Flo Sports

[IC798891]

It may be that we are speaking past each other on this point.  I'll say it this way:  Assume I generally give $100 to the school's annual fund for athletics and my team fund.  Since my disposable income hasn't increased, I'm not upping my athletic department or team fund gift to $200 this year because you've started a streaming fund.  I'm just reallocating some or all of my $100 gift to that fund, which means the athletic department or team falls short on funding what they usually get with my $100.  The only way that doesn't happen is if I up my gift or some new people give.  There are some funding campaigns that bring out new donors or bigger donations, but they may think streaming isn't one of them.

I think the analogy I'd use is, if you want food delivered, and your restaurant offers delivery but has a delivery charge, why are you going on the Door Dash App to pay their service fee?

[Kuiper]

It may be that we are speaking past each other on this point.  I'll say it this way:  Assume I generally give $100 to the school's annual fund for athletics and my team fund.  Since my disposable income hasn't increased, I'm not upping my athletic department or team fund gift to $200 this year because you've started a streaming fund.  I'm just reallocating some or all of my $100 gift to that fund, which means the athletic department or team falls short on funding what they usually get with my $100.  The only way that doesn't happen is if I up my gift or some new people give.  There are some funding campaigns that bring out new donors or bigger donations, but they may think streaming isn't one of them.

I think the analogy I'd use is, if you want food delivered, and your restaurant offers delivery but has a delivery charge, why are you going on the Door Dash App to pay their service fee?

That's fair, but I think a different point.  My guess is Rochester lost as many casual fans with its own paywall as FloSports does, but Rochester did get the money from its parents and dedicated fans/alums rather than sharing it with a third party.  Someone with connections to that school might have insight as to whether this is better or worse for them net of costs.  My point you were responding to was about whether schools would be hesitant to fundraise for it, not whether they should charge a fee for it and provide the service itself.  I think those have two different looks to alums and two different potential consequences for the university.  There were plenty of people on this board unhappy with Rochester for charging a fee.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

We have a test case.  The OAC just signed with Flo.  Their broadcasts have been proudly and publicly underwritten by an alumni group for a long time - it's been labeled and branded all over their stuff.

One would hope they'd be consulted on this kind of move.  If they are like many other schools we've talked to, that may not have happened.

I doubt we'll get all the financial numbers from this, but they will exist.  Marietta will know how this affects the relationship with certain alums pretty much right away.

[IC798891]

We have a test case.  The OAC just signed with Flo.  Their broadcasts have been proudly and publicly underwritten by an alumni group for a long time - it's been labeled and branded all over their stuff.

One would hope they'd be consulted on this kind of move.  If they are like many other schools we've talked to, that may not have happened.

I doubt we'll get all the financial numbers from this, but they will exist.  Marietta will know how this affects the relationship with certain alums pretty much right away.

This seems like the canary in the coal mine for my theory. Well, as I said, I've been wrong before

[WUPHF]

The Add/Drop podcast interviewed a Flo Sports executive, in which he boldly suggests that the Flo Model will increase the quality of the broadcasts and fan experience all the while increasing alumni engagement and, crazily enough, increased student enrollment.

That is the part that bothers me the most, the promises of benefits beyond the revenue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho17QeHMVoE

[Ron Boerger]

The Add/Drop podcast interviewed a Flo Sports executive, in which he boldly suggests that the Flo Model will increase the quality of the broadcasts and fan experience all the while increasing alumni engagement and, crazily enough, increased student enrollment.

That is the part that bothers me the most, the promises of benefits beyond the revenue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho17QeHMVoE

And of course the guy that posted this turned off comments.  Wonder why.

The Add/Drop podcast has all of 21 subscribers, and this podcast all of 12 views as I type this.

[WUPHF]

And of course the guy that posted this turned off comments.  Wonder why.

The Add/Drop podcast has all of 21 subscribers, and this podcast all of 12 views as I type this.

Right, my apologies, I should have mentioned that there is not much to listen to in the podcast to save everyone the time.

This podcaster also interviewed the Landmark Conference AD two or three times and has generally been supportive of the Flo Sports approach.

He still should have asked for concrete examples of how Flo drives alumni engagement or asked about the fact that the approach has drawn criticism among fans on social media.

[y_jack_lok]

The Add/Drop podcast interviewed a Flo Sports executive, in which he boldly suggests that the Flo Model will increase the quality of the broadcasts and fan experience all the while increasing alumni engagement and, crazily enough, increased student enrollment.

That is the part that bothers me the most, the promises of benefits beyond the revenue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho17QeHMVoE

Since I decided to give FloSports the benefit of the doubt and have paid for a subscription, I will be paying close attention to the quality of the broadcasts and how I feel about the experience. And, for what it's worth, I'll comment here on my observations related to the above claim. I hope others who have subscribed will do the same.

[WUPHF]

Since I decided to give FloSports the benefit of the doubt and have paid for a subscription, I will be paying close attention to the quality of the broadcasts and how I feel about the experience. And, for what it's worth, Ill comment here on my observations related to the above claim. I hope others who have subscribed will do the same.

That is my plan as well.

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ One of the things I do (and I'm sure others do as well) is check in on multiple games (mainly during football and basketball seasons) while watching the game I am primarily interested it. Different schools have different levels of broadcast quality. So I will be looking to see if Flo has improved the broadcast quality of the schools that need help. Hopefully, Flo won't do anything to lower the quality of the broadcasts that are already good.

[Kuiper]

Since the SCAC is an opt-in FloSports conference, Hendrix had to decide that it is opting into FloSports and it announced today that it is doing so.

After rejoining the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference as a full-time member in July 2025, Hendrix College has opted in to the conference's multi-year media rights agreement with FloSports. Beginning in 2025-26, Hendrix's athletic events will be streamed on FloCollege, FloSports' subscription-based streaming platform for intercollegiate athletics. FAQ

"Hendrix College and the SCAC are aligned in our pursuit to provide a transformational experience for our student-athletes," said Director of Athletic Communications Sandy Burks. "By partnering with FloSports, Hendrix is better equipped to provide our student-athletes increased exposure on a world-class streaming platform while competing in one of the top conferences in Division III. FloSports has already demonstrated their commitment to providing outstanding coverage and original content to its partners, and we look forward to seeing all of the amazing opportunities that will follow as a result of this partnership."

[maripp2002]

Having watched all this flo sports drama unfold, a thought occurred to me. On the D3 football scoreboard site on game day, could we get a way to indicate that a game's video is going to go through a paywall - whether it's flo or not? I can't remember how many times I clicked on a Saint John's game day 'V' link just to be reminded I couldn't watch it without paying.

It would certainly make my life as a non-flo subscriber a lot easier, and give other non-subscribers an easy way to decide what d3 games they'll be checking out. 

Thanks in advance for entertaining this request. 

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah, great question! We are already in the middle of posting those links for this season so it's not super easy to change those but definitely watching to see what other people do with those links.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Many school sites list a $ next to the link for non-conference paywall games.

[Captainred81]

I haven't decided if I'm gonna pay or not.  I feel like I want to because it must benefit the college in someway, and  if I don't pay well, it detracts.  Plus, I do pay for Hulu live to watch other football, so I suppose its not insane that I would pay for this, also, I like this better.  Maybe, I've just decided.