Quote from: Kuiper on March 13, 2026, 06:15:18 PMInterview with UAA commissioner Sarah Otey and there's some talk about the decision to go with FloSports

So many things to discuss, but maybe the first thing that comes to mind, I cannot believe they hired a consulting firm and paid them for over a year. I say that rhetorically because of course I can believe it.

No way they spent less than $30K x 8 to hire LEONA.

I do like that the interviewer asked very clearly for the tangible benefits, outcomes...

She references social media reach increasing 200%, but also admits that they hired a social media manager.  The UAA did not do much on social media before this season.  They would not even post the preseason polls, for example.

Quote from: WUPHF on March 11, 2026, 09:42:54 PMI am dying

Quote from: ChickenHoops on March 11, 2026, 09:42:54 PMThat is sad, get help. Plenty of hospitals in St. Louis.

No need to be surly... everyone here is guilty of posting nonsense from time to time.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 09, 2026, 12:37:19 PMAs far as I know, the men's basketball committee is in charge of policing that kind of thing.  There have been censures in the past for comments or blowing off pressers altogether, which happens on occasion.  I think, again, from what I've heard from reliable folks, but not something I'm 100% confident in, they can withhold per diem payments and some of the reimbursement stuff that the NCAA provides, but I'm not sure they can give fines or anything like that.

More often, I suspect, a school will impose some penalty for a coach who behaves in a way they don't like - although those things are rarely public.

If Coach McGuiness received a public reprimand for his comments following the Sweet 16 loss to Platteville, well I would say no better and no worse than what was said in Bloomington.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on March 07, 2026, 10:08:51 PMJuckem's knowledge of the WIAC from 8 years ago pays off as Wash U holds off Whitewater 74-71. La Crosse advances as the only WIAC team still standing.

I am dying

Quote from: ChickenHoops on March 07, 2026, 10:06:11 AMWill be interesting to see how Wash U and Whitewater match up. Coach Juckem has been gone from the WIAC for like 7 years so I suspect he has only a modest advantage. 

Not sure how a coach retains an advantage over another league 8 years after departing, though in this case, one could call a very close friend who went 2-2 against their opponent over the past two seasons.  Other than that...

Quote from: ziggy on March 02, 2026, 08:15:09 PMIf you look at the "news" section of the conference pages on FloCollege.com, you will find exactly one article that acknowledged any of the conference tournaments, and that was a barebones post of information for the MBB Landmark tourney prior to the semifinals. Nothing about the rest of the conference tournaments, nothing about any WBB conference tournament, nothing about the UAA regular season champions/AQs.

So much for all that press release fluff about exclusive content elevating the profile of these programs and highlighting the student-athletes.

LOL

This would not bother me if it were not for the fact that this was billed as one of the reasons why we should be excited that the leagues are moving to Flo Sports.

[Clicks around see the exclusive content coverage of the Selection Show and tournament field]

Narrator: it was only later that he remembered that Flo does not get to broadcast a single game from the tournament so they will be covering their Division I and Division II clients instead.

The AQ is completely meaningless in UAA Men's Basketball, but this year it is more meaningless than most as Emory and Chicago are 1-2 in the NPI.

If Emory and Chicago finish the season at 12-2, they will be co-champions.

Co-champions.  Not co-champion and ever so slightly better co-champion.

Quote from: jknezek on February 20, 2026, 01:55:44 PMFlo only has 1 strategy... get a monopoly on as much of a niche market as they can, and then raise the price until it becomes profitable, dangling just enough money on the other side to keep the actual content providers in line.

@jknezek Facts!

Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 19, 2026, 04:51:54 PMThe last thing D3 needs is NIL ruining the sport like it has D1.  But given the total lack of awareness shown by Flo$port$ about what makes D3 great, it's no surprise.  VC sucks the life out of everything except profit for the backers.

Cynically, when I read that part of the interview, I read that as a marketing ploy more than anything.  It will be interesting to see if they back that up with a clear strategy.

The D3Ticker included an interview with Flo Sports today.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2026/02/17/college-convo-flosports-betting-on-d-ii-d-iii/

This is a new angle that I had not heard before:

"These are the ways that we bring value to the space beyond just writing checks. The money's great. It's hard to compete with a big check, but right now I'm thinking about how we can get more D-II and D-III athletes involved in NIL. How can we bring sponsors to the table? How can we help facilitate some of these deals?"

I would thank you guys for the responses, but for unclear reasons, I cannot take any of you seriously.

There are some that would defend Flo Sports, though I have never seen Frank Rossi explain his reasoning in full.  I would suggest that the two discuss the matter, but for whatever reason, the latter seems to be needlessly antagonistic in his approach to others.

Frank Rossi
@FrankRossi
When Bob wants to understand what the concept of "apples to apples" is, @D3FBHuddle
, maybe I'll take him seriously. He seems to have trouble comprehending how view counts work, what the schools are comparing, and why it's not representative of the reality. Flo spelled it out for him, and he still has no clue what he's talking about. https://x.com/bquillmanqcast

Quote from: Patrick Coleman on February 16, 2026, 10:51:04 PMDuring the football season, those Games of the Week were on YouTube, for free.

Tank the Susquehanna viewership to a few hundred and then brag about getting 4,000 views on the free YouTube live stream when Johns Hopkins comes to town.  I would love to see the analytics on that stream.

Quote from: ziggy on February 16, 2026, 09:50:49 PMThere is zero chance average view time went up 200x. 200%? Maybe, but I doubt average view duration went up that much, but it absolutely could not have been 200x.

Maybe I'll try to work out how many viewers casual viewers had to be culled from the broadcast in order for a 200x increase, but I am not sure I care enough to do so.

The record-setting NYU broadcast that was averaging 300-400 viewers throughout much of the game ended up with 2,000 or so actual views.  Did that broadcast experience a 200x decrease in average view duration?

I must have watched 10-15 minutes of the game, but the analytics would have registered my average view duration as 1-2 minutes.

More interesting is the statement from Flo Sports that they have grown the viewership.  In some cases by 10x for the so-called Games of the Week.  That is just not possible.