http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/
FROM KEITH GROLLER
As part of a newly-announced Easton-Phillipsburg Service Electric Cable TV Challenge Series, the Thanksgiving morning game between the Red Rovers and Stateliners will be broadcast live to the entire Lehigh Valley and beyond.
That's because Service Electric has partnered with WFMZ-TV Channel 69 to broadcast the game with SECTV handling the production. The game will be seen on both the TV2 and Channel 69 dial positions.
TV2's broadcast team of Mike Zambelli, Jim Wills, Kristi Fulkerson and Doug Heater will handle the game from the booth and sidelines.
The broadcast will start with feature stories, a hall-of-fame ceremony, cheerleader performances, homecoming king and queen announcements and more.
Initially, there was a proposal put in place for the game to be televised on a tape-delay basis only because many football fans now make it a tradition to gather that morning in homes and eating and drinking establishments and watch the game on TV rather than attending in person. Easton athletic director Jim Pokrivsak said that there were 900 unsold tickets for last year's game.
"We're hoping that with all of the promotion that Service Electric is going to help with and the commercials that will be seen, we're going to make people understand that we still want 15,000 people in the stands at Fisher Stadium that morning," Pokrivsak said.
"We want that to happen because we rely on the gate from that game a lot, so we're hoping that the businesses that are out there making a lot of money that morning are still going to encourage people to buy tickets and come out to the game. Or they could at least make a donation to the athletic departments based on what they make on Thanksgiving morning."
Pokrivsak that this game has only been televised live for the last seven or eight years.
"It was always on tape-delay before that," Pokrvisak said. "So people would buy a ticket, go to their restaurant or bar, and then come to the game at 10:30. In that scenario, we would get our $10 and the eating and drinking places would their money. It was a win-win. But now people don't buy a ticket and just go to watch the game at restaurants, bars and friends' houses."
As part of the agreement, all other events in the Easton-Phillipsburg Challenge Series will be broadcast either live or be covered as a segment on Service Electric's "Sports Scene" show that is broadcast every weeknight.
The first competition of the 2013-14 school year takes place Thursday when the Easton and Phillipsburg girls tennis teams meet.
Sports such as swimming, track and cross country will be seen on "Sports Scene," while soccer, basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball and lacrosse will be shown on live broadcasts.
"This is a way for us to get exposure for 107 years of tradition," Phillipsburg athletic director Tom Fisher said. "It's not just about the football game, which everybody sort of thinks it is. This was about exposing all of our sports, including giving the female sports their due. To the kids involved, the girls tennis match is just as important as the football game."
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