High school sports broadcasting has grown exponentially in the past two decades and the heights to which it will continue seem unseen. It’s not just your mom-and-pop, grainy press box broadcast anymore, ladies and gentlemen.
And the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic, the Drive for the GHSA State Title series and a newly added Georgia High School Sports Daily show on the Peachtree Sports Network are testaments to that fact.
It’s been a long time since the only time you could see high school football was, well, in person. Then, maybe you could catch a semifinals or state championship game on, if you had the right station.
Now you could watch a high school football game from the summit of Mount Everest if you wanted to via several apps produced by schools in various forms.
Football broadcasts have streamed in various qualities for years. Some better, some worse. And in recent years, there have been several entities who have gone leaps and bounds ahead to promote and broadcast the sport.
In the early 2000’s, you really had to be the cream of the crop to have a chance as a television spot.
“We were the best team in the nation,” said former Parkview star receiver Jeff Francoeur, the Atlanta Braves legend and hometown hero. “If it was the state finals or semifinals, you knew you were going to be on TV. Other than that, you were not seeing it.”
Now, on a Friday night, Carrollton is playing AH Parker (Ala.) on ESPN2.
“To see how far it’s come is crazy” Francoeur said. “And I think it’s great. I think it’s great in our state because we have one of the best states for athletics. Which is so cool. Because it’s not like we are the size of California, right?”
And he is right. And those type of die-hard, high quality football-producing expectants that make up the population of our state are why broadcasting the football is flat-out worth it.
Headed by the Corky Kell’s behind the scenes crew, the ball began rolling toward what we see in the broadcasts today. The four-game Saturday broadcast from Mercedes-Benz Stadium capped a four-day, 10-game schedule to usher in the 2024 season. Each game was broadcast on the Peachtree Sports Network and the Atlanta News First website and app, beginning with a double-header Wednesday to the four-game finale at Arthur Blank’s $2 billion castle while being watched nationally.
Those words were unthinkable years ago.
Even as recently as 2017, the Corky Kell was a two-day nine-game event held at Mercer in Macon and Georgia State Stadium. There have been several location changes since 2018 and a strange lineup in 2020 due to Covid-19, but each season the television broadcast quality improved and evolved. And the event has been played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium five times.
And it’s not your average grainy broadcast from the press box.
When watching any of the 10 Corky Kell games, it could have very easily confused them with any Division I college broadcast.
There were informative commercials on Georgia high school football’s Top 100 players, sponsored by Ingles. The play-by-play and color-commentary was exactly what you’d expect on Saturday from Rusty Mansell and crew. Anchor Kaylee Mansell, Rusty’s daughter, controlled the broadcast from start to finish and is built for the job. The young lady lives for sports.
Behind the scenes the ‘Corky’ is owned by Dave Hunter and I.J. Rosenberg, the President of Score Atlanta, which is the control hub for the content, logistics and broadcasting side of the event. Ashley Carey, Rosenberg’s daughter, serves as the office manager at Score and producer for the Corky Kell’s broadcast.
Graham David, the Senior Vice President of Score, is the Corky ‘Mr. Everything’ man. Najeh Wilkins provided segments throughout the broadcast and called the play-by-play at Hebron Christian. The broadcasting team is run by Roddy White, who handles everything needed from the television side of things.
Seth Ellerbee and Craig Sager II provide coverage content.
It’s a family affair.
And each week the crew broadcasts one game through the semifinals to bring the same quality broadcast, analysis and content expected at the college level.
“You see guys from here each and every Saturday in college,” said Francoeur on coverage growth. “And not just football, but other sports, playing at the highest level. I think it just says a lot about how we promote sports in the state of Georgia. But I think we also do it the right way.”
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