Jürgen Klinsmann’s announcement of the U.S. Men’s National Team roster for the next round of World Cup Qualifying last Sunday came with a number of interesting surprises. A handful of young players earned unexpected call-ups, but the most exciting change was the format of the announcement itself. Klinsmann revealed his roster via a Facebook Live stream on the Fox Soccer page, garnering an audience of 174,000 viewers.

More sports teams and broadcasters are turning to Facebook Live, and the format is proving instrumental in driving the next wave of fan engagement.

“We’re a television-driven program, but social media sites have really placed a priority on live video, and they’re starting to enter the live sports space,” said Dayton University Athletic Director Neil Sullivan, as two of the school’s basketball games will be broadcast over Facebook Live this season. “Now games can be shared with worldwide audiences, and we think it’s an experiment that makes a lot of sense.”

Basketball’s union with Facebook Live does not end at the college level. The NBA live streamed USA Basketball exhibition games over the summer on the web platform, and the Orlando Magic broadcast a pre-season game over Facebook Live to anyone within a 75-mile radius of the arena. An Atlanta Hawks practice session on 1 October received over one million views, showing that sports fans are interested in Facebook Live streams for a range of content that goes beyond just games.

“We’re all about adapting and making it easy for our fans to engage with the team, meeting them where they are. Facebook has proven to be one of our most successful channels for connecting to our fanbase,” said Melissa Proctor, Chief Marketing Officer of the Atlanta Hawks.

Facebook Live is appealing to audiences because it has very few barriers to entry, especially as the prices of television sports packages continues to rise. The format allows for discussion among fan bases and direct interaction between the broadcaster and the viewers. During his live stream, Klinsmann was able to answer fan questions about the roster and upcoming matches, an unprecedented level of real-time interactivity.

U.S. Soccer’s roster announcement was only the beginning of an entire Facebook Live week, an event that embraces the new wave of fans that crave interactive content through digital formats. The U.S. Soccer page will feature live practice streams, player Q&As and exclusive video content. Two training sessions have already been broadcast, as well as audience interview sessions with midfielder Alejandro Bedoya and goalkeeper Tim Howard, with the keeper’s Q&A earning an impressive 96,000 views.

American high school sports are also developing an increasingly alluring audience market as a result of Facebook Live’s potential. Bleacher Report live streamed two games between top high school football programs in October, with a third game stream scheduled for 18 November. Bleacher Report’s broadcast presenters provided commentary and answered fan questions, as well as incorporating live stat tracking into the programme and innovative camera shots from drones and GoPros.

“As the Facebook Live project was taking off, we wanted to get into the live games and events space,” said Bleacher Report’s senior director of video and live events Marc Kohn. “We decided the time was right to try and create the millennial broadcast for sports.”

The real-time interactivity and ability to answer fan questions over Facebook Live is changing the way sports are viewed. Watching and listening is no longer enough. Fans want to inquire, argue and engage with players and presenters from any location throughout the world. Most of all, they want to know that their voices are heard and their opinions acknowledged.

Presenters and teams are listening to these fans with their embrace of Facebook Live. The space dedicated to expressions of allegiance and engagement is expanding, as the wall between sports fan and sports broadcaster steadily wanes under the emergence of Facebook Live.