FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jknezek]

JK, I'm with you, I won't pay.  The ODAC has certainly thrown their fans, especially parents, under the bus.  I'll surely miss Marty and Company on the RMC broadcast.

Yes. And I commented on the Facebook post announcing it. As well as W&L's post announcing it. Maybe no one cares, maybe someone will. But this is short-term idiocy.

[moir]

You make good points and I hate this is going to run off some of the loyal fans, but certainly understand the feelings. Flo and paid streaming services seem to be taking over low D1 to DIII, I have heard talk of this for several years. I really feel for the parents. It will not effect me, I am an ODAC fanatic, watch multiple sports often, from numerous Colleges, especially Roanoke. I don't mind forking over the fee as this provides most of my sports entertainment, as D1 Basketball and NBA are damn near unwatchable except for a handful of teams until you get to March or playoffs.

BTW, beyond excited to see Roanoke College Football this fall!
We certainly got the Head Coach and Staff right!

[Ron Boerger]

Flo is not taking over "low D1".  They just lost the one they had, the Big East, to ESPN+. 

Their model is to hope someone buys them out before they exhaust the VC they have remaining.

[HSCTiger fan]

I have no issue paying a few bucks to watch a game with favorite team. Honestly, I doubt many parents will either. If the production quality is better it will make the game more enjoyable. If it's the same quality as it has been I still don't mind. It's a very small price to pay for the ability to watch a game.

[jknezek]

I have no issue paying a few bucks to watch a game with favorite team. Honestly, I doubt many parents will either. If the production quality is better it will make the game more enjoyable. If it's the same quality as it has been I still don't mind. It's a very small price to pay for the ability to watch a game.

$20 a month to watch D3 sports... yes, parents are the ones who are going to pay. Not many others are. It costs more than the vast majority of other streaming services. Think of it this way, for about $20 a month you can get Netflix. Access to big budget movies, they produce high quality content, thousands of hours of it. What is Flo giving you for $20? Exactly the same feed and broadcasts that you got for free. There is, literally, no added value. The school gets some money, presumably less than Flo makes, though I have my doubts about the business model long-term.

So you have introduced a middle-man that makes money and provides... nothing.

If you are happy to throw $20 a month at Flo, that's certainly your money, your business. I just won't do it. I don't watch enough W&L sports, or D3 sports in general, to spend $20 a month. But yes, let's slap it on the parents who are already paying room, board, athletic fees, etc. and nickel and dime them even more so those who are paying to play sports now have to pay to watch their kid play the sport they are paying for them to play.

[HSCTiger fan]

$20 bucks?  That's a bargain. Money much better spent than watching anything on Netflix. If only a few bucks goes back to the schools then that's a few bucks more than they got before. I went to one football game last year in person. I spent more than $240.00 on the hotel room alone. I did watch every other football game and several basketball games online. I don't anticipate any changes to my viewing habits in the years to come.

[jknezek]

$20 bucks?  That's a bargain. Money much better spent than watching anything on Netflix. If only a few bucks goes back to the schools then that's a few bucks more than they got before. I went to one football game last year in person. I spent more than $240.00 on the hotel room alone. I did watch every other football game and several basketball games online. I don't anticipate any changes to my viewing habits in the years to come.

Well, you are definitely what Flo is hoping for.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ Just to be clear, Flo charges $20/month (actually $19.99) if you choose to pay month to month. There is also an annual subscription for $107.88 paid up front, which calculates to $8.99/month.

After being vocal about not being willing to pay to watch, assuming the product would be worse than the broadcasts done by individual schools, I decided I should see for myself rather than just assume. So I signed up for a year. I fully expect there to be more ads. As to the other aspects of broadcast quality, I'll just have to see and then judge. If it isn't at least as good as what I'm used to seeing from the various ODAC schools (some are really good, others less so) then I will come on here and bellyache about it. For the past several seasons I have watched almost all of every RMC football game and men's basketball games. I also watch a good bit of YJ women's hoops. I sometimes tune in to women's volleyball, baseball, softball. Also, while watching RMC, if there are other conference schools playing at the same time I often check in on some of those games. Plus, from time to time, I tune in to Wash U men's basketball, so I'll still be able to do that.

Naturally, I'd rather be able to do all that for free. But I'm going to give Flo the benefit of the doubt for a year, then decide after I know what I'm paying for, whether or not to renew.

[Kuiper]

^^^ Just to be clear, Flo charges $20/month (actually $19.99) if you choose to pay month to month. There is also an annual subscription for $107.88 paid up front, which calculates to $8.99/month.

After being vocal about not being willing to pay to watch, assuming the product would be worse than the broadcasts done by individual schools, I decided I should see for myself rather than just assume. So I signed up for a year. I fully expect there to be more ads. As to the other aspects of broadcast quality, I'll just have to see and then judge. If it isn't at least as good as what I'm used to seeing from the various ODAC schools (some are really good, others less so) then I will come on here and bellyache about it. For the past several seasons I have watched almost all of every RMC football game and men's basketball games. I also watch a good bit of YJ women's hoops. I sometimes tune in to women's volleyball, baseball, softball. Also, while watching RMC, if there are other conference schools playing at the same time I often check in on some of those games. Plus, from time to time, I tune in to Wash U men's basketball, so I'll still be able to do that.

Naturally, I'd rather be able to do all that for free. But I'm going to give Flo the benefit of the doubt for a year, then decide after I know what I'm paying for, whether or not to renew.

The Flo deals are distribution deals rather than production deals, so the quality shouldn't be any worse than it is now.  If schools use some or all of the money to step up their game on the video, it could be a little better.  People assume that they should get something better in return for their money, but it's more like you were getting something for nothing before and now you are getting something for something.

[Ron Boerger]

The thing about the yearly deal ... how many D3 sporting events happen in May (pretty much NCAA playoffs which are still broadcast on their free service), June, July, August (except maybe the last week)?  So you're really getting 8 months of live action for your $107.88 which works out to ~$13.49/month.  Better than $19.99/month to be sure.

[y_jack_lok]

The thing about the yearly deal ... how many D3 sporting events happen in May (pretty much NCAA playoffs which are still broadcast on their free service), June, July, August (except maybe the last week)?  So you're really getting 8 months of live action for your $107.88 which works out to ~$13.49/month.  Better than $19.99/month to be sure.

Good point. Maybe I'll poke around between now and the start of football to see if Flo is broadcasting something of interest so I can feel better about my per month cost.