PlayOn Sports, which owns MaxPreps, GoFan, and the NFHS Network, kicked off the second season of its MaxPreps Game of the Week on August 21, streaming marquee high school football matchups nationally and free on YouTube. The showcase itself costs nothing to watch, but it sits inside a much larger business, one where PlayOn’s NFHS Network charges roughly $13.99 a month for access to the vast majority of everyday local high school broadcasts that aren’t part of the national showcase.
The opening Game of the Week matched top ranked St. John Bosco against No. 2 Bishop Gorman, streamed live from Las Vegas. “The MaxPreps Game of the Week between No. 1 St. John Bosco (CA) and No. 2 Bishop Gorman (NV) already has championship game vibes,” MaxPreps posted, promoting the free national broadcast.
If the Marquee Games Are Free, Where Does the Paywall Actually Sit?
It sits with the NFHS Network’s regular subscription, the service most families actually need if they want to watch their own kid’s away games rather than the small handful of nationally showcased matchups. Customer complaints logged with the Better Business Bureau describe venues barring family members from livestreaming games themselves because NFHS Network held exclusive rights, along with recurring billing problems and games that simply failed to stream despite being advertised as available.
None of that makes the free national showcase a bad thing on its own, more people getting to watch a genuine No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup is a real benefit. But it does mean the same company consolidating ticketing, streaming, and stats under one roof through PlayOn’s ownership of GoFan, MaxPreps, and NFHS Network is also the one deciding which games are free advertising and which ones a family has to pay a monthly fee to see their own kid play in.
