The NFHS Network, operated by PlayOn! Sports, is the leading network for access to high school sports in the country, offering audiences unlimited access to live and on-demand games. St. John Bosco, as an NFHS Network Affiliate, will produce selected Bosco home and away games, and other games in the CIF Southern Section for the Network as a result of this new partnership. The NFHS Network will provide camera systems for the school’s baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer and swimming facilities as well as production software for the school’s media lab. Further, the NFHS Network will collaborate with St. John Bosco’s Film & Media Arts Pathway program on training and curriculum development for its students, who will produce each live event.
“St. John Bosco is thrilled to be at the forefront of this exciting step forward in high school sports media. By forming an affiliate partnership with the NFHS Network, the leader in high school sports broadcasting, we’re not only providing wider coverage for our championship-winning athletic programs to our fans, but we’re also providing an incredible learning opportunity to our Film & Media Arts Pathway students who will be producing the games. This step, made possible by the For a Bright Future Foundation Media Lab that opened at St. John Bosco in February, is huge for our school community and for high school sports across the country,” said Dr. Brian Wickstrom, St. John Bosco President & CEO.
“The NFHS Network is proud to partner with St. John Bosco to empower students to gain real-world experience in broadcast journalism through the prestigious Film & Media Arts Pathway program,” said David Rudolph, PlayOn! Sports CEO. “We look forward to seeing the talent of the student-broadcasters and student-athletes at St. John Bosco showcased to a wider audience.”
The Film and Media Arts Pathway is a professional industry preparation program at St. John Bosco designed to prepare students for collegiate film school. From screenwriting, production and design to directing and producing, students learn about the business of the media industry through a hands-on, project-based approach. Senior Film & Media Arts Pathway student Jerrod Montgomery is excited to get started. He said, “To have this opportunity to learn from the best in the business and to actually produce a game at a professional level for a platform like the NFHS Network is something I never thought I’d be doing in high school.”
The partnership will involve a multi-sport, student-powered production initiative for Bosco home and away games and will later expand to additional schools in Southern California to expand the broadcast web for the NFHS. St. John Bosco is set to distribute the replays of the live games on their forthcoming streaming platform, Bosco+. The partnership is kicked off with St. John Bosco’s National Championship winning football team’s home opener on Friday, August 18 versus Liberty High School.
“As the head football coach at St. John Bosco High School, I am extremely excited to be partnering with the NFHS Network this upcoming season,” said Head Coach Jason Negro. “Bosco Football has become a national brand, so this new venture will help us expand our program’s exposure across the entire country. This unique partnership will also provide professional level production experience for the talented students in our school’s Film & Media Pathway.”
Head Basketball Coach at St. John Bosco, Matt Dunn, expressed his excitement for the partnership as well. St. John Bosco’s basketball program had a historic 2023 season with the team advancing to the CIF Open Division Final for the first time in school history. He added, “Being able to offer this type of innovative opportunity to our students, both in the classroom and in our athletic programs, is what we’re all about at Bosco. Not only will our Pathway students get to learn from the best, but our athletes will get to play in front of a larger global audience.”
