I wish that Flotrack would charge 5 times as much. This would make it just for real fans. The broke azz bottom dwellers add nothing to the sport.
They don’t need to charge more. Only real fans pay for it now. And as someone mentioned- no broadcast company feels the need to air rinky dink meets that the general population would never watch
I wish that Flotrack would charge 5 times as much. This would make it just for real fans. The broke azz bottom dwellers add nothing to the sport.
It has nothing to do with being broke. If you went to an expensive restaurant and they served crappy food with crappy service would you go back, even if you can afford to eat there?
The problem is that sometimes Flotrack is the only place in town that's open.
Meets don't make money. They don't earn a profit. So if flotrack is paying the meets big money, the meet would likely disappear if Flotrack went away. Flotrack is keeping the sport alive.
Says the guy who is one of the 5 guys making an ok living off of Flowtrack. Yes, the BU meets, which charge each of the 4000 runners $100 dollars to run ($400,000 gross), would just disappear without the $2000 "rights" fee they charge BU. Flotrack exists so 5 guys can make an ok living, in exchange, our sport is held hostage by these 5 guys, and our sport becomes more and more obscure because of these 5 guys. Cancel your Flowtrack subscription. I am sure these 5 guys can get real jobs like the rest of us. Let anyone film these meets and races and open up the sport to millions who will watch these races on YouTube.
FloTrack is a catch 22 for the sport. On one hand, they charge a high price for their “subpar” content, which fans often reluctantly pay while feeling taken advantage of. However, they provide a service few others are willing or able to do, which is broadcast a variety of events across the sport, thus (in theory) increasing the eyes on events, money flowing into the sport, etc.
People wish they would cease to exist, but if they did, there might not be a broadcast for an event like The Ten at all. So what is it? FloTrack sucks, or FloTrack is “okay”?
This is where people need to get creative if they want to end Flotracks death grip on these kinds of events.
Flotrack pays big money to meet organizers for EXCLUSIVE rights to host meets. It's a corrupt system.
If flotrack didn't pay for those rights, anybody could go and live stream it. They are ruining the sport by making it harder for anyone to access it.
The flotrack announcers are idiots anyway, I'd rather watch a live stream with no sound. Just one guy with a camera from the press box with a cell phone camera is perfectly fine.
Get ready cause rumor is FloTrack will have a lot of the big professional meets next year. Not peacock or citrus.
Question for those on this thread that want these live streams to be free/super cheap...
Q) Who is producing your ideal stream? Are they volunteering to work for free?
Q) Where does the camera equipment come from? Is it free?
Q) Is the camera equipment high quality? Or just a cell-phone with a camera?
Q) Who's paying for the rights to stream? Or are those free too?
Track fans want everything cheap and free, but then complain when it's low quality or poorly produced.
Complain all you want, but the sport is being covered, isn't it?
Contrary to the belief of users on these boards, most people do not care about track. We do, obviously. But the average person does not want or care to watch our sport.
Hate FloTrack for covering the sport, and asking for money to do it (they are a business...) But they're doing something most companies don't care to do, and that's cover niche sports.
Consider this:
You get what you want, free/cheap content. Created by hobbyists/amateurs with little to no expertise in the area (because they're doing this for free.) The complaint then would be: this sucks and they don't know anything.
Your favorite running website is run by hobbyists and amateurs with poor journalism skills. FloTrack is just following the LRC model because the fans don't demand better.
I’d definitely stay up and watch it and I’d actually be pretty excited about the race, but flotrack is awful. It costs twice what Amazon/Netflix cost for high school quality production. Honestly, my sons public access football broadcasts when he played JV was done better and those were free to watch.
It makes it so hard to care that I just don’t. Honestly, if no Americans make it in the 10k great, because I’ve never watched any of them race anyway so I’m mostly indifferent, and I’m a huge track fan. Went to Budapest for the WC.
I also find it hard to get excited about it, but we are in the USA where athletics is an insignificant sport save for a couple weeks during the Olympics (and even that's debatable). You are welcome to launch a startup focused on running media... I'm sure you'll have many aha moments.
Your favorite running website is run by hobbyists and amateurs with poor journalism skills. FloTrack is just following the LRC model because the fans don't demand better.
“Sometimes I open the window, look at the sky, and start to cry because it reminds me of her. She left me for a muscular guy who has a real paying job”.
-average morning of a letsrun ranter who’s a “track fan” (really self indulges entitlement and expects everything to be convenient for them).
Your favorite running website is run by hobbyists and amateurs with poor journalism skills. FloTrack is just following the LRC model because the fans don't demand better.
The demands of a tiny fan base don't matter
USATF has a budget about 10% of the USOPC but the CEO makes far more. USATF is a grift from the top and enables grifters like Flotrack. Running is an extremely popular sport and generates tens of billions annually. The barriers to entry and control by USATF protect their grift at the expense of athletes and the sport. Even Cornhole and Darts get more ESPN coverage because those associations are interested in promoting the sport not maximizing the amount they can skim off the top.
I'm not saying I want it for free. I was happy to pay $10 directly to Sound Running in the past to watch their streams, knowing a chunk goes to the athletes.
I subscribe to Runnerspace+ for $12.99/mo and Peacock for $5.99/mo. Flotrack charges $30/mo and won't even show the subscription cost until AFTER you create an account. Scummy business practices, a poor product, and being the most expensive streaming platform is why Flotrack sucks.
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