Flo Sports

[IC798891]

Men's and Women's season tickets are sold together as a package.

This is somewhat bothersome to me as a fan.

I get it on some level, but as a parent with three kids, if they're interested in seeing basketball games at IC, guess what? We're seeing the women's team because it works better for everyone's blood sugar levels and sleep needs. I wouldn't want to have to also pay for men's tickets I'm going to rarely use.

There are upcharges in football for items like chairback seating

As a person with a disability, I'm moderately curious if there are exceptions to this policy or if it would withstand legal scrutiny. Not that anyone is being deliberately ableist, I just typically see things like chairback seating as less of a comfort upgrade but something that someone might need.

[CNU85]

All good points, IC.

Knowing the folks involved, I'm pretty sure they are accommodating any special requests or circumstances. Specifically, I do not have any data points to share. I just know the people in charge at CNU (athletics and administration) and their character is top notch.

[CNU85]

We're seeing the women's team because it works better for everyone's blood sugar levels and sleep needs.

I just re-read your post. I'm not sure I follow you on this. How is a women's game better than a men's game for this?
I'm confused.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Men's and Women's season tickets are sold together as a package.

This is somewhat bothersome to me as a fan.

I get it on some level, but as a parent with three kids, if they're interested in seeing basketball games at IC, guess what? We're seeing the women's team because it works better for everyone's blood sugar levels and sleep needs. I wouldn't want to have to also pay for men's tickets I'm going to rarely use.

There are upcharges in football for items like chairback seating

As a person with a disability, I'm moderately curious if there are exceptions to this policy or if it would withstand legal scrutiny. Not that anyone is being deliberately ableist, I just typically see things like chairback seating as less of a comfort upgrade but something that someone might need.

I have always appreciated that Hope has kept the M & W Basketball season tickets separate (although you may get a discount if you purchase both).  Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse has 3 kinds of seats - padded chair back & plastic chair back are reserved/season tickets and take the top 10 rows of each section. The bottom of each section is standard bleacher seating, which are general admission seats.  Details of tickets and a good photo of the Fieldhouse are here: (if anyone is interested):

https://athletics.hope.edu/sports/2024/10/18/hope-college-athletics-ticket-information.aspx

[Pat Coleman]

We're seeing the women's team because it works better for everyone's blood sugar levels and sleep needs.

I just re-read your post. I'm not sure I follow you on this. How is a women's game better than a men's game for this?
I'm confused.

I read this and I assumed game times were probably a factor.

[CNU85]

oh duh. Thanks Pat. With the conference situation the way it has been for a few years, there was only one day last year with a women/men double header at CNU and that was a Saturday 2pm/4pm set up.. Each team has their own game days. I forgot all about the previous, women play at 5 and men at 7 scheduling a lot of schools employ.

Sorry about that IC.

[IC798891]

We're seeing the women's team because it works better for everyone's blood sugar levels and sleep needs.

I just re-read your post. I'm not sure I follow you on this. How is a women's game better than a men's game for this?
I'm confused.

A 5:30 weekday women's game means we can grab dinner on the way, eat in the car. and get home by bedtime. A  7:30 men's game is a non starter

A 2 p.m. women's game perfectly fits between letting us eat lunch before and cook dinner after. A 4 p.m. men's game runs smack dab into "I'M HUNGRYYYYY. WHEN'S DINNNERRRRR?"

(They're 8, 5, and 4)

[Kuiper]

Maybe the University of Chicago was pushing the UAA to take the FloSports deal?

https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-crisis-of-the-university-started-long-before-trump/

"The University of Chicago has now borrowed $6.3 billion, more than 70 percent of the value of its endowment. The cost of servicing its debt is now 85 percent of the value of all undergraduate tuition. (This is not normal. No peer institution has a debt-to-asset ratio greater than 26 percent.)"

[WUPHF]

Maybe the University of Chicago was pushing the UAA to take the FloSports deal?

https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-crisis-of-the-university-started-long-before-trump/

I do not believe the deal is just about Chicago.

Northwestern, Stanford and other elite universities laying off faculty and staff has been national news. But the UAA schools are facing similar headwinds.

[ADL70]

Perhaps, but it appears football will still be free and I'd bet that's the most watched sport. Currently, only Rochester of the football schools (which already had charged for a few years) show football being on the Flo platform.

[WUPHF]

Perhaps, but it appears football will still be free and I'd bet that's the most watched sport. Currently, only Rochester of the football schools (which already had charged for a few years) show football being on the Flo platform.

It would be interesting to know, is say Chicago is contractually obligated by the Midwest Conference to offer a free stream?  And if not, might they have purposefully delayed the move to Flo Sports for football for whatever reason (e.g. not to ruffle feathers)?  Or is it simply a matter of getting the same deal from Flo with or without football so three of the four schools that sponsor football took the latter?

[ADL70]

The one thing we know about the UAA's deal is that we don't know any details.

[y_jack_lok]

Reposting the below in case anyone wants to listen to what one conference has to say about it's deal with FloSports.

In this just posted 25 minute ODAC Podcast, most of the final nine minutes (and a few seconds) is devoted to the conference's partnership with FloSports. There is a brief digression of maybe two minutes to talk about the forthcoming pre-season polls, otherwise those nine minutes are about Flo. Interested to hear what people think.

https://odaconline.com/podcasts/the-odac-podcast-episode-15-three-cheers-to-50-years-/55?fbclid=IwY2xjawMLTcRleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFDcnhoUGRmUFpvRzg2NW5KAR4QGDPzwE2WJi9qGpk3D_CMaHsmg8ct_iVLamZERgP6Sjgsa7uhvMF7fGaShA_aem_jf5wddguGsPoROC7_nwHiQ

[Kuiper]

Maybe the University of Chicago was pushing the UAA to take the FloSports deal?

https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-crisis-of-the-university-started-long-before-trump/

I do not believe the deal is just about Chicago.

Northwestern, Stanford and other elite universities laying off faculty and staff has been national news. But the UAA schools are facing similar headwinds.

I agree with that.  The point was mostly tongue-in-cheek since the Flo Sports deal isn't doing much to deal with that kind of debt service they are talking about for Chicago.

[WUPHF]

I agree with that.  The point was mostly tongue-in-cheek since the Flo Sports deal isn't doing much to deal with that kind of debt service they are talking about for Chicago.

Understood! Chicago does illustrate why the Flo Sports deal with the UAA is interesting though.  The school with the $3 billion dollar operating budget and $10 billion dollar endowment may well need a $30K infusion to avoid laying off athletics staff.