How to live stream sports to Facebook Live with OBS

For a lot of schools and clubs, Facebook is where the families already are. Grandparents follow the booster club Page, team parents live in the group, and a notification that the game is live gets more viewers than a link buried on a website. This guide sets up OBS to stream to Facebook Live: getting the server URL and stream key from Live Producer, keeping one key for the whole season, building scenes and adding a scoreboard.

Decide where the stream goes

Facebook streams can go to a Page, a profile or a group. Pick deliberately:

A Page is usually the right answer. It keeps the videos with the program when volunteers move on, and Page admins can be added and removed as crews change.

Before you stream school games, check with your athletic director or state association. Many have streaming agreements, and postseason games in many states can stream only to the NFHS Network. Our streaming rights guide lists the questions to ask.

Get the server URL and stream key

1. Open Live Producer and choose where you're going live: your Page, a group or a profile.
2. Choose streaming software as the video source, rather than your webcam.
3. Facebook shows a server URL and a stream key. Facebook uses RTMPS, so the server address starts with rtmps.
4. Turn on the option to use a persistent stream key, so the same key works for future broadcasts.

The persistent key is what makes Facebook easy for a season. You enter it in OBS once, and every game after that is just a matter of setting up the post and clicking Start Streaming. Without it, you'd need a fresh key every game and someone would eventually paste last week's key at 6:55 p.m.

The flip side: a persistent key is a standing password to your Page's live video. Keep it out of shared docs and group chats, and reset it in Live Producer if it leaks. Facebook's own documentation at facebook.com/business/help has the current steps if the menus have moved.

Connect OBS to Facebook

1. In OBS, open Settings, then Stream.
2. Choose Facebook Live as the service, or choose Custom and paste the RTMPS server URL from Live Producer.
3. Paste the stream key and click Apply.
4. Under Video, set a 1920×1080 base canvas so the scoreboard overlay lines up exactly.
5. Under Output, set a bitrate that Facebook recommends for your resolution and that sits comfortably below your measured upload speed.

Get in the habit of checking both screens: OBS should say it's streaming, and Live Producer should show your video in its preview before the broadcast goes out to viewers. If the preview stays blank, the key or server is wrong.

Scenes that fit a Facebook audience

Facebook viewers drop in and out from their feed. Many of them arrive mid-game with the sound off. Build scenes that work for that:

• Pregame: a title card with both team names, the level and the start time. People scrolling past see what the video is before they tap.
• Live: camera plus the scoreboard. The scorebug matters more on Facebook than anywhere, because muted viewers can't hear the announcer give the score.
• Break: a full scoreboard with sponsor graphics, for halftime and timeouts.
• Be right back: a still card for when the camera or capture card drops.
• Postgame: the final score and a thank-you to sponsors.

Write the post text in Live Producer before you go live: teams, sport, level and date. It's what shows in the feed and in notifications, and it's what people search for later.

Add a live scoreboard

With ScoreCastr, the scoreboard is a link you add to OBS as a browser source:

1. Create a match for your sport and set both teams.
2. In the Live scene, add a Browser Source, paste the overlay link and set it to 1920×1080. Keep it above the camera in the source list.
3. The scorekeeper runs the dashboard from a phone, tablet or laptop. If the venue Wi-Fi stutters, the dashboard's status dot shows Slow or Offline, and changes are saved on the device and sent when the connection returns.

ScoreCastr also gives you a public match page with share buttons. Posting that link in the comments helps fans whose feed won't load video follow the score anyway. The scorebug is on the free plan; full-screen scoreboards, lineups, team logos and a sponsor spot on the scorebug start on the Starter plan. See how to add a scoreboard overlay to OBS for sizing and troubleshooting.

Music and audio on Facebook

Facebook can mute or interrupt live video that contains copyrighted music. At a game, that usually means the PA playlist or the band at halftime. A few habits help:

• Use only music you have rights to in your Pregame and Break scenes.
• Pull the crowd mic down during walk-up songs and halftime music, and let the announcer talk over it.
• Go to the Break scene with your own audio during halftime shows if they're music-heavy.

Test, then go live

Do a test broadcast before the first game. If you don't want it in the Page's feed, stream to a test destination you control, or delete the test video afterward. Watch it on a phone with sound off and then with sound on. Confirm the scoreboard is readable at feed size, the voice is clear over the crowd and OBS isn't dropping frames.

Facebook game-day checklist

• Persistent stream key entered in OBS, and the server set to Facebook's RTMPS address.
• Post text written in Live Producer: teams, sport, level, date.
• Scoreboard match created and the browser source showing in OBS.
• Upload speed tested from the streaming spot. See streaming with bad internet if it's marginal.
• Start Streaming in OBS, confirm the preview in Live Producer, then go live on the Pregame scene.
• Share the public match page link in the comments.
• After the final, end the broadcast in Live Producer and stop streaming in OBS.

Want the same game on YouTube too? Multistreaming with Restream sends one stream from OBS to several platforms.