By Chance Chamberlain
4teez Broadcasting will be providing high definition livestreams of all Harrisonville football games this season, a task they have tackled since 2016, but this season involves more responsibility due to the Harrisonville R-9 School District guidelines for athletic events.
Jerry Foerschler, founder of 4teez Broadcasting said, “I really feel like we are essential, especially because football games will have such a limited crowd. We feel like we need to provide the best stream possible for those people that can’t attend games this season.” Harrisonville allows all participants of football games – players, coaches, band members, dance team members and cheerleaders – two tickets per participant. This practice limits the crowd and allows for the school to meet protocol set by the Cass County Health Department.
Foerschler said he has upgraded his production from last season to offer a more detailed viewing experience.
“This year, I will work out of a production van that will sit close to the field. This not only gives me a command station for producing but it also allows for social distancing. It will really keep me separated from the fans and players, which is a big plus,” he said. “I’m also working with Brent Maxwell to figure out a way to provide halftime interviews with the coaches, which would be something that adds another layer to the story of the night.”
Play-by-play commentator, Chad Grammer, said he is excited to add a sense of normalcy back into people’s lives.
“We are really going to be the eyes for many people in the community and we want to produce a broadcast that everybody can be proud of. We really want to provide some normalcy to people’s lives and there’s no better way to do that than through Harrisonville football,” he said. “We’re used to 2,000 or 3,000 people in the crowd for games and that isn’t possible right now. It will look a little weird at first, but we hope that people will use our stream to get together and reconnect with one another for the games.”
He added, “We’re all Wildcats tomorrow and that’s exactly what we need right now.” Color commentator, Gary Davidson, said the opportunity to broadcast games is special and he hopes to provide insight that benefits both the home and away teams.
“The opportunity to provide a broadcast for Harrisonville and for their opponents is really special this year because of all of the uncertainty surrounding high school sports. It will be great to provide a service that benefits so many people,” he said. “Our presentation will be viewed by more people this year due to new limitations. That means that we really have to be on our ‘A-game’ to provide a great broadcast.
“The beauty of the broadcast is that we get to share the game with people of our own community as well as the opponents. I am focused on providing good entertainment for both sides of the ball because our opponents will want to see their kids play ball just as much as the home crowd. It will be much more important to tell the whole story of the game and to give them the same feeling of pride that they would get by attending the game,” Davidson said.
4teez Broadcasting plans to cover all Harrisonville football games, 10 basketball games and 10 additional events. Foerschler said they would love to cover more events, but that there are many variables involved when it comes to planning broadcasts.
“Right now, we plan to do all of the football games at home and anywhere that we are allowed when the team plays away. Away games are pretty concerning because we don’t know if we will be allowed in the press box or if they will provide their own streams. It’s really on a week-to-week basis when it comes to away games.
“We would also love to do a lot more events, but there are multiple factors that come into play when we look at covering all sports,” he said. “Members of the team often have other obligations and families at home, which puts a cap on the number of events that we can cover. Another major factor is that games often happen at the same time, so we couldn’t make it to every event and the fact that Internet access is different at every location, it would be really tough.”
He added, “There’s just so many variables when it comes to trying to cover everything, but someday we would love to be able to cover every event.”
4teez Broadcasting livestreams are available for viewing by visiting http://www.4teez.com. Broadcasts begin 30 minutes prior to the 7 p.m. kickoff.