A few comments.
1) I couldn't believe the following aspect of the article. "A subscription to FloSports — which includes access to 25 sports, including auto racing, mixed martial arts, wrestling and Big Ten competitions — costs $150 annually or $30 per month. But United plans to offer the same fully inclusive packages at reduced rates. The price has not been finalized, Porter said."
That excerpt drove me nuts. How in the world could they not know how much flosports is going to charge for the fans to watch the game? It shows that owners don't give a damn about the fans.
2) I thought the headline of the article using the term "cuts the chord" was interesting, but shows the origination of the term cutting the chord really isn't really understood or used properly by the press and even executives. To me, cutting the chord represents people fighting back against exorbitant cable costs. People don't want to pay $200 a month for cable. So people basically cut the chord to try to save money.
Cutting the chord really initially was people going to free tv only.
But now there are all sorts of OTA services - like flosports - that are coming in and thinking they are future. I laugh however when people like flosports say ESPN lost its way. The only reason why people don't like cable is for one reason - the cost.
Yet, these people use the term cutting to chord when they are asking fans to pay a ton for some very specialized stream?
The other day I saw that one of the milesplit founders or key people who now works for flosports - Jason Byrne- even has launched a website to help people cut the chord and save money. I thought it was pretty ironic. He like thousands of people is irate that it costs so much to watch stuff, yet he works for a company that charges mom and dad's $150 a year to watch their kids track meets.
So the logic is people want to save every penny they can on ESPN, TNT, etc but will want to shell out $30 a month to watch college track or wrestling or now DC United?
I think parents are much more likely to pay a ton to watch their kids than the DC fan is going to pay. I'll be surprised if this deal lasts for 4 years.
I think it's pretty short sighted. Yes, if you want to maximize revenue in the near term, gorge the shit out of your fans. But if you want to become big time, don't.
https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/1082797925636497408