FB: American Southwest Conference

[Crubacker]

I watched Endicott destroy Muhlenberg so if UMHB plays sloppy like they did last Saturday, they are going to get pounded!  Endicott throws a lot of short passes which UMHB gives up a lot of and their QB is shifty and quick, likes to run the ball(Going to have to have someone mirror him)  Their defense will be a lot smaller than UMHB  O-line but they are very quick which seems to be hard for UMHB O-line to handle as Rowan had a quick D-line and stuffed UMHB running game.

[crufootball]

I agree about flo to a point. it irritates me that I paid for a sub-par product, but on the bright side. I watched The UMU final drive and flipped o a few other games. And Flo covers Cycling so I have access to other things i didn't have before. However, if you're going to use the paywall, at least make an effort

I am waiting on my full opinion of Flo for Sunday when I hopefully can rewatch any part of a UMHB victory that I wish. There are so many UMHB games I wish I could go back and watch and that has never been possible, if Flo is the way to make that happen then that is a big plus for me.

[The Third Division]

All Flo does is repackage whatever the schools produce, there is utterly no quality control or minimum standard mandated, just a video stream they can put behind a paywall.  It sucks but all the schools seem to work getting that $30K check each year makes it all worthwhile.

Will also mention what I learned from the AD at Millsaps, flo doesn't give any schools extra cash for however many subscriptions each school gets, it's a flat annual rate.

[Patrick Coleman]

All Flo does is repackage whatever the schools produce, there is utterly no quality control or minimum standard mandated, just a video stream they can put behind a paywall.  It sucks but all the schools seem to work getting that $30K check each year makes it all worthwhile.

Will also mention what I learned from the AD at Millsaps, flo doesn't give any schools extra cash for however many subscriptions each school gets, it's a flat annual rate.

That's been part of the deal all along, for sure.

[IC798891]

Since Flo is already being talked about, and because I never want to miss an opportunity to do so, I'll just jump in and say:

Flo sucks, and I lose respect for every school that takes their check. Paywalled D3 content takes away one of the few things that, as a fan, makes D3 sports special and unique.

Yeah, we all have budget issues. If I'm an AD, that's the absolute last bridge I burn, and I only do it if I have absolutely no other options for raising money.

[Ron Boerger]

Since Flo is already being talked about, and because I never want to miss an opportunity to do so, I'll just jump in and say:

Flo sucks, and I lose respect for every school that takes their check. Paywalled D3 content takes away one of the few things that, as a fan, makes D3 sports special and unique.

Yeah, we all have budget issues. If I'm an AD, that's the absolute last bridge I burn, and I only do it if I have absolutely no other options for raising money.

Question is, who makes the call?  Most of these deals are done with the conferences, where the voters are more likely presidents than ADs.

Trinity(TX) has now opted out twice from their parent conference deals, first with the SCAC and now with the SAA.  From what I have heard (indirectly) they may even have had to pay for the rights to directly broadcast their own games, which if true may explain why few others have gone this route. 

But it flabbergasts me to this day that a conference like the UAA, with some of the richest schools in D3, fell for this (even if they got a better deal than most as has been speculated).  The teams in the ASC aren't floating in cash, but those in the UAA are.

[IC798891]

Question is, who makes the call?  Most of these deals are done with the conferences, where the voters are more likely presidents than ADs.

Substitute president with AD and it makes it even worse.

That $30,000 figure represents a rounding error in an entire college's budget. If you can't bring in that money elsewhere, your philanthropy department isn't doing its job.

Heck, Ithaca College's athletic department -- which I'm proud to say is not using Flo -- has been cranking out partnerships left and right this season. IC's AD is hustling for the health of the athletic department budget and I'm here for it.

And yeah, it's mildly annoying that so many things are becoming corporatized. But I'll take having to see "The Cortaca Jug as presented by Visions Federal Credit Union" or some real estate advertisements over paying $150 bucks to watch Ithaca College athletics. Every day, and twice on Sunday

Ads are so societally ubiquitous at this point, they might as well be white noise. Throwing up a paywall for D3 sports is my Rubicon

[Toby Taff]

maybe there could be a hybrid form. the feed belongs to the school, so the school should be able to provided it for free, but the paying customers get full flo access to include archived games, etc. So those that want full access can pay the fee and those who just want to watch their teams live can.

[IC798891]

maybe there could be a hybrid form. the feed belongs to the school, so the school should be able to provided it for free, but the paying customers get full flo access to include archived games, etc. So those that want full access can pay the fee and those who just want to watch their teams live can.

I really like that idea.

[Etchglow]

As much as I clown on flo, the fact I can go back and watch archived games (including umhb jv games) makes it worth it. But I also watch their racing content.

[IC798891]

As much as I clown on flo, the fact I can go back and watch archived games (including umhb jv games) makes it worth it. But I also watch their racing content.

Right, and that's an admitted value add -- provided your school doesn't archive its own games. My alma mater Ithaca streams a lot of its stuff on YouTube, which means it is archived. (Though I'm not super into re-watching like, a random field hockey or men's basketball game from five years ago either way.)

But if I was into that, and they would otherwise be unavailable, I'd consider paying for it.