Many small colleges have a dedicated fan base for their sports, yet ESPN will not be coming to campus anytime soon. The solution for some has been Webcasting. Faraway alumni are able to reconnect with their alma maters. Troops in Iraq who have ties to the university have been known to watch. Parents get to watch every time young Billy goes up to bat., and high-school athletes can determine if this is the team they want to play for. Large universities have been Webcasting for years, but officials say even small colleges with tight budgets can afford to do it. At Georgia College & State University, in Milledgeville, Georgia, as many as 400 viewers at a time have tuned in to the Webcasts. Another Georgia institution, Armstrong Atlantic State University, has been Webcasting events since 2001. Although there have been bumps along the way, Webcasts have proved popular. James Leonard, professor of information technology at Macon State College, has been helping colleges Webcast sports for 15 years. Any college, he says, can Webcast sports events without breaking the bank. Colleges would need to buy one to three cameras and some electronic equipment. Students can run the Webcasts, sometimes even just for course credit. The start-up costs can run to about $30,000, using top-of-the-line equipment. Getting a decent Webcast up does not have to cost that much. Armstrong Atlantic spent only about $5,000 for its start-up equipment. At Macon State, the Webcasting project has evolved into an academic program. Students from various disciplines, including broadcasting, communications, and computer science, enroll to get experience covering live sporting events. Other colleges have sought outside help to set up and deliver their Webcasts. Nada Usina, network president at XOS Technologies Inc., a company that provides Web services to athletics teams, says the demand for Webcasting games is growing. Last year the company had 40 clients and Webcast 7,000 games. This year XOS has 150 clients and plans to handle more than 12,000 games. Large sports powerhouses and smaller institutions may have different demands, but both kinds of institutions want to keep their fans interested in their sports through online interactivity.