If you're like me, you spend A LOT of time preparing for a broadcast. In football, nothing takes more time than creating your spotting board (also called spotting charts, flip charts, radio boards, tv boards or depth charts). "Old School" announcers still like to write out their boards. Me, I figure if I'm using a highly technical electronic device to get the audio back to the station...why would I use pen and paper to WRITE a spotting board?

I first started working with a computerized spotting board about 2000. Now, I use a web-based, mysql database driven, spotting board. What is mysql? Imagine a web server-based Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Here's a sample of what the layout looks like.

Click on the image for the full sample.

What that means for you is that you can copy-and-paste the roster from the schools website (or from a Word document that's emailed to you) and put that into the database...fill in a few numbers online...and you have a spotting board (complete with stats) in about 15 minutes!

The best thing, all font sizes and colors are customizable...and you don't need to know ANYTHING about mysql in order to use this system!

At playbyplayspottingboards.com, we will do all the technical stuff for you. We will "host" your pages on our server...and give you access to the database so that you can be "up and running" in less than a half an hour.

Plus, we'll be able to answer any questions you may have. We provide this service for just $50 a year (that's less than $5 per game)!

If you have the technical expertise and have your own domain name and website...you can purchase the code for the software for $200...and you can use the system for many, many years to come for no additional cost!

There are other methods of doing spotting boards on the computer...some that even import the stats for you. Of course, they don't work with small colleges or high schools...only the BIG TIME jobs...and they cost upwards of $400 per season! Of course, if you had a BIG TIME job, you wouldn't have to read the birthdays in the morning, do a remote at the local hardware store at noon...and STILL GET TO A GAME AT 7PM that night!

If you are doing high school or small college football play-by-play, this is for you!

If you have any questions, just click on CONTACT above.

It's all pretty easy for the end user, actually. Our system takes an Excel spreadsheet (we provide the layout...you copy and paste the info in it), and uploads it to the database. Then you need to edit one html file (the file with the jersey numbers of the 2-deep roster).

Don't worry, it VERY easy and we will walk you through it until you are feeling comfortable. You don't even have to purchase any software to edit the numbers file. Notepad (comes free on Windows) or Textedit (comes free on a Mac) will open and edit the file.

Once your spreadsheet and "numbers" file are complete, you send both files to our server. That's it!

Here's a how-to video

Yes, and no! While you do need to pay up-front...if you find that you don't like the software, you can request a refund at any time during the first week after your purchase.

That should give you plenty of time to "kick the tires" and see how it works for you. If you don't like it for any reason, we'll refund your total purchase price.

You can purchase the software by clicking on the PAYPAL button above. You have two choices, though. If you don't have a lot of html knowledge, we'll do the work for you. If you have your own website that you wish to run the software on, you can purchase the software outright, and never have to pay for it again.

If you pay for the first year and have us host your pages...and then next year you want the full version, just let us know. We'll deduct the price that you've paid on a yearly basis. So, the "normal" price to purchase the software is $200...but you've already paid $50 for us to host it the first year. That means that you will only have to pay $150 next year to purchase the software outright.

Let us know if you have any questions. Also, contact us for "group" pricing (your station has multiple play-by-play announcers covering numerous games each week)...we'll work out a deal on a case-by-case basis.