The CCE Sports Network was created in May 2012, to provide a multi-media platform for the LGBT sports community that organizers say features 100,000 athletes in the United States, competing in countless games, matches and tournaments—but with very little media exposure, from both the mainstream media and the gay press.
"These club, league, amateur and semi-pro athletes have never had the opportunities to have their stories told, their matches shown or have had their dedication and enthusiasm for the sport they love on display for a wider audience," said Thomas M. Garnet, the network's executive producer/owner. "We felt that live web streaming represented a perfect opportunity for the world to see that there are indeed LGBT athletes out there who compete, play hard and love the sports that they are involved in."
The CCE Sports Network is the ESPN for gay sports.
And there is a strong local tie to this online upstart, though it's based in Miami.
Garnet was born in Chicago and he lived with his husband, Adrian Uribazo, in Chicago. "Chicago has a special place in both of our hearts," Garnet said. "We consider Chicago a major market and want to be more involved with Chicago's LGBT sports."
In 2012, Uribazo and Garnet were looking to add live streaming to the many services offered by their LGBT media division, Click Click Expose. ( Click Click Expose is most known for filming pageants, pride events, and its podcast network. )
"We knew that politics, pride events, pageants, community stories, movies [and] Internet shorts were being covered in the LGBT press or by independent video producers on YouTube, Vimeo, etc., and they were being done by very talented individuals," Garnet said. "Adrian and I were at the Miami Beach Pride Parade and stumbled across the Miami Mavericks Tennis Club booth and we offered to film their tennis tournament for free as a live web streaming event. We put together a crew of four and filmed both days of the Sunshine Cup Tennis Tournament.
"We did play by play commentary, ran commercials, played music, switched between three cameras … people thought they were watching a mini tennis channel event. They even watched on their mobile phones while waiting to play their next match. It was a big hit with the players and those who were watching, and it caught the attention of the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance, the national gay tennis organization.
"We knew we found the perfect platform and community to introduce live Web streaming."
For the next 18 months, the two self-funded the CCE Sports Network and did tennis tournaments in Atlanta, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Houston [and] Washington D.C., [plus] a soccer tournament in New York and a swimming [event] in Seattle.
"The response was very positive and we knew we had created something special, something that had never been done before anywhere in the U.S., or around the world for that matter—live web streaming with music, on-screen graphics, commercials, video, play by play commentary, multi-camera filming, interviews [and more], all for the LGBT sports [community]."
In 2012, the CCE Sports Network broadcast four live events, and then nine in 2013.
This year, it has broadcast 11 events, including Gay Games 9 in Cleveland as the exclusive, live web streaming provider for the quadrennial, multi-sport extravaganza.
Plus, the group this year created the Capital Sports TV show—an LGBT sports news show, hosted by Kevin Majoros, which covers the gay sports scene in Washington D.C.
In 2015, the group hopes to add basketball, volleyball and softball to the broadcast schedule and grow to coverage of 20 events, Garnet said.
"We have adopted the NPR model of funding, so all of our support comes from sponsors, advertisers and donations," he said. "We have had several really small fundraising efforts and more than two dozen people have donated to the CCE Sports Network. Our continued ability to grow and expand will depend on the LGBT sports community and those sponsors who will support our vision and goals."
Short-term, the network is looking to cover at least 10 different sports categories; to have two sports news shows; and to have a video production team of four for every event it works, which includes two cameramen, one director and one reporter/social media director. In addition, the CCE Sports Network is looking to secure five national sponsors and new donors who will support the 2015 and 2016 broadcast season of at least 15 events per year. "This will require a budget of $40,000 or more for 2015 and 2016," Garnet said.
By 2017, "we want to be fully supported by sponsors and donations with the ability to cover at least three LGBT sports tournaments/matches/games [per] month and two sports shows a month," Garnet said. "That will allow us to reach our goal of broadcasting every week of the month." Plus, they want to cover the World OutGames in Miami with a full production team capable of covering at least 25 different sporting events. The group also wants to cover the 2018 Gay Games in Paris, with a full production capable of covering at least 35 different sporting events, Garnet said.
"Our goal is to grow the broadcast and the network, build a small production team, create news stories and be a full featured online Web production," Garnet said. "The games, interviews, tips, highlights, stories, clinics—all of the things you would see on an ESPN or Fox Sports, we believe can be done for gay sports."
Garnet is the travelling producer for all live events. If a tournament cannot get enough sponsors to support a full production team, he will set up three unmanned cameras and switch cameras, call play by play, do online scoring and run commercials for the entire broadcast.
"The goal is to always have at minimum a staff of three—two camera operators and myself directing," Garnet said.
Garnet said one of the biggest challenges his crew faces is "showing tournament directors the benefit and value that comes from having their event on the CCE Sports Network."
"Tournaments struggle with cost every year and getting sponsors to help them. When we come along, we are just one more expense, or hassle, that they have to deal with; we understand that," Garnet said. "Our challenge is showing how live Web streaming can be such a value as it opens marketing doors to a wider audience for expanding sponsorship reach beyond the regional market. Our goal is to have a national sponsor cover 70 percent of the cost of production and regional sponsors covering 30 percent. The challenge with national sponsors who want millions of views and hits is to convince them that this is a niche market that will be instantly supportive of their brand and cause and will spend dollars for their product."
The CCE Sports Network is in need of sponsors and donors, and seeking donations at its website; visit www.ccesportsnetwork.com/donations .
