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Ascot and Wembley. Famous names in sport, and now a first in UK sports broadcasting. Horse racing and the famous arch were put to one side for an evening as Ascot United and Wembley FC stepped out in front of the Budweiser cameras for their live Facebook game in the Extra Preliminary Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

Yes, you can read that again. FA Cup sponsors Budweiser broadcast the game live through their UK Facebook fanpage. Twenty-first century social networking met the oldest football knockout competition in the world. On paper, plenty of reasons to be cynical. In reality, this was a slick operation that hinted at a potential for sports broadcasting.

Although it was Ascot’s first time in the FA Cup, the Yellamen would normally have expected to attract around 90 paying fans for a fixture at this stage of the competition. Tonight, enticed by a big marketing push from Budweiser that included free burgers, they got 1,149 through the gates – a figure that would have been a decent Conference level gate.

Even more impressive was the live stream. According to reporter Chris Cohen at the end of the broadcast, 27,000 tuned in on Facebook to watch Wembley run out 2-1 winners. That’s over a third of the total fans on the brewer’s UK fanpage. This may well end up being more than the number who tuned into Premier Sports to watch Lincoln v Wrexham.

The coverage, too, was impressive, albeit it with a couple of glitches. There were complaints of the screen freezing during the game and, due to standard practices in the alcohol industry, under 18s couldn’t ‘like’ the page and watch the stream.

But complaints aside, the production levels were slick – bar the occasional awkward delays in handing over to pitchside reporter Cohen.

The commentary was excellent and well-researched and showed a real reverence and understanding for the FA Cup and teams at the level of Ascot and Wembley. This is in marked contrast to the jokey and well-meaning, but occasionally patronising treatment non-league sides get from more mainstream broadcasters.

Any worries that Budweiser would bring cheerleaders and American sports razzamatazz to the FA Cup were, thankfully, unfounded. Tweets from those at the game, such as The Real FA Cup blog, suggested the company’s sponsorship was also going down well at the ground.

So could this be the future of sports broadcasting? Brands teaming up with social media, or smaller teams using their Facebook page to stream games?

Perhaps, and perhaps not. Firstly, it’s worth noting that streaming games at this level is not unheard of. Back in 2008, ITV.com broadcast Wantage Town v Brading Town live at this stage of the competition. The broadcaster also showed highlights from selected qualifying games, and carried this one live game plus selected highlights format throughout the qualifying rounds.

However, with the cost of filming and streaming live games, plus the economic downturn and less than stellar viewing figures, ITV were forced to scale back their coverage the following season, although they still give the qualifying rounds a reasonable amount of attention.

The FA have also been streaming games for free on their website, largely those from the earlier rounds of the competition, and these have been reasonably successful so far, without being spectacular.

Other sports have experimented with social media and live streaming. YouTube signed a deal with the Indian Premier League in 2010 to broadcast the Twenty20 cricket tournament around the world (bar the USA), while Major League Baseball have experimented with Facebook streaming.

But Budweiser have taken this one level further. The deal is clever for them, as it requires those wanting to watch the match for free to Like the page.

This is an easy win in terms of gaining new fans and, given the high level of engagement and praise on their page for tonight’s broadcast, there’s a high possibility many of them will stay with the page, especially if the brewer decides to continue throughout the qualifying rounds.

Facebook, too, will be analysing the data from tonight’s broadcast with interest too. It may not be a high-profile game, but it shows the social network has the ability to provide an alternative platform for broadcasting sporting events. And, given their 700 million members, this suddenly becomes a very attractive proposition for sports bodies. Traditional broadcasters will have something to think about.

Whether this would be a potential avenue for non-league teams or leagues is questionable. Budweiser have clearly thrown a lot of money at making this work, and then marketing the event.

Pulling in 27,000 for Ascot v Wembley on a Friday night is no mean feat. Their Facebook page has over 75,000 fans. Most non-league sides don’t come close to these numbers and there is a real danger that a club could spend a lot of money on the technology for this method of broadcasting, only to have their stream watched by half a dozen fans.

As ITV.com discovered, no matter how good your intentions are, broadcasting non-league games does not come cheap and nor does it make money.

But what tonight’s FA Cup game does show is there is a willing audience for this level of football – they just need to be told about it. Whether tonight’s figures were boosted by the novelty factor or there is an untapped appetite and market can only be answered if Budweiser continue to broadcast games throughout the competition.

Ultimately, though, it was a night of few, if any losers. Ascot United may have lost the tie but the money made through their bumper gate and bar takings will make a huge difference to their finances.

Budweiser will also be happy. In one evening they’ve enhanced their reputation among UK football fans and provided a service not available elsewhere. And while some may grumble about a very commercial beer brand providing a gateway to non-league, the numbers and the benefits far outweigh the small inconveniencing of Liking a brand page and getting occasional messages about lager in your Facebook stream.

You suspect both Budweiser and the FA will be more than happy with both the streaming figures and the gate too, while the FA has already generated more column inches than it could reasonably expect for the Extra Preliminary Qualifying stages of the competition.

Both Ascot and Wembley also did non-league proud with an entertaining and exciting game with late drama played in the spirit of the cup, while the 1,149 crammed into the ground gave a cosy, homely feel to the match.

One can only hope tonight inspires more of the casual fans to make the effort to take in a game at their local non-league club. Or, at the very least, tune in again for later rounds.

And who knows, perhaps it may even provide the shot in the arm the FA Cup has needed in the eyes of the public. Maybe there’s no need to fiddle around with scrapping replays, and other aspects of the format. Maybe all the competition needed was to catch up with 21st century methods of communication.

Tags: Ascot United, Budweiser, FA Cup, FA Cup Extra Preliminary Qualifying Round, Facebook, social media, the FA, Wembley FC