The Mountain West Could Potentially Turn To Streaming
The Mountain West television rights are coming up for grabs soon
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The Mountain West should avoid FloSports as an option
One complaint Mountain West fans have about games is the late start times for basketball and football becuase of the influence TV partners have over when games start.
Two complaints school administrators have included the late start times and relatively little money from the current distribution rights contract.
One solution that has been brought up is to switch to Over-The-Top streaming services, as this would allow schools to set the start time. Many people are cutting the cable cord and switching to streaming services to get their television fix. It’s only a matter of time before sports makes the switch as well.
Two recently negotiated deals are going to be on the minds of Mountain West and school officials when the contract is negotiated.
First, the American Athletic Conference signed a 12 year, $1 billion contract with ESPN. Second, the Colonial Athletic Association signed a four year, seven figure deal with FloSports.
If the Mountain West had to choose between the two, they should go with ESPN. ESPN brings a bigger reach at a smaller price and without any of the problems that has followed Flo wherever they go.
ESPN+ costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. FloSports costs $29.99 per month or $150 per year (most articles covering Flo conveniently leave out the month-by-month cost and go with the yearly cost broken out into 12 payments for the monthly cost).
The price of FloSports also includes access to 25 different channels cover different sports from track and amateur wrestling to rugby and bowling. For all of the good FloSports brought to the track world, one day brought down their value to soccer fans.
D.C. United, of Major League Soccer, signed a four year deal with Flo to broadcast their games locally in the DC area. In the first game of the 2019 season on Flo, the first half was plagued by problems. Fans in the D.C. area couldn’t watch the match due to it being blacked out for them.
The US rugby community also has it’s issues with Flo. FloRugby secured the rights to the USA Eagles matches for the next few years, excluding the World Cup matches. The high price point and relative lack of a quality product have led US rugby fans to lament the deal that was signed.
(Full Disclosure: The author is a fan of rugby, including the USA Eagles.)
The broadcast quality of Flo streams is also a complaint. FloTrack is celebrated as one of the better streaming services for its quality and the attention it brings to the track community. But other channels have their issues with the stream quality.
Going back to rugby while mentioning stream quality and just overall effort. The Eagles playing in yearly competition with teams from the Americas, called the Americas Rugby Championship. ESPN has secured the rights to this competition everywhere expect the US. FloRugby chooses to just use the ESPN broadcast and overlay their commentary on the stream.
This brings up the point of why would people pay for a product they were already getting for free. The CAA deal mentioned previously is still going to have the broadcasts produced by the schools like they were before. It’s just now they are going to be behind the FloSports paywall, instead of the CAA.tv in house service they currently use.
If the Mountain West wants to turn to streaming, go for it. Try to get the best deal you can. The Mountain West already streams games on Twitter and Facebook and they’re decent options. An ESPN deal, just not as long as the AAC’s, would work. Hell, go for broke and go with Twitch. Please just don’t negotiate a deal with FloSports. There are better options out there.
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