Sounds like the Big 12 entered into agreement with ESPN+ for third tier rights and that includes our wrestling. I think this means no more FLO for home duals.
ESPN+/FLO
- Thread starter Air_Thurman
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Personally I'm glad. Love Flo, but I've experienced too many issues with their feed. I think ESPN will have the better platform for streaming.
Yea my gut is that we will see coverage go down and less duals will be aired. Hopefully something could be worked out where ESPN releases wrestling rights at a handful of schools so the FLO agreements can stand.
He is the PFB wrestling blogger/media guy. Does a great job covering all things OSU wreslting.
The problem is it will still be streaming. In theory, ESPN should have better infrastructure but there will always be issues. I've had issues with watching things on ESPN streaming before.
To me the bigger issue is does ESPN care about wrestling? I think the talent they use for wrestling is pretty lacking. For all Flo's flaws they care about the sport and do their best to promote it. If ESPN really got behind wrestling this would be fantastic. Will they though? Flo produces a ton of OSU content simply by being around the program so much. That will all go away.
Hopefully, people will watch the streams, and ESPN will notice and start moving more wrestling over onto the live channels also. Hopefully they will hire some announcers that know something.
Not sure how to do that exactly. Do I need a paid subscription to rivals?
I created an email last year for wrestlestat.com. It's [email protected] if you want to use that.
The only streaming issues I've ever experienced have been with Flo. Everything else has been fine, sports, movies, TV, etc. And it's not horrible, just not as reliable as ESPN in my experience. Might be different for others I realize.
Also, I don't agree with Seth's tweet/premise that Flo will stop providing team coverage if they don't have rights to the duals. They cover teams from other conferences like the EIWA & the ACC. I think website clicks drive the content (articles & videos) more.
For sure I think they will continue to cover OSU. They have too. I doubt the promote duals though. They really put all they could behind Iowa/OSU. They won't do that without the streaming rights. Will ESPN really try and market individual dual? Maybe.
I think you will definitely see less video content for us. A lot of the video content Flo did was because they were in town for duals.
If ESPN really gets behind this I think it could be fantastic. I have my doubts they will care all that much. I hope I'm wrong.
Well I agree they won't hype up duals anymore. If Flo doesn't have the broadcast rights then they don't promote events. You know what was this past weekend? The Dream Team HS All Star dual. The #1 & #2 guys at 195 wrestled. Not a lot of coverage (any?) from Flo because it was on Track. And we'll also lose some pre & post dual videos, agreed.
But there's a lot of angles to this. One is that ESPN+ reaches more households & ultimately provides greater exposure to prospective recruits. We'll have to see what happens, but I'm willing to find out.
I like Flo a lot. I attended all our home matches so didn’t need coverage for those but I get to watch many bouts all over the world and without Flo I would not. They do have some issues at times but love the multitude of events they cover.
ESPN+ is only a carrier. The events would be produced locally, or in-house by the schools. Basically, imagine J. Carl (or whomever the school could get) calling a home OSU dual, with ESPN graphics.
I'm looking forward to the opportunity to have all of the Big 12 home duals in one place, under one subscription.
I've watched several duals on ESPN+ and the commentary was subpar. Certainly not what I'm accustomed to with Flo. Speaking strictly on viewing quality, ESPN is superior but Flo has improved every year since I became FloPro member a few years ago.
This year, with Flo's production being off-site for most duals and them relying on our in-house feed, there was a lot left to be desired in contrast with year's past.
Both are for profit entities (I think-why is Flo .org) but Flo's interests are much more aligned with the people on this board.
Wrestling's best interests are one of the top priorities for Flo. Not so much ESPN.
I'll miss Flo's OSU coverage, because it likely won't be the same.
This year, with Flo's production being off-site for most duals and them relying on our in-house feed, there was a lot left to be desired in contrast with year's past.
Both are for profit entities (I think-why is Flo .org) but Flo's interests are much more aligned with the people on this board.
Wrestling's best interests are one of the top priorities for Flo. Not so much ESPN.
I'll miss Flo's OSU coverage, because it likely won't be the same.
I have to admit and Micco can confirm that I understand nothing about the technical side of this problem but I like Flo and their coverage. I do agree that Flo does experience streaming issues more than most but always thought this do to covering several tournaments, duals etc. at one time and stretching their resources. ESPN really cares more about the major sports and not wrestling. Flo devotes all its resources towards wrestling hence I am fearful we will lose coverage but what do I know? LETS GO POKES!!!
Espn3 is free and not the same as ESPN+.ESPN+ is a paid subscription that costs $4.99 month
ESPN+ is not always a paid service. Hulu Live which Disney/ESPN now owns a huge stake in since they purchased a lot of Fox properties will have a tier with ESPN+ for free. Not all of this deal will be on ESPN+. A great majority of the stuff that was on Fox Sports Oklahoma which is a regional channel that ESPN now owns will transfer to ESPNU, and ESPN3.
ESPN/Disney has to auction off the Fox Sports Regional channels per this merger.