Streaming Games on Internet Brought Fans Closer to NPF

Photographer - Dina. T Kwit

By NPF
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
October 16, 2009

National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) entered the 2009 season excited about the idea of streaming nearly 80 games live over the Internet. To add to the excitement, in April, the women’s professional softball league announced that MLB.com would be doing the streaming. 

A total of 77 NPF regular-season games were streamed live by MLB.com.  The Akron (Ohio) Racers, Chicago Bandits, Philadelphia Force, and Florida Pride streamed all 20 of their home games. In addition, the league streamed all nine of the Championship Series games from the host site in Akron.

By season’s end, the numbers were impressive for an inaugural year.  In most cases, the NPF internet audiences outnumbered the audiences of Minor League Baseball teams doing similar live game web streaming.

Overall, the average streams per game exceeded 1,000 for each of the four clubs with the Florida Pride topping the category with an average of 1,849 streams per game. Chicago had an average of 1,108 per game, Akron 1,628 per game, and Philadelphia 1,792 per game.

Photo Courtesy of Dina T. Kwit

“For our initial year, I am really happy with these results,” Cheri Kempf, NPF Commissioner, said. “We were able to expose a lot of fans to our games that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to see them.  I know we will continue to enhance the broadcasts in the future and to also improve the quality.”

Looking ahead, NPF is approaching the second year of the MLB.com relationship looking to add to the quantity and quality of the streaming. In addition, MLB.com is committed to improve the relationship with increased coverage and cross-promotion opportunities.

“The MLB.com relationship is something we are fortunate to be apart of and we trust that our continued partnership will increase the overall exposure of our great game to many more fans,” Kempf said.

National Pro Fastpitch expects to release the 2010 schedule in January and will also announce a streaming schedule for the upcoming season. Throughout 2009, all games will continue to be available on MLB.com in the “ON DEMAND” area.  To view past games, go to: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/mediacenter/npf.jsp.

The Commissioner’s archived games selection is the June 11 game between Rockford and Akron, which featured a no-hitter by rookie Lisa Norris. 

For more information on National Professional Fastpitch, log on to: www.profastpitch.com.