Quote from: Gotberg on August 27, 2025, 09:23:08 AM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on August 26, 2025, 12:42:40 PMThe CCIW Network has been launched:

https://cciw.org/news/2025/8/26/general-cciw-partners-with-hudl-to-launch-cciw-network.aspx

This is an important read, regardless of whether you just follow a specific CCIW team, or you're a fan of CCIW sports in general.

I like the fact that the service is free.  I downloaded the HUDL app on my roku, but I don't see CCIW games available for streaming - at least yet.

Will this be an option?

The CCIW will likely have their own Roku app (most hudl conferences do) - often I have to search for games on the hudl app itself. The user interface there is pretty terrible.

Quote from: CNU85 on August 26, 2025, 12:49:34 PM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 26, 2025, 11:58:58 AMRegent now needs to focus equally on their retention (66% return after year one) and graduation (42% in eight years) rates.

Maybe they are. I wonder what the trends are for those stats. I've heard they are working hard over there with a lot of changes in play. I just don't know what those numbers look like 2-3 years ago (or longer).

With Pat Robertson gone, they're definitely appealing to a wider base of students interested in Christian higher ed.  I know that, for sure.  They're always going to be more conservative than VWU, but I do wonder if some of that rebranding is a reaction to a more competitive recruiting environment.

Quote from: ziggy on August 26, 2025, 11:51:08 AM

Quote from: lmitzel on August 26, 2025, 10:51:24 AM10/10 no notes, CCIW.

https://cciw.org/news/2025/8/26/general-cciw-partners-with-hudl-to-launch-cciw-network.aspx

I really like any D3 stream that is either on YouTube or one of these Hudl-based conference networks so this is good news. The only thing that got a half eyebrow raise out of me was that apparently not all games will be available for people not able to tune in live.

Quotewith select broadcasts being archived and available for on-demand viewing.

Could be problematic for #d3dunks!

There are some schools who still feel archived games give opponents a scouting advantage.  I don't see the logic in it, but...

Quote from: WUPHF on August 21, 2025, 01:43:45 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on August 21, 2025, 12:11:58 PMI'm not so naive as to think it's not because of the money, I just wonder if the decades of major financial support was a no-brainer when looking for a new name (something which can be more than contentious), rather than the driver of the new name.

I do not believe you are naive.  And you may be right.  I have been trying to work it out in my head whether or not the Wesleyan in Virginia Wesleyan is a drag on recruiting.  It may well be.

Perhaps especially in the South and since VWU is actually UMC and not Wesleyan, and those two denominations seem to be moving further and further away from each other.  It's a possibility, anyway.

I'm not so naive as to think it's not because of the money, I just wonder if the decades of major financial support was a no-brainer when looking for a new name (something which can be more than contentious), rather than the driver of the new name.

Mrs. Batten said they didn't ask for the name change.  I wonder if perhaps "Wesleyan" isn't helpful in recruiting and they were looking for a change anyway?

Flo did some video promo work for the Landmark early on; I'm not sure how much of that has continued.  Obviously it's more and more difficult as they add conferences.  There is something to say about engagement, though.  If a fan from one conference isn't used to jumping from app to app to watch different teams, they might be more likely to click on a Flo game from another conferences than whatever is next in their netflix queue?

Quote from: Kuiper on August 17, 2025, 05:27:42 PM

Quote from: WUPHF on August 17, 2025, 04:38:12 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on August 17, 2025, 02:03:19 PMFlo isn't producing the games, even for these D-I games. It's just a streaming service when it comes to game day broadcasts.

His point was that the broadcast he watched was basic, similar to the many Division III streams that he has seen over the years.

Every league other than the Little East has stated that the Flo Sports arrangement will enhance overall production quality.

In the ODAC podcast, they explained that as better cameras and microphones among other things.

In the ideal world, schools are getting more money from the Flo contract than it cost them to livestream the games in the past and they spend that extra money on better cameras and microphones.  In the SCIAC, Pomona-Pitzer started using a drone for overhead second camera angle footage (at least in men's soccer) after they signed the FloSports deal, which seemed to me like a very tangible improvement in the broadcast.  La Verne, by contrast, still had the exact same poor, hard to see, stream from the top of the bleachers with no announcers.  My guess is that Pomona didn't really need the money, but agreed to go along with others in the conference that did, and used it to add some extras to the broadcast, while La Verne needed the money for other things and so its stream stayed the same.

It will be interesting to see if LaVerne (and all the other schools) improve their broadcasts as the contract requires in year 2 and 3.  The contract details I know about from other conferences require soccer PBP eventually.

As with the academic progress marks the NCAA has used in the past, graduation rates only ever measure graduation from that institution.  They never take into account transfers or whether those students graduate somewhere else.  Obviously retention is a big thing and you want your students to graduate from your school, but I feel like these numbers aren't super helpful.

Especially with where Brevard is located.  How many local kids enroll to take classes and then go somewhere else when their "undecided" changes?  There might be a community college nearby, but there aren't any four year options unless you're going all the way to Greenville or Asheville, right?

That's an awfully rural area and they're not likely pulling any students in from outside unless they're athletes.

So Union is going to have 57 guards and one really tall guy?  Teams have won with worse.

Quote from: CNU85 on August 14, 2025, 08:13:11 AMI've been following closely the FLO sports discussion and talking to folks outside of this forum. The prevailing thoughts are that these deals make no sense. Yet, almost every week, another conference signs a contract. These are supposedly smart people making smart decisions. I just don't understand. It's almost to the point that it seems like conferences are signing contracts simply because other conferences have done so. A case of FOMO?

The argument against it is long-term in nature - the damage done to goodwill and PR is not worth the immediate cash infusion.  I don't think schools or conferences are ignoring this, just that they're not sure it's going to be available later.  They get to show the administration they're bringing in revenue, get an immediate boost to the budget, and learn a lot for the future.

Yes, every conference that signs on makes it easier for the next to do it, but I still find it hard to believe anyone thinks this is a long term solution.  At worst, Flo doesn't continue to offer money and conferences can host the streams themselves and charge less - making it look like a victory once people are used to paying.  At best, Flo figures out a way to monetize it and advertise it well and the offers go up.

I've yet to hear from anyone who thought the grumbling and complaints were dealbreakers.  People are upset and they get over it.  That's been the story from all the conferences were got in early.  We'll see if it continues to be the story with all the new additions this year.

Quote from: WUPHF on August 13, 2025, 10:04:13 PMBravo to the Little East Conference for the best Flo Sports press release yet.

No promises of feature coverage, enhanced promotion, branding and social media.  No mention of an improved streaming experience.  Just the announcement and costs.

https://littleeast.com/news/2025/8/8/general-lec-announces-2025-26-flocollege-subscription-options.aspx

The LEC charged for their conference tournaments last season, so this isn't exactly new territory for them.

Quote from: WUPHF on August 13, 2025, 04:09:11 PMThanks Ryan for the clarification, I thought that was universally part of the agreement.  My understanding is that all UAA broadcasts on Flo will be free 24 hours after the game has ended.

That might be true.  I know early contracts involved allowing the conferences to post free replays on their own sites.  I don't know if Flo will host them for free or not.  That me be something the UAA arranged because they don't have a site set up for it - or maybe it's something Flo is offering now, since it doesn't really cost them much.

Quote from: CNU85 on August 13, 2025, 02:37:41 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on August 13, 2025, 11:58:09 AMI'd never heard of early decision when I went to college

Cuz you old!   

Because I was entirely ignorant of these elite schools and the whole process.  I just assumed I couldn't afford them and no one told me to look into it.  I didn't realize that poor folks like me could go for free if I could get in.

Quote from: WUPHF on August 13, 2025, 02:42:35 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on August 13, 2025, 01:29:02 PMThe event replays are handy if you are in a different time zone and can't catch the games live (schools with free streaming used to offer that routinely, at least during the season, but it's much less common than it used to be), but the real benefit is the live streaming. 

I was surprised to see Flo Sports list the archive as a benefit of the subscription because I believe the agreement with every league is that games will be available free of charge 24 hours after the broadcast.

It is a nice change for UAA fans as only Washington University offered the on demand streams for free, if I remember correctly.  Rochester did, but behind the paywall.

We don't know how many conferences negotiated that feature or which conferences do or will continue to maintain their own pages.  The UAA hasn't hosted any broadcasts conference wide, so it may be up to individual schools there to make them available.