The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced Wednesday a multimedia partnership with SIDEARM Sports and Volar Video to create the GLVC Sports Network – an inclusive league-wide digital streaming platform designed to enhance the exposure of one of the premier NCAA Division II conferences and its 20 sports and championships, along with the profiles of each of its 16 member institutions.

The GLVC is the first Division II conference to partner with SIDEARM Sports and Volar Video on a league-wide streaming network.

The GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN) is the culmination of the conference's three-year branding initiative.  Prior to the 2012-13 season, the GLVC focused on the introduction and implementation of new conference marks, which ultimately led to championship enhancements in 2013-14 and now co-branded apparel and facility signage in 2014-15.  At the conclusion of this academic year, each of the GLVC's 19 championships (football does not have a championship game) will have been streamed for the first time in league history, while all 16 member institutions will begin operating under the GLVCSN banner in the fall of 2015.

"Now that our membership has stabilized with 16 institutions, and following the directive from our Council of Presidents to utilize existing technology to further promote the league, the creation of GLVC Sports Network was a logical, yet ambitious, step to take," said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich, now in his 15^th year.  "It is not a step we can take alone, however, which is why we are so pleased to partner with SIDEARM Sports and Volar Video in this venture.  We believe this exciting new initiative will increase the visibility and exposure of our talented student-athletes and showcase our schools, the Conference, and NCAA Division II in a positive manner.  This is a significant commitment from our membership, but one we feel is crucial to the ongoing development of the GLVC."
During the 2013 GLVC Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator Summit in Rolla, Missouri, a recommendation was put forth from the membership to engage in a league-wide initiative to begin streaming men's and women's basketball games during the 2014-15 season.  Over the course of the 2013-14 academic season, the Conference office began discussions with SIDEARM Sports and Volar Video on how their respective products and services could be incorporated into a conference-wide streaming platform for all sports, not just basketball.

The partnership with Volar Video through SIDEARM Sports was fitting given that it was first formed this past spring as the GLVC was concluding the celebration of its 35^th anniversary of the league's inception.  Dr. Charles Bertram, who served as the GLVC's first president in addition to his duties as faculty athletic representative at what is now the University of Southern Indiana, was long an advocate of sports outside of basketball, primarily cross country, soccer, and baseball.  One of his proudest moments was helping the GLVC usher in the sponsorship of women's athletics more than 30 years ago.
Today, the late Bertram's son, David, serves as the chief executive officer of Volar Video.

"As a company, Volar is thrilled to partner with the Great Lakes Valley Conference and SIDEARM Sports to help create the first network of its kind in NCAA Division II, but for me personally, it is also a chance to contribute to the legacy my dad, Dr. Charles Bertram, helped create when the conference was founded in 1978," Bertram said.  "He was the first president of the league and its primary sport was men's basketball; however, he was very committed to sponsoring other sports to allow opportunities for more and more student-athletes.  It is because of those efforts by him and countless others that the GLVCSN powered by Volar and hosted by SIDEARM will now provide worldwide exposure for GLVC institutions and their student-athletes." 

Currently the GLVC's website, GLVCsports.com, and each of the 16 league members' websites are hosted by SIDEARM Sports – the leading digital platform serving over 750 collegiate athletic programs with customized web, social media, design and mobile content services.
"Our team is proud to have worked with the GLVC on a new state-of-the-art digital network," said Dave Meluni, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at SIDEARM Sports.  "As one of the top NCAA Division II conferences in the country, we are confident GLVC fans will be thrilled with high quality video on all devices, along with social media and statistical interaction."

Through this collaboration, SIDEARM has integrated Volar's innovative Production Truck® streaming technology into its adaptive content management solution, which will feature Volar's Standard Definition Plus (SD+) streaming software in SIDEARM's Showcase video portal that will also feature social media and live stats integration.

Coverage of all 2014-15 GLVC Championships will be streamed free to each viewer on GLVCsports.com/watch, while all content streamed by conference schools on the GLVCSN beginning in 2015-16 will also be free.

The development of the GLVCSN has been inclusive and collaborative.  This past summer, at least one representative from each of the league's 16 member schools, representing the positions of athletics director, senior woman administrator and faculty athletic representative, as well as the fields of sports information, compliance, facilities and development, joined the Conference office staff as GLVCSN Subcommittee members.  The four subcommittees, representing operations, programming, branding/graphics, and marketing/advertising, were made up of six members who were asked to research and provide recommendations on five objectives pertaining to their point of emphasis.  Significant time was dedicated to analyzing costs, personnel, existing conditions of current facilities, and programming content.

The GLVCSN Subcommittees put forth the following recommendation of a four-year tiered coverage plan that will allow member schools adequate time to budget for necessary equipment and facility upgrades.

• 2014-15:  GLVC streams all Conference Championships
• 2015-16:  All 16 schools join GLVCSN and stream basketball
• 2016-17:  Required coverage to include football and volleyball
• 2017-18:  Required coverage to include soccer, baseball and softball

Prior to the 2014-15 season, each member institution was given Volar's Production Truck® software and asked to incorporate SIDEARM live stats into as many games as they could stream.  In the two months that have elapsed, 291 contests in the sports of football, volleyball, and men's and women's soccer, as well as ancillary events such as hall of fame banquets and basketball "madness" festivities, have already been streamed by 15 of the 16 GLVC schools to an audience of nearly 39,000 fans, with 92 percent of those viewers watching the event in real time.

Through its evolution, the GLVCSN will also serve as an online outlet for the league and its members to showcase its academic success and a wide range of campus programming, including but not limited to commencement ceremonies, faculty interviews, and school profiles.  Volar's Production Truck software will also enable the GLVC to run institutional, conference, and NCAA public service announcements throughout its streamed events.

The GLVCSN debuts this Friday as the conference administers four GLVC Championships in three different locations over a three-day span for the first time in league history.  A full slate of soccer is on the docket Friday as the GLVCSN streams both semifinal matches of the GLVC Women's Soccer Championship Tournament live from Kenosha, Wisconsin at 11 a.m. CT and 1:30 p.m. CT, followed by the live semifinals of the GLVC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament from Quincy, Illinois, at 5 p.m. CT and 7:30 p.m. CT.  The tournament's championship finals will be streamed live on Sunday, Nov. 9, with the women's title match at 12 p.m. CT, followed by the men's final at 2 p.m. CT.  On Saturday, Nov. 8, the GLVCSN will tape-delay the GLVC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, which begin at 10:30 a.m. CT from Lewis University.  The date and time it will air is still to be determined.

The Great Lakes Valley Conference is one of the premier NCAA Division II conferences, made of 16 member institutions from five Midwest states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin) and comprised of 5,500 student-athletes.  Founded in 1978, the GLVC has grown to sponsor 20 conference championships and is among the nation's elite in academic and athletic success.  GLVC schools have captured 15 NCAA Division II national championships, including 11 on the men's side.  Seven of those titles were earned in the sport of men's basketball, including Drury's national championship in 2013 and Bellarmine's title in 2011.  In 2013-14, the league earned a single-season record three national titles as Drury swept both men's and women's swimming and diving national crowns, while Southern Indiana earned the NCAA baseball title.  Among the 24 NCAA Division II conferences analyzed in the 2013-14 report published by the national office, the GLVC ranked second in Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) at 64 percent and third in Academic Success Rate (ASR) at 81 percent for all student-athletes.

SIDEARM Sports is the leader in collegiate athletic web-based content management solutions, providing the software and technology that powers the websites, mobile platforms, live stats, and video streaming for more 750 colleges & universities across North America.

Volar Video is a leading provider of cost-effective, customized video solutions and its Production Truck® streaming software enables clients to broadcast and monetize events in high-quality with custom graphics and dynamic ad insertion across all screens. Through its AdTrigger® ad insertion technology, clients can seamlessly insert mid-roll commercials into live and archived broadcasts, exponentially increasing clients' advertising inventory and thereby maintaining their ability to provide content free of charge to viewers.