High school football games headed to prime time television

By Steve Silver (contact)

Thursday, June 11, 2009 | 6:11 p.m.

Las Vegas high school football players might need to invest in some makeup, because the spotlight of prime time television cameras will shine on 11 games this upcoming season.

The Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group will expand its "Thursday Night Lights" live high school football show to Southern Nevada starting in August. Sinclair owns 58 television stations in 35 markets.

Each Thursday, one game will be shown live locally on My LVTV Channel 12, which is a sister station of KVCW The CW Las Vegas. Sinclair coordinated with the Clark County School District to move one game each week from Friday to Thursday night. Games will begin at 8 p.m., one hour later than the traditional start time.

"Our goal is to make Thursday nights to high school what Monday is to the NFL," said Steve Mann, Sinclair's regional director. "We are making this a community wide event. We want this to be more than just a game itself. We will go out and produce a segment about each school in each game to air during halftime so we can feature the positive aspects of each school."

Over the course of the regular season, 18 teams will play on live television. Palo Verde, Bishop Gorman, Centennial and Las Vegas High will each appear twice.

For each school competing on Thursday, their respective freshman and junior varsity games will move to Friday. Aside from the rare chance to compete in front of a live television audience, the winner of each Thursday game will receive a special trophy, Mann said.

"This is a really exciting opportunity and obviously a great way to showcase our local athletes," said Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost, who helped Sinclair and the Clark County School District negotiate this deal.

After a successful inaugural season of "Thursday Night Lights" in Nashville, Mann said Sinclair sought out three additional markets for this season. The company chose Las Vegas, San Antonio and Birmingham, Ala.

In addition to a yet-to-be-determined three-person broadcasting team, Mann expects approximately 20 people to work on each game's broadcast. He anticipates the cost of each show to range from $10,000 to $15,000.

"It's definitely not easy to put together, but I think the effort is worth it," Mann said. "I've been in the TV business for 25 years and I can honestly say that this is the best grass roots event that I have ever been a part of and that's why we are expanding it into these additional markets because of what it means to the schools, to the players, the fans and everyone involved."

The network has already secured three corporate sponsors, but is still waiting to finalize a major naming rights deal.

Either Del Taco, Pizza Hut or Papa Johns will most likely purchase that top sponsorship spot, said Sonia Maxwell, Las Vegas sales manager Sonia Maxwell for My LVTV. Taco Bell is the sponsor of the show in Nashville.

"As a local Las Vegas resident and someone who went to school from elementary through high school and UNLV, I can't begin to tell you how exciting this is," Maxwell said. "This is going to be a great opportunity to highlight our communities and the local student athletes."

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or steve.silver@lasvegassun.com.