Paying to watch D2 football

[boatcapt]

Will I bite the bullet and pay? Yes.

Will the more casual fan? No chance.

I'd guess your average PSAC football broadcast probably gets 200 viewers. Maybe (probably) less. Perhaps 40 of them will pay. That may even be generous.

To me, it's the sport I like and it is a cheap entertainment option. Most won't see it that way.

I just can't see the business model with D2 games on Flosports behind a pay wall. I tend to agree with your numbers. Unless Flo charges and astronomical rate, I can't see how they turn a profit? Sure you can low ball the production costs (why have 2 cameras when one is more than enough), would imagine they are paying their "talent" little more than slave wages and the school/conferences are probably giving Flo exclusive rights for next to nothing, but when you stack enough quarters, you come up with a significant pile of money. Are they really expecting to get a ton of ad dollars for an audience consistently in the double digits???

Niche programming to people that 1. Don't realize they are in a niche and 2. Won't pay to be in that niche.

[SRU 88]

Flosports: $19.99 for one month's access

$8.99 a month if you do a year's subscription

[Fightingscot82]

Money grabs for who?? Seems like it is a conference affiliation, Do the individual schools get a piece of the pie??( probably just the burnt crust)

Forcing things through a pay wall that will kill the product. As was said, this is a casual fan product and trying to extract money from a rock will push away those casual fans. Very few people pay money to see PSAC football in any form. Most are getting in for free as students, donors, or parents on comp tickets.

[CHIP72]

Will the PSAC partner with Flosports or another provider in the future??

I certainly hope not. FloSports also has a contract with the CAA (DI-AA/FCS in football, D1 in basketball) and more recently (in 2024) also started handling game coverage duties for the D3 Landmark Conference, which has various eastern Pennsylvania schools in it. (Additionally, in minor league hockey FloSports took over the AHL streaming contract in hockey during the 2024-25 season, and has had similar contracts with the ECHL and SPHL for the last few years.)

I know many CAA and AHL fans have NOT been happy with FloSports, mainly because it has had few league/conference properties under its umbrella, reducing its value. When some of the CAA football schools (Richmond, William & Mary, Villanova) moved to the Patriot League for football (which has a contract with ESPN; many games are streamed on ESPN+), the CAA's contract with FloSports was cited by fans as one of the reasons for the move (or more accurately one of the positives of the move - no more FloSports).

[jrshooter]

If the PSAC turns to Flosports, it might be the thing that forces me to shell out the money.

But I've already had a pretty lousy experience with the NFHS Network, trying to get them to remove my credit-card information after I unsubscribed. Of course, the production values with that were the pits -- stationery camera, usually no announcers. At least you know you'll usually get a professional presentation from a PSAC school.

I hope I don't have to make the decision.

[ClarionNoob]

FloSports has a lot of DI baseball tourneys as well, I’m a big Ohio State Baseball fan and I have to have subscriptions to Flo for a tourney, then D1Baseball for early games , then espn + for mid season … (oh no my eyes have gone crossed again ).

I am a fan of a hybrid model and wouldn’t have a problem with it if PSAC did that. Like baseline live broadcast is free on the app, but premium features are paid.

— Free Non Premium —
Live Broadcasts of all sports

— Premium —
On Demand games
Score tracking for All PSAC
message boards
Play by Play Game Feed
Radio Broadcasts

Something like this would be acceptable if they had to move from what they are doing now IMHO.

[Ship69]

If the PSAC turns to Flosports, it might be the thing that forces me to shell out the money.

But I've already had a pretty lousy experience with the NFHS Network, trying to get them to remove my credit-card information after I unsubscribed. Of course, the production values with that were the pits -- stationery camera, usually no announcers. At least you know you'll usually get a professional presentation from a PSAC school.

I hope I don't have to make the decision.

I also hope so. It's not that any one of these things is that much money, but I find myself paying more and more for everything (like TV and Interweb services) these days, and it starts to become death by a thousand small cuts. You start looking at your monthly credit card statements and realize that all these little $8.99 and $9.99 monthly subscriptions you're shelling out are starting to add up to a significant outlay.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I also hope so. It's not that any one of these things is that much money, but I find myself paying more and more for everything (like TV and Interweb services) these days, and it starts to become death by a thousand small cuts. You start looking at your monthly credit card statements and realize that all these little $8.99 and $9.99 monthly subscriptions you're shelling out are starting to add up to a significant outlay.

I'm afraid to look lol.

No matter what game I want to watch, it's inevitably on an app I don't have. Never fails. Or, it's on the (need to upgrade) premium version of said app.

If it's a team I really like (IUP) I can't stand watching the video feed. Luckily the couple road games a year are fairly close.

I typically stumble in to some free Yinzers tickets every season so I'll go to a couple of those.

I'm not a Penn State fan but if it lines up right I'll go up there once a year. The atmosphere is fantastic.

[Fightingscot82]

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[Chuck Norris]

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I remember ditching Directv for YouTubeTV when the latter was $50 a month. I only had Netflix and Prime Video. I actually did save quite a bit of money. Those were good times.

[Fightingscot82]

My boomer parents will never cut cable. They complain left and right about the cost and that they only watch a handful of channels (most of them could be had over antenna). I don't complain either because I have their login and can add those streaming channels to my TV, especially when the playoffs are put on some fringe cable sports channel like CBS College Sports 2.

[SRU 88]

I downloaded the Flosports app on to my Roku: it has a lot of content: ARCA racing, Ontario Junior Hockey league, Wrestling, Volleyball and in spring will have women's lacrosse; as I did with ESPN+ last year to watch the D2 playoffs, I will pay the one month fee then cancel.

[CC_BU]

Forcing things through a pay wall that will kill the product. As was said, this is a casual fan product and trying to extract money from a rock will push away those casual fans. Very few people pay money to see PSAC football in any form. Most are getting in for free as students, donors, or parents on comp tickets.

If PSAC football was a real money maker, perhaps the 2020 season would not have been canceled

[IUPbigINDIANS]

If PSAC football was a real money maker, perhaps the 2020 season would not have been canceled

And Bingo was his name.

To be worth the hassle, some coin needed to flow. Coin doesn't flow in here. Only out.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Off topic but for you pro wrestling fans is this Raja Jackson assault true or part of the show?

If it's true, he should be behind bars.

He's an MMA fighter who was doing an appearance in some lower level pro wrestling league. He appeared to go just about insane and about killed a guy in the ring.

Some reputable services have picked up the story (ESPN, etc.) which leads me to believe it was real and this guy just went off the hinges.