For a lot of schools, booster clubs and youth leagues, the audience is already on Facebook. Grandparents follow the team Page, and the parents' group is where everyone asks "is the game on tonight?" This guide shows how to get a Facebook stream key from Live Producer, decide where the video should post, and stream from an iPhone with the scoreboard on screen.
Before you start: rights and permission
Rights first. Many state associations and conferences have streaming agreements, and in many states postseason games can stream only to the NFHS Network. Check with your athletic director or state association before you post. Our guide to high school streaming rights covers what to ask.
Your role on the Page. To stream to a school or team Page, your account needs a Page role that allows going live. Ask the Page admin to grant it in the Page settings rather than handing you the admin login. For a group, the group's admins control whether members can post live video.
Page, profile or group
Facebook streams can go to a Page, a personal profile or a group. Pick one on purpose:
| Destination | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Page | Schools, athletic departments, clubs. Public, searchable, and the video stays with the organization | Needs a Page role for whoever runs the stream |
| Group | A private parents' or team group where only members should watch | Only members see it, so fans outside the group can't |
| Profile | A one-off stream by a parent | The video lives on one person's account, and audience settings follow that person's privacy choices |
For a school program, a Page is almost always the right answer. If families want privacy, stream to a group, or keep the Page post and ask your AD what the school's policy is on public video of students.
Get the server URL and stream key
Facebook's encoder setup lives in Live Producer. Open it from the Live video option when creating a post on the Page or group, or from Facebook's creator tools. Then:
- Choose where to post: the Page, group or profile.
- Choose streaming software as the video source (not the webcam option).
- Copy the server URL and the stream key. Facebook uses RTMPS, so the server URL starts with
rtmps://. Copy the whole thing; a URL missing its first few characters is the most common reason Facebook never sees the stream.
Facebook's business help center documents the current Live Producer screens if the layout has moved.
Use a persistent stream key
By default, Facebook can give you a new key for each broadcast. Live Producer has an option to keep the same key for future broadcasts. Turn it on. Then you paste the key into the phone once and it works all season, instead of someone texting a fresh key to the camera person ten minutes before kickoff.
A persistent key is also a reason to protect it. Anyone with the key can broadcast to your Page. Don't post it in a group chat, and if it leaks, reset it in Live Producer and update the phone.
Schedule the broadcast and write the post
Scheduling in Live Producer creates an announcement post so followers know when to tune in. Set it for the start of pregame. A few details make a difference on Facebook specifically:
- Title and description. Teams, level and date, such as "JV Volleyball vs. Lincoln, Tuesday 5:30". Add the sponsor's name in the description if they've paid for a mention.
- Notifications. Followers can choose to be reminded of a scheduled broadcast. Share the scheduled post to the parents' group a day ahead.
- Comments. Decide who watches the comments. Facebook comments on student-athlete video need a moderator, or at least a page admin who checks during the game.
- How it starts. Check in Live Producer whether your broadcast goes live when you click Go live or at the scheduled time, so nobody is surprised at kickoff.
Set up the phones
The ScoreCastr iPhone app is in public beta on TestFlight, free during the beta, with Android coming later. It uses two phones: one keeps score, the other films and streams with the scoreboard built into the video in the match's template and team colors.
- Create the match on the scoring phone.
- On the filming phone, scan the match's QR code to pair. No account needed.
- Paste the Facebook RTMPS server URL and the stream key into the filming phone's stream settings. There's no Facebook sign-in in the app; the key is all it needs.
- Turn the phone to landscape, set zoom (0.5x to 3x), check the mic level and make sure the scorebug switch is on.
Scoring in the app is football first, with more sports coming. For basketball, volleyball or other sports, the scorekeeper can run the ScoreCastr dashboard at scorecastr.co in a phone browser while the iPhone app streams.
The stream is 1080p at 30fps, about 6 Mbps, and a two-hour game uses about 5.4 GB of data. The bitrate steps down if the upload can't keep up and recovers on its own. Keep the filming phone shaded and on good power, since phones get hot streaming on cellular while charging.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Live Producer shows no preview | Check the server URL starts with rtmps:// and was pasted in full. Re-copy the key with no spaces |
| Worked last week, not today | The key wasn't persistent and expired with the last broadcast. Turn on the persistent key and paste the new one |
| Stream went to the wrong place | Each destination has its own key. A key from your profile streams to your profile, not the Page |
| Audio muted or stream flagged | Facebook can act on copyrighted music. Keep the phone mic away from the PA speakers during songs |
| Picture gets soft mid-game | The upload is struggling and the app lowered the bitrate. Move closer to the hotspot or try a different carrier. See streaming with bad internet |
Game-day checklist
- Week before: rights confirmed, Page role granted, persistent key saved in the app.
- Day before: broadcast scheduled, post shared to the parents' group, phones charged and updated.
- 60 minutes out: mount the filming phone, speed test the upload, pair by QR code.
- 30 minutes out: start sending and confirm the preview in Live Producer.
- Pregame: go live, check the stream on a separate phone, assign a comment moderator.
- Final: hold the final score on screen, thank sponsors, end the broadcast in Live Producer.
Moving to a laptop later? The same key works in OBS. See Facebook Live with OBS, or stream to Facebook and YouTube together with Restream.