AI Platform Helps Small Schools Scale Sports Coverage

High school and college athletic departments are using a new artificial intelligence platform to fill the void left by shrinking local news coverage. Peter Fitzpatrick, who founded high school marketing firm DistrictWon in 2019, launched the technology tool uReport in January. Part content management system, part artificial intelligence tool, Fitzpatrick says the platform is designed to help high school and college administrators scale coverage of their sports programs and other extracurriculars amid a decline in local news bandwidth.

Fitzpatrick says the decline of hyper-local sports coverage stems from media consolidation. Local newspapers have shuttered, cutting off the traditional pipeline for game recaps and feature stories. uReport aims to bring that coverage back, and potentially expand it to areas that were never covered in the first place. The system turns data inputs—such as weather, team rosters, and manual box scores—into news articles or blogs using a custom-built AI engine.

Administrators select story templates, add photos and statistics, and edit the AI-generated copy before publishing. DistrictWon is making the platform free for high schools through the 2026-27 academic year. Colleges pay an annual fee of $2,900. Pricing for high schools will tier up to $1,998 per year once the free rollout ends, with a focus on high-participation sports.

John Myers, athletic director at Buckeye Local Schools in Ohio, sees the tool as a practical solution for his district. His school has 750 students and 18 varsity sports. Myers noted that without a dedicated sports information director, his coaches previously struggled to find time to write articles. Now, coaches produce content in two to eight minutes for the school’s website and email listservs.

The change is visible in the school’s metrics. Since adopting the system in October, Buckeye’s Facebook views are up 104%, content interaction is up 72%, and site visits are up 47%. Myers said this creates a tangible benefit.

While uReport offers a way to distribute content, Frontier Conference Commissioner Scott Crawford finds it works best as an enhancement to existing systems. He uses the tool alongside the conference’s Sidearm Sports website platform. Crawford noted limitations for college-level use, specifically a lack of an actively maintained database for intra-conference statistics.

Fitzpatrick acknowledges these constraints but emphasizes the security of the AI models used. DistrictWon’s project lead developer, Sam Arseneault, stated that the system combines multiple large language models but anonymizes student data during processing. This focus on data security sets uReport apart in a competitive market of amateur sports media tools, particularly in the area of sports technology.

They are working to improve the platform.