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St. Olaf athletic events now streamed online

By Kari VanDerVeen
September 3, 2008

Ole sports fans who can't make it to the big game no longer have to miss out on the action. St. Olaf athletic events are now streamed online, which means live video and audio coverage is just a few clicks of the mouse away.

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You can access the online streaming by visiting the St. Olaf Streaming and Multimedia website, which includes a list of events that will be streamed online and archives of previously shown games. Streaming of athletic events began with the volleyball team's Aug. 29 game against Northwestern College. The next event that will be streamed is the football team's Sept. 13 game against Pacific Lutheran University. (This game will be streamed live, but won't be archived until Sept. 20 due to rules set by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.)

The streaming includes an audio and video presentation that uses two to three cameras to capture the action. All broadcasts will include ambient crowd noise, and some games will also have play-by-play commentary. The streams will have a real-time updating score display, just like over-the-air sports broadcasts. Web viewers may connect to the stream 10 minutes before the game begins, and each event will be streamed in its entirety. At this time, only home games in Skoglund Athletic Center and Manitou Field will be streamed. Additional events may be added in the future.

The athletic events that are streamed will be available "on demand" online a few hours after the event has concluded. The games will also be archived on the site and available for viewing indefinitely.

The goal of streaming athletic events online is to give parents, alumni and other fans the opportunity to watch games live even if they aren't able to make it to the event. It will also give prospective student-athletes an opportunity to watch live and archived games to become more familiar with the programs, facilities and atmosphere surrounding St. Olaf Athletics.

While many colleges provide live streaming of athletic events, few provide archived viewing and even fewer provide multi-camera, graphics-heavy productions like St. Olaf.

A high-speed connection of 512k or greater is needed to watch all athletic streams. The majority of users connecting via cable, WiFi, high-speed DSL, Fiber, T1 or LAN Internet should be able to view the streams successfully.

The streams of athletic events will join a wide range of other St. Olaf events available for viewing online, including chapel services, concerts and recitals, and academic presentations.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.