LiveBarn arrives for local sports 

The Kahnawake Sports Complex is moving into the streaming age, with the launch last week of LiveBarn in the arena, an online service that provides a live feed from sports venues across North America and even in Sweden.

“It’s a part of our goal to modernize and update the arena,” said Roiatate Horn, director of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) Sports and Recreation Unit.

Community members can pay LiveBarn to access the footage.

According to the company’s website, the basic plan, which costs $25.95 per month, provides the ability to watch unlimited live feeds of any member venue on one device at a time, on-demand video access for 30 days after an event, and sharing 30-second-long highlights by email, text message, or social media.

The premium option for $10 more offers the ability to stream on two devices with the same account and download up to 30 hours of video per month on top of the other features.

New users can use the promo code KSC1-LIVE for 10 percent off the price of either plan at checkout. Using the code will also give a small amount back to the Sports Complex from LiveBarn, which did not charge Sports and Recreation for the installation of the necessary equipment.

“LiveBarn has a profit-sharing structure, where anyone who subscribes to the Kahnawake Sports Complex and uses that promotional code, some of it goes back into the arena for programming and upkeep. So, it's also a small revenue generation for us,” said Horn.

The availability of a service that allows friends and family to watch games they cannot attend in-person hits home for Horn, as the son of an ironworker who was often unable to come to his sporting events growing up.

“This is an opportunity to continue to build sports in the community by allowing people to watch their children or their loved ones play sports without actually having to be in the building,” said Horn.

“There's a lot of elders in the community that can't get out of their homes and come watch their grandkids play hockey, and this is a great opportunity to watch from the comfort of their homes, to see their loved ones score that big goal and win that important game. So, this is just a great opportunity not only to grow sports in the community, but also to bring the community closer together.”

Lou Ann Stacey has been a LiveBarn user for five years and is very excited that the service is coming to Kahnawake.

“For our family, there are a lot of kids who are playing in four or five different places, and we're just spread all over different places. It would be nice to watch some of the other games happening in town," said Stacey.

Also the director of the Kahnawake Minor Hockey Association’s U15 age group, she said the service will also have the upside of providing video evidence in case of racist or violent incidents, something the minor hockey association had been asking about for years according to Stacey.

“We have had many incidents and problems in minor hockey, some officiating, some the ways teams act, different kinds of things. We got to the point where we had to start videotaping a lot of the games when we're going different places,” said Stacey.

“Having LiveBarn will help us have video footage of everything that happens there. So if there were incidents or any kind of thing, I think it's going to help our teams.”

The service is planned to be available all year round, and for everyone using the Sports Complex, including lacrosse teams and Kahnawake Survival School, among others.

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