Since IdahoSports.com first hit the internet in 1997, the world has evolved in many ways.
Gasoline for your vehicle is no longer $1.22, Netscape has been replaced as the web browser of choice by the likes of Google Chrome and mobile hotspots have eliminated the need for hundreds of feet of Ethernet cable as the primary way of picking up an internet signal to put out our Gamestreams.
It’s probably safe to assume that the vast majority of the student-athletes around the state wouldn’t recognize the number one songs of 1997, Elton John’s “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” and the “Candle In The Wind” remake.
My how the times have changed.
In fact, every current high school student-athlete throughout Idaho was born AFTER the initial launch of our site.
Over the last 20 years, IdahoSports.com has been Idaho’s online leader in high school sports information, providing schedules, scores, game broadcasts, photo galleries and written content.
It has been quite a journey.
 The concept of bringing high school sporting events to viewers in a webcast format was unheard of when we became the first company to do it back in 2004. Our first game on the interwebs was the 2004 2A State Football Championship at Holt Arena between New Plymouth and West Side, won by the Pirates 40-19. Since then, streaming has taken off throughout the country, with our version of Gamestreams seeing improvements each year including dramatically improved video quality, a larger viewer window and a steady influx of talented on-air personalities.
During the course of the 2017/2018 academic year we broadcast a record 470 live games with over 1.5 million viewers, while at the same time welcoming 3.1 million visitors to check out everything else our site has to offer. The support of coaches, administrators, fellow media members and all of you has made this continued improvement to what we do possible.
Each passing year has also seen growth in the amount of information presented in our schedules, scores and standings features. There have been a lot of people putting work in to make sure that each sport season has complete schedules for each team and scores filled in to accompany those schedules. The 2017/2018 academic year was our best year yet in regard to information on the team pages, and we hope the extra work that goes in to keeping this accurate and up-to-date on a consistent basis does not go unnoticed in an era where people are always looking for sources to trust for information on the internet.
There is no question though that photos provide the most timeless way to look back on memories. Our action photographers are the best of the best at what they do and their efforts have provided snapshot memories of state championships, highlight worthy moments and everything in between for years. The photographer team led by Steve Conner has received plenty of accolades collectively as a group. We are fortunate to be able to work with such a talented pool of photographers that do what they do with the primary focus of doing this for the kids. It’s why you’ll see photos on the galleries for Bonners Ferry all the way down to Malad and virtually all areas in between.
Now, just as we have done with various other areas of coverage over the years, it’s time for us to evolve and delve into new and exciting territory.
With the upcoming school year now underway, we are excited to announce that we will be expanding our coverage to include a heavy emphasis on editorial content. Some of this content will include athlete features, in-depth articles, a weekly podcast and an improved photo website, IdahoSportsPhotos.com, which will make viewing and ordering the best shots from our talented team of action photographers as easy as it has ever been.
Thanks to the work of Jeff and Dustin Wixom, we now have a mobile friendly site that will allow fans to stay up-to-date on all happenings in high school sports whether that be on your phone, computer or tablet. Probably the most exciting aspect of this current site redesign is that this will not be the final version of improvements. We will continue to work to build upon the base that is this new look, adding content and functionality that makes it easy to follow your favorite teams, players and coaches from wherever you may be.
As the 2018 fall sports season gets going, we are excited to welcome you to the new IdahoSports.com! We hope you like what you see, and as always, content ideas and submissions are highly encouraged, just simply email sven@idahosports.com.
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