 8pm ET

Friday, August 31: Dwyer @ Atlantic (West Palm Beach, Florida) 7pm ET

Friday, August 31: Reed @ Bishop Manogue (Reno, Nevada) 10pm ET

Thursday, September 6: Omaha North @ Millard West (Omaha, Nebraska) 8pm ET

Friday, September 7: Thompson @ Hoover (Birmingham, Alabama) 8pm ET

Thursday, September 13: Warren @ O’Connor (San Antonio, Texas) 8pm ET

Friday, September 14: Clay Chalkville @ Pinson Valley (Birmingham, Alabama) 8pm ET

Thursday, September 20: Menomonee Falls @ Sussex Hamilton (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 8pm ET

Friday, September 21: Rochester @ Sacred Heart Griffin (Springfield, Illinois) 8pm ET

Thursday, September 27: Gahanna Lincoln @ Pickerington Central (Columbus, Ohio) 7pm ET

Friday, September 28: Central Catholic @ Pine-Richland (Pittsburgh, PA) 7pm ET

Friday, September 28: Bullard @ San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno, CA) 10:30pm ET

Thursday, October 4: Fremont @ Omaha Burke (Omaha, Nebraska) 8pm ET

Friday, October 5: Hurricane @ Huntington (Charleston, West Virginia) 7:30pm ET

Friday, October 12: Nashville Christian @ Davidson Academy (Nashville, TN) 8pm ET

Thursday, October 18: Shadow Ridge @ Arbor View (Las Vegas, Nevada) 10pm ET

Friday, October 19: Cardinal Newman @ Hammond (Columbia, South Carolina) 7:30pm ET

Thursday, October 25: Basic @ Liberty (Las Vegas, Nevada) 10pm ET

Friday, October 26: Pine-Richland @ North Allegheny (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 7:30pm ET

*Teams and times subject to change

For Stadium inquiries contact: Anthony Mazzuca —- AMazzuca@WatchStadium.com

ABOUT STADIUM

Stadium is the original multi-platform sports network featuring exclusive live and on-demand games and events, extensive highlights, classic games, original programming, and daily live studio programming. Stadium includes a 24/7 linear feed distributed across both digital and broadcast platforms, as well as a comprehensive array of on-demand (VOD) digital content including additional live games and events. Stadium is owned by a collection of industry leaders including Sinclair Broadcast Group, BAMTech, the NHL, the PGA TOUR, and Meredith Corp. To learn more, visit: http://watchstadium.com/