Kevin Hensley
Not allowing home sporting events to be televised is an archaic philosophy, directly linked to harming live attendance around the initial rise of televisions hitting homes in the 1950s and 1960s.
Time has proven that it is also a myth that has been debunked over and over again: blacking out games within a certain distance of the venue has zero impact on ticket sales.
But as things stand right now, our streaming platform for Black Knight athletics will not be carrying home varsity games this year.
The Graham Star Sports Network has logged countless miles since launching in 2022, providing a wide array of livestream coverage for Robbinsville athletics – both away from Graham County and inside the local gyms – to the fans who are unable to make it to games in-person. The network gladly caters to several demographics, including:
* Family members that live out-of-state and cannot travel to watch an event;
* Other relatives that may reside in the county, but are unable to attend, due to physical condition or a medical issue;
* Parents that work on the road, but still want to watch their child play.
In turn, we charge the same price to watch the streams that anyone would pay to buy an in-person ticket at a game.
The idea to monetize the product came in 2021, during the 1A Western Regional Final football game. Robbinsville was at Mitchell and – with the world still battling the COVID pandemic – we elected to livestream the entire year of Black Knight athletics for free, on our Facebook page.
At one point, we had 500 viewers tuned in and as that number came across the screen in the press box, I thought to myself, "If we were charging even just $5 for this …"
The concept was born, with the idea of both supporting revenue for your local newspaper and giving back to the Robbinsville athletic program. Since The Star was founded in 1955, the amount of coverage printed inside our pages on Blue Devils' (yes, we existed that long ago) and Knights' sports has been nothing short of massive. It's a service to the student-athletes and the community: just like the livestreams we provide today of sports, government meetings and other community events.
As the only local media outlet in town, it is our duty to adapt and deliver a high standard of journalism that you deserve. In today's society, that means embracing technology; for us, that means doing our very best to bring the news to you, in the most convenient way possible (and yes, sports is news. End of discussion).
In three years, our streaming efforts have led to donations back to Robbinsville High athletics that total nearly $7,000. We don't publish a press release every time we deliver a check, because we're not doing it to glorify ourselves: instead, we deliver gratitude for the opportunity and a sense of giving back to something that means so much to our local community. There's no need for publicity.
When I first learned the news of Graham County Schools' decision a few weeks ago, I was caught off-guard. Our streams have brought more of an audience to the Black Knights and helped fund the cause at the same time. I had optimistically hoped that a few phone calls and an open letter would lead to some reconsideration, but here we are.
Next week begins the 2025 Robbinsville High football season. We would love the chance to bring it into your living room, providing the same service that we do for the community with all of our coverage. For now, we are limited to youth football and away varsity games (in the case of the latter, we have to get permission from the host school to stream, so even that is not always a guarantee).
If our livestreams have ever benefitted you in any way, I encourage you to make your voice heard. The Graham County Schools Central Office can be reached at 479-9820; our superintendent is Robert Moody.
Kevin Hensley is the publisher/editor of The Graham Star. He can be reached via phone, 828-479-3383; email, editor@grahamstar.com; or on X, @KevinHensleyCNI.