2/7/2022
(Centralia, WA) The Eli Sports Network unveiled our new look website this morning with a new, sharper look and easier to navigate. ESN Vice-President of Communications, Will Gaethle says, “it was frankly time for a change. We have some things coming up that we want to be ready for and our focus is on getting more stories and content to our users on a daily basis.”
The Covid experience really knocked us off our growth schedule where we are trying to roll back the number of games we stream and bring more focus and coverage to the games we do get on the air. With Covid and the no fans policy that we all started with to the minimal number of parents could attend forced us into a just get as many games up so people could see as possible situation.
We fell behind budget wise as well having to invest in a lot more equipment just to get up both varsity and JV games as much as possible so parents, family and fans could see the games. The equipment we purchased to cover everything was not where our initial goal where we were wanting to upgrade the cameras, better gear, multi-camera shots and so on. Instead we ended up doubling our basic gear and at times last spring had 12 crews up streaming games all at one time with 1 person crews just to get games on the air.
We began this season with much of the same mindset but it has never been our intention to be the sole source for people to watch high school sports. Gaethle continues, by saying it is clear the traditional media continues to be in flux and we are very happy and supportive of those companies still covering high school sports but the gap is getting bigger. More and more coverage is being lost.
Our vision has always been to be an all-around media site with live play-by-play coverage which began as a free audio broadcast for our 1st 7 years to now being part of the subscription based live video stream NFHS network. Many of the schools have added the NFHS automated cameras which has helped a lot of people view who simply can’t get to the games.
Gaethle says from day 1 and we are continuing this mantra we want people to go to the games. We want people in the stands and to attend as many games as possible. We don’t want and have never wanted to be the only source for people to be able to view high school sports. We believe, especially for young families, there is no greater sports experience than packing up the kids and taking them to your local high school for a football, volleyball, basketball game or any of the sports along with music and drama events.
The new look website is another step of getting back to our mission which is focused on High School sports in Washington State. We are looking to build our network and include more schools and next is getting more student content added to our coverage.
Gaethle says there is no way we can be the single source and in fact in a very non-traditional media action we support and are happy to share all other media that are doing the good work of sharing these stories. We applaud the few newspapers left with full time staffs focused on covering High School sports along with the very few radio stations still live broadcasting games. We are also excited about some of the new on-line outlets such as Scorebook Live. All doing great work and as we begin to crank up more content our intention is not to compete but rather add to the coverage already being done.
The Eli Sports web site has always and will always be free, we do not have pop-up ads or ask for cookies or try to intrude on your experience in anyway. It is simply another step in our now 12-year evolution. One thing that won’t change and that is we will not allow any commenting on our stories. This is indeed the case of a few ruining it for others and we just don’t have the time or folks to monitor the likely nastiness that would come from a few keyboard cowards.
Gaethle says ESN is a positive sports news site anyway, not a gossip column and when we have questions we go to the source and ask and then report. It is not about trying to force anyone into how to think but rather pretty old school in presenting the facts and allowing our consumers to think for themselves. Our opinion columns are clearly marked as editorial or opinion or column, like the old days.
We will continue to use our Twitter and Facebook platforms, we do have Instagram as well it just hasn’t taken off like the stalwarts, especially Twitter. Gaethle says keep an eye on the new site for new categories and we will continue to do some coverage outside of high school sports, especially those sports that don’t get as much attention.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our 1st 12 years and we’re excited to bring you the next step in this fabulous journey celebrating and covering Washington State High School sports.
www.elisportsnetwork.com
