2025 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[stlawus]

With the Massey rankings out for the start of the new season figured now was as good a time as ever to start this year's thread. 

https://masseyratings.com/csoc/ncaa-d3/ratings

[SKUD]

Just remember they are not accurate. Any NCAA tourney game that was a tie and shootout, Ken recorded as a W or L. So a team like Tufts who did not lose a game was credited with a loss by Ken Massey. He doesn't know how to do the math for soccer.

[stlawus]

Just remember they are not accurate. Any NCAA tourney game that was a tie and shootout, Ken recorded as a W or L. So a team like Tufts who did not lose a game was credited with a loss by Ken Massey. He doesn't know how to do the math for soccer.

It's definitely an imperfect tool for some sports.  With a sport like soccer the margins are so close and at times subject to chance, and there are calculation errors like you mentioned. I know the rankings change about halfway through the season as far as being based on the current season results, but I still think there is way too much emphasis on previous seasons as far as the algorithm.   

[EnmoreCat]

I'm happy with the current #1. 

[Hopkins92]

Man... I hate to be a bummer, but with all these conferences going with FloSports... I'm not going to type things into existence, but this does not bode well for many of us that follow d3 soccer as a part time hobby.

[Ron Boerger]

Or the many of us who follow d3 sports in general.   

[SKUD]

People angry about FLO who have not used it prior to now and are complaining, Please tell me you don't pay for any of the following: HBO/MAX, Netflix, AppleTV, ESPN, Disney, YouTube TV, or any other Streaming subscription. If you pay for those what bothers you about FLO?

I dislike the Flo platform (as a paying customer for over 10 years) because it is not on par with other streaming platforms and from a college athletics perspective it has hurt the production quality of the conference I follow. When it was sold to the conference it was sold as a way to improve and achieve minimum standards. The better schools have lost their best broadcasters, not upgraded cameras or camera position and the schools that were horrible are only marginally better.

Welcome to my world.

[Ron Boerger]

People angry about FLO who have not used it prior to now and are complaining, Please tell me you don't pay for any of the following: HBO/MAX, Netflix, AppleTV, ESPN, Disney, YouTube TV, or any other Streaming subscription. If you pay for those what bothers you about FLO?

1.  The ROI on Flo is much less than any of those other platforms.   
2.  The minimal funds that are supposed to go to the schools who signed up to improve broadcast quality are seemingly sucked up elsewhere.
3.  The average quality of the product is poor and does not represent an improvement over what used to be free.  And it doesn't seem to improve over time. 
4.  I, like many others, already donate more to my school's athletic program than Flo costs.  Being forced to pay to watch something I already substantially support is an insult.  Or if you're a parent already spending thousands (to tens of thousands) annually to send your child to college, it's another tacked on fee for no good reason.
5.  If I want to tell someone to watch an event, they too are forced to pay.
6.  This is simply another VC money grab and the people behind it don't give a damn about D3 sports, they just want to get enough suckers customers to pay for it (because they have no choice once Flo takes over) so they can get bought out and show a profit.

Hope that helps. 

[jknezek]

People angry about FLO who have not used it prior to now and are complaining, Please tell me you don't pay for any of the following: HBO/MAX, Netflix, AppleTV, ESPN, Disney, YouTube TV, or any other Streaming subscription. If you pay for those what bothers you about FLO?

I dislike the Flo platform (as a paying customer for over 10 years) because it is not on par with other streaming platforms and from a college athletics perspective it has hurt the production quality of the conference I follow. When it was sold to the conference it was sold as a way to improve and achieve minimum standards. The better schools have lost their best broadcasters, not upgraded cameras or camera position and the schools that were horrible are only marginally better.

Welcome to my world.

I pay for 2 streaming services at a time. We rotate them when they go stale. But here's the thing, Flo provides nothing to the customer. For $20 a month, Netflix gives you access to a library of things they don't create (a la Flo), and a library of things that they pay to create (all those Netflix exclusive shows and movies).

What does Flo create? Nothing. The broadcasts are the same as what you got before, essentially. There is no value added to Flo. They do nothing besides aggregate what was already out there, mostly for free, and charge you for it. They pay the school some nominal amount to do so, but they add nothing. The whole business model is wall off what was free, do nothing but provide the wall, and get paid to do it.

That's what is so aggravating. If they did something, added something, besides the wall, it would be a different story. But they don't.

[Hopkins92]

It's a pretty simple equation for most of us. I will watch games in the, say, MAC Freedom conference on a Wednesday night if there's pretty much nothing else going on. I'm certainly not going to pay for it.

I can drive up to Baltimore in 45 minutes to watch my alma mater. I don't pay to attend those games and I'm certainly not going to pay for Flo, if it comes to that.

[SKUD]

Couldn't agree more with all of you!

[stlawus]

~10 years ago when streaming wasn't as universal in d3 I mainly just stuck to watching SLU/Liberty League games and the occasional SUNYAC game here and there for soccer and hoops.  I was always a big division I hoops viewer and still would watch a mid major conference game like a Mountain West matchup over a random d3 game. As time went on I got more heavily investing in all things d3 as streaming became more prevalent and consisten. In the post covid NIL era I've watched more d3 sports than at any time in my life due to all the d1 nonsense with NIL and transfers.  I know I'm very much an exception to the norm, but so many conferences I've tuned into lately are now off the board.  If there was nothing going on late on a weekend I'd watch a SCIAC game, but now that will no longer happen.  10 years ago if you asked me what a Cal Lutheran was I wouldn't have an answer.  I'm sure a lot of folks can say the same about lots of good programs around the country that they would not have known much, if anything about.  It's not the cost, it's the principle.