Flo Sports

[Gregory Sager]

I assumed that students got FloSports for free, but apparently that isn't the case, or it isn't the case at all schools/conferences or in all deals. 

You should read this op-ed from a Pitzer student who just graduated and was the Editor-in-Chief of The Student Life, the student newspaper of the Claremont Colleges.  You should read the whole thing.  It's really well done.  (you should also click the link below to read it directly from the website so they get whatever money or benefits they get from clicks, but I cut and pasted a snippet to give you a preview.)

https://tsl.news/i-dream-of-free-streaming-how-flosports-is-buffering-my-5c-fandom/

During my sophomore spring, my high school best friend and I — both sports editors of our respective campus papers at the time — compared our processes for reporting on games. As a Division I journalist, he viewed the action from the private media section and had to filter his post-game questions through the team's PR manager. Meanwhile, as a Division III reporter, I would just plant myself in the stands right next to the players' parents, walk onto the field and grab a few players for an interview.

This is why I love sports at the 5Cs: They're the most accessible higher-level sports you may ever get. Every student can watch hundreds of live games among over a dozen sports from two of the top DIII programs in the country — for free. And when I learned that this extended to free streaming for all sports, I thought I was set for life.

But that was until this year.

Last summer, the SCIAC signed a five-year contract with FloSports to make the platform its sole streaming home, effective this season. FloSports is a streaming service with a dubious history of data collection and privacy violations that houses several DI, DII and DIII conferences in addition to a number of niche sports. However, this means that instead of watching every game for free, students are now being charged $9.99 a month, or $5.99 if they commit for the whole year. For parents, alumni and everyone else, it's even worse, coming in at a whopping $19.99, or $8.99 if you subscribe for the whole year.

Why make this move? Well, if you ask SCIAC Commissioner Jenn Dubow, it's all about a new "quality streaming experience."

"FloSports has demonstrated a significant and sincere commitment to providing funding and exposure for small-school college sports in a collaborative way that can help each of our institutions' unique approach and goals to streaming and athletics communications," Dubow said when announcing the partnership last June.

As my available time for attending games progressively diminished throughout college, my reliance on SCIAC streaming surged. Lacrosse during Wednesday night classes, baseball during beer league and football at house parties — I was locked in and I loved it.

This year though, I have not streamed a single game. That's because, as I've said before, paying to watch DIII sports directly opposes why they are so great. Yes, subscribing also comes with the entire FloSports package, including plenty of college and other obscure sports goodies — but I don't care about those. I care about the teams of people I go to school with: my friends and the parasocial relationships I've developed with athletes I've never met.

I loved this piece so much that I bookmarked it. Something tells me that I'm going to link to it in an online discussion somewhere down the road.

[IC798891]

I assumed that students got FloSports for free, but apparently that isn't the case, or it isn't the case at all schools/conferences or in all deals.

The standard Flo deal for students, as mentioned in the very fine article you provided, is $5.83/month if you sign up for an entire year ($69.99) ... only there are no D3 sports for at least three months out of the year which makes it more like $7.77.  And there's darned little in May, mostly NCAA playoffs which are (still) broadcast freely, so in reality it's more like $8.75 a month.  And the effective price for non-students if paid annually ($107.88), using the same metric, would be either $11.99/mo (9 months) or $13.49/month.

Schools could obviously pay for student subs, but that would eat up that $30K pretty quickly, wouldn't it?

The more I think about that, the more it blows my mind. As someone who provided PBP and color for games when I was at Ithaca, watching as many of their other contests as possible — as well as other teams in the conference — was part of the prep work we did.

I feel like every few months we learn more about it, and every few months I get angrier and angrier that D3 has gone this way

[deiscanton]

I had to bite the bullet this year and get an annual subscription to FloCollege for the 2025-26 academic year, as Brandeis along with the rest of the UAA decided to go with the Flo.   As I stated on the UAA men's basketball page a few weeks ago, the only bright side that I see with this is that I can watch Brandeis games on demand on my Roku TV again-- the streaming player on the Brandeis website last season did not allow me to Chromecast games onto my Roku TV, and the ability to watch games on demand on the player was limited to as long as a new game did not replace it on the player. 

Previously, I only subscribed to FloCollege for basketball season, as I also had the benefit of watching Bentley U's conference, the DII NE10, as well as Northeastern U's conference, the Division I CAA, on the service.  Bentley is the other college in Waltham, MA, where Brandeis is located, and Northeastern is where my dad and one of my uncles attended undergraduate education back in the 1950s, and where I went to law school after I graduated from Brandeis.   Along with NEWMAC also available through FloSports, there was enough value in the service to pay the monthly fee for 3 months of basketball.   I had only subscribed to the service in the winter, however, because I did not see a need for it for the fall and spring.

Now that the UAA has joined FloSports, I will need the FloCollege service to watch soccer as well as basketball, so I figured it was best to subscribe right now and pay the one-time $107.88 for the year so that I can at least watch some programs on-demand for July and August before the fall sports start up.   I made my payment yesterday, so I am set until the end of June next year with this service.

With my income, $107.88 is a big expense for me to pay for a 1 time payment for the year, but it will save me money over paying at least 6 months of $19.99 each per month.  It will also give me the option to watch baseball and softball of the other UAA teams, even if Brandeis is not expected to go to postseason in those sports next spring.

It is a real shame though that a lot of D3 fans, either due to income or due to philosophic objections about paid streams for D3 Sports, will not be able to watch UAA games live for at least the next 5 years.  It also will make it harder for me to talk and promote my league as a lot of fans will only be able to get info second hand and not be able to get the experience of watching UAA games for themselves unless they are fortunate enough to live in the areas of these universities and are able to attend in person. 

[IC798891]

Also, I know this probably sounds dumb and niche but...

As someone who uses a wheelchair, D3 venues often absolutely suck for accessibility. Parking, accessible bathrooms, general access for outdoor areas. They mostly just stink. Especially in the Northeast, where snow and ice make things worse. I resent having to deal with it in 2025, which means I'm super resentful that I might soon have to pay for the accessible option.

So if you're wondering why I'm so vehemently against this, that's why.

[jekelish]

I am very curious to see what's gonna happen moving forward with Flo. For those who have not seen the news, the Big East - which is the biggest feather in Flo's cap - just announced they reached a deal to stream through ESPN+ today. So, Flo has lost its biggest collegiate client and, presumably, one of its biggest moneymakers.

[Kuiper]

I am very curious to see what's gonna happen moving forward with Flo. For those who have not seen the news, the Big East - which is the biggest feather in Flo's cap - just announced they reached a deal to stream through ESPN+ today. So, Flo has lost its biggest collegiate client and, presumably, one of its biggest moneymakers.

They still have the CAA in DI, but my assumption is that the push to expand in DII and DIII and the launch of FloCollege has been in anticipation of the end of the Big East deal.  It's just an entirely different market and price point.  When they announced FloCollege, they only really highlighted DII and DIII.

"We are building a product that will be best-in-class in serving college sports fans of all levels," said Mark Floreani, FloSports Co-Founder and CEO. "Our vision for FloCollege is to become the essential destination for the thousands of Division-II and Division-III athletes, their families, and fans, while providing much-needed funds to these smaller institutions, who are in critical need of additional revenue resources."

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks Kuiper.
Floreani seems to rattle off media-speak.
He cannot hide his disappointment in losing the Big East.

[Ron Boerger]

"thousands of Division-II and Division-III athletes, their families, and fans"

The potential Big East audience by itself is larger than the combined D2 and D3 conferences they have suckered in captured - and more willing to pay because that's what you do in D1.  I increasingly do not see what their value proposition is.