New York City Football Club

Background

Roberto Abramowitz and Glenn Crooks are the long-standing voices behind NYCFC's English and Spanish commentary. Since the club's inception in 2015, they've been delivering live play-by-play coverage, building a dedicated following among fans of New York City Football Club.

With a wealth of experience in sports broadcasting and journalism, they've become a key part of the matchday experience - ensuring that both English and Spanish-speaking audiences feel connected, whether at home or on the move.

The Challenge

In NYCFC's early years, delivering live commentary was a complex and costly operation. Roberto and Glenn depended on a traditional radio setup that required hiring a dedicated engineering company for every match—home and away. This meant transporting bulky equipment like mixers, microphones, and cables, coordinating technical support, and managing setup and teardown in constantly changing environments. While the broadcasts were professional, the process was resource-intensive, expensive, and logistically demanding—making it difficult to scale or adapt as the club's needs evolved.

As NYCFC moved away from traditional radio and embraced streaming, they needed a cost-effective, reliable, and professional-grade solution that allowed them to maintain broadcast quality while streamlining their setup.

They needed a way to:

• Expand their audience, allowing remote fans and alumni to tune in live
• Maintain professional audio quality from multiple locations, including their studio and live from courtside
• Avoid the complexity and high costs of building a custom streaming solution using something like Shoutcast and Icecast
• Ensure seamless access to live audio without forcing fans onto unfamiliar streaming platforms

The Solution

Mixlr provided the perfect blend of reliability, simplicity, and quality. By switching to Mixlr's streaming solution, Glenn and Roberto could take complete control of their broadcasts—from setup to delivery—while cutting costs and improving accessibility for fans.

Seamless Implementation & Key Features

Implementation was smooth and straightforward, with a thoughtfully selected and configured broadcast setup tailored for professional-grade audio and ease of use.

• Mixer: Yamaha MG10 XU USB mixer
• Microphones: Audio-Technica BPHS1 broadcast stereo headsets
• Cough Buttons: 2 custom boxes for muting when needed
• Headphone Mixer & Jacks: Personalized control over what each commentator hears
• Software: Mixlr desktop app running on a laptop
• Software: Mixlr desktop app running on a laptop

🎛 Professional Setup, Simplified

• 🎙 Live Streaming from Anywhere:

  NYCFC's commentary team can deliver high-quality, real-time broadcasts from both home and away games using a compact, mobile setup—ensuring fans never miss a moment, no matter where the match takes place.

• 🌍 Website & App Integration

  Fans can easily tune in through the embedded Mixlr player on the NYCFC app and website—providing seamless access to live commentary without the need for additional downloads or platforms.

• 📻 24/7 Radio Streaming:

  Using Mixlr's fallback feature, NYCFC runs a continuous stream of previously recorded matches available on Mixlr and TuneIn, keeping fans engaged around the clock, even on non-match days.

• 📂 Recordings & Archived Content:

  Every live broadcast is automatically recorded, allowing fans to replay past matches at any time and ensuring the club maintains a growing archive of commentary content.

Game-Changing Impact

With Mixlr, NYCFC's commentary team evolved from a traditional radio broadcast into a modern, global platform—delivering real-time play-by-play to fans worldwide.

• 📉 Reduced Costs: No longer dependent on third-party engineers and heavy equipment.
• 🌍 Global Access: Fans can tune in from anywhere in the world via app or web.
• 🎙 Professional Quality, Anywhere: Their current setup enables seamless broadcasting from both home and away games.
• 🕒 24/7 Experience: Through fallback and archived recordings, fans never miss the action.