What a joke..Flotrack now has exclusive broadcasting rights to the NCAA XC Championship

pop_pop_v2.2.1 wrote:

SafetyFirst wrote: Do I think I am entitled to watch a live stream of an NCAA championship every year because 'that's how it used to be'?

What you are saying is interest in the sport is so low, they can't find advertisers. Or, getting a check from Flowtrack is easier than wrangling advertisers.

I would go with easier over just can't get advertisers.

Man, I am just completely torn on what to say. I dont like Flotrack or Milesplit at all. But it's hard for me to not empathize with them to a varying degree.

As I read some of your posts I am sadly reminded of what this niche user base is.

Our amateur sport is sometimes a magnet for cheapskates who have zero respect for what goes into web production at all levels.

You want flotrack FOR FREE.

You want usatf.tv FOR FREE.

You want runnerspace FOR FREE.

You want to browse letsrun with ADBLOCK bro [sic].

You want to ditch dyestat, trackshark and tfnews for god knows what reason. Calling people dicks and monsters and jumping ship.

You want to post links to charity benefits (wink wink) that line your pockets a little...for free.

The internet of yesterday is NOT the same as it is today. The traditional advertising model which once gave the majority of the niche sustenance is not the same. Things changed in 2013-2015.

Again I dont like flotrack and bureaucratic nonsense but this is equally a very difficult and opinionated group of people to cater to. Terrible empathy for the workloads. The majority are unwilling to support the love to keep it alive. These companies have run out of options.

If there was a way theyd give it all away for free. But they tried that already and went broke.

This is a problem with our sport. People pay $60 to watch a pay per event!

Pay $12 to watch an NCAA Championships. It's the cost of a lunch at Whole Foods and I will gladly pay it as long as Flotrack provides a good viewership instead of the idiots we normally have to listen to.

Flotrack is one of the only businesses that is actually trying to properly market our sport.

Letsrun should try and do half of what Flotrack does instead of reposting other people's work.

I really think the issue with FloTrack is their inconsistent streaming. Who cares if their announcers are amateurish? How many good track announcers are there, outside of Great Britain? Besides, enthusiasm is fine for track announcing, even if the announcers are getting the names wrong as they often do. Most of the time, I know the names anyway, thanks in part to my regular reading of LetsRun.

But it is the frustration of their streaming being constantly interrupted, sometimes right before the finish, that drives me crazy. Maybe the subscription fees aren't high enough to pay for good uploading equipment? I'm not high tech, so I don't know whats going on, but I don't have that problem with any other streaming network. I also subscribe to Bein Sports, and I watch ESPN3 all the time. Both are great in terms of the quality of the stream, and I can't remember them ever freezing up.

Unlike others here, I am willing to pay for the privilege of watching track and cross country (within limits of my wife's budget consciousness, of course). Still, the quality of FloTrack's streaming more often than not leaves me feeling ripped off. So I'm happy the NCAA's are being broadcast live, and I'll definitely be watching, but if that stream freezes more than once, you'll hear me cursing through the Internet.

Hey Rojo, check all these posts for Austin Texas IP addresses...

Bull crap! Flotrack and Milesplit always had this plan from the start. Now because we are not giving them money they infiltrate like some disease and stop us all from seeing the race. This sport means so much to us all. There are parents and grandparents and little brothers and sisters that must pay Flotrack to watch their son or daughter. They represent themselves as lovers of the sport! If they ran distance they would not do this crap. I'll pay to fly there a thousand times before giving Flocrap a penny. The owners of this forum love distance. They understand our passion for the sport and put up with us and keep this forum open. It means a ton to me to come on here with such freedom. My God the greats I have talked to on this forum. All the mileage and work, you would think it would be a no brainer and privilage to stream the races everywhere. So I ask Flotrack..didn't you ever run distance?

I just don't understand all this animosity toward Flotrack for charging money for their product. Those grandparents and family that want to watch their kid run have choices --- they can pay to go to Terre Haute themselves, watch it on Flotrack for a fee, or sub-contract the video of the race to someone else who might do it for free or charge them less. Indeed, if you think you can continuously produce a better product than Flotrack at a lower price, then go for it and put them out of business!!!

This is one of the more silly threads I've seen here in awhile - the degree of financial literacy is astonishingly low.

Why don't you start a violent protest? Call them bad names. Vandalize sh[t. Burn sh[t. Cry on youtube about Flotrack privilege. Scream! Throw sh[t.

Good luck Dembrat.

What a joke..... wrote:

In order to watch the NCAA Championships, you must now sign up for a Flotrack pro subscription. In years past watching the NCAA championships online was free and available to everyone, and now these money hungry d-bags are trying to charge us to watch it. As much as they might say otherwise, putting a paywall over things that should be readily available is terrible for the sport.

Discus.

It's the American way guys. If you can make money at something exploit it to the max.

It's funny how people believe that theory if they are the ones making money but as soon as it hits them in the pocket book they cry foul.

American whiners!!!

Can't stand it- wrote:

These people are the biggest group of stumbling buffoons around. They can't even do their NCAA picks correctly...TWICE! The "announcers" are nothing short of insufferable. Key Flotrack phrases:

1) "in the mix"

2) "make it honest"

3) your pick of any ridiculous phrase

If someone does a decent job, it will be called "EPIC!!!"

I have FT Pro and I agree. It should be free to view.

Has it been 100% confirmed that subscribing to the monthly package on Friday and then cancelling on Monday under the seven day "free" trial WILL not work and you WILL get charged $19.99?

My only real issue with this is that it came down three days before the meet after the NCAA had already said it was going to be free.

The low 20-'s winds forecasted might make the production interesting. What is the limit for tower safety? Was it 5 or so years ago that they couldn't use the towers?

Can't stand it- wrote:

These people are the biggest group of stumbling buffoons around. They can't even do their NCAA picks correctly...TWICE! The "announcers" are nothing short of insufferable. Key Flotrack phrases:

1) "in the mix"

2) "make it honest"

3) your pick of any ridiculous phrase

WHAMSAUCE

Kill me.

I have no issue with the concept of Flotrack charging.

I just will not be subscribing or watching because the product they are putting out (mainly poor announcing and inconsistent quality of stream) is not worth the price they are charging.

I agree - I have FloTrack Pro and happy to pay for it to watch minor races. I also have a son in the race - we have friends and family who would love to watch but will not. No casual fan is going to pay to watch one race.

The exposure is 10X more valuable that what FloTrack in paying the NCAA.

This is bad business decisions but both NCAA and FloTrack.

There is nothing wrong with paying for a service, but what many are missing here is that what had been FREE online for the past 7-8 years (or more?) will now be behind a paywall, with no additional benefit to fans/viewers.

It would be one thing if the NCAA was expanding coverage to include all the Regionals. Heck, I'd be happy to pay in that case. But what are fans getting out of this deal?

Tired of that web site, those goons who work there know nothing about running history without their iPhone or iPad handy.

Too bad we can't watch the NCAA XC live for free.

htrfdvc wrote:

Has it been 100% confirmed that subscribing to the monthly package on Friday and then cancelling on Monday under the seven day "free" trial WILL not work and you WILL get charged $19.99?

My only real issue with this is that it came down three days before the meet after the NCAA had already said it was going to be free.

The low 20-'s winds forecasted might make the production interesting. What is the limit for tower safety? Was it 5 or so years ago that they couldn't use the towers?

This

My problem with FloTrack is they act like it cost SO much money to do what they do.

They're idiots when it comes to a business standpoint. They really should have went to YouTube route. Guarantee if they have a "high demand", like they claim, they would make their money in adsense, sponsorship, etc. There are way better and smaller productions on sites like YouTube that make way more then FloTrack ever will with paid subscriptions.

You want to generate millions of views? Or can you? Prove it, and the money will come in. Or is your target audience THAT tiny, that you have to charge for such crap products? It's simple logistics.

I believe there has to be well over enough people who would view the NCAA XC championships via a live stream where FloTrack, if the host, could get enough sponsorship to either cover, or make enough to satisfy their greedy hands. And same goes for the NCAA.

FloTrack is trash, they have good intentions, but they don't seem to understand their value isn't as high as they deem it.

Heck, the Big Ten network had LIVE coverage of the Big Ten XC championship and their coverage was 10x better than that of anything I have ever seen through FloTrack, and IT WAS THEIR FIRST TIME DOING IT.