Bite the Hand that Feeds

[BobDole 967]

No they weren't. ESPN had their own cameras on the mats.

Both were filming? My understanding is that you could see Flo logos on the computers at matside and you can see the matches on Flo Premium.

 

They aren't the full matches on Flo, just about 1-2 minutes of the highlights.

 

ESPN was using real cameras to film for their ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPN broadcasts, not ones you can get at Best Buy. ESPN also had on screen graphics and such.

 

The Flo cameras that were matside were being used for replay.

[gimpeltf 1,531]

They aren't the full matches on Flo, just about 1-2 minutes of the highlights.

The Flo cameras that were matside were being used for replay.

 

Gotcha, thanks.

[dclark145 16]

And 2 weeks later, Flo STILL has their highlight videos behind the paywall.. "growing the sport"

[zeeb 0]

You really want Flo to broadcast the NCAA Finals? Were you not aware of the issues they had with almost any event they have streamed? Also are you not aware of the billing issues they have?

 

No better way to kill the sport than have a stream that is flaky and have people being bills years after the event.

 

I think ESPN did an excellent job. Much better than Flo would have done. But the topic wasn't to compare the merits of ESPN vs. Flo. It was whether Flo was "biting the hand that feeds it". They weren't. Because they're a competing media company to ESPN for this event.

[LongShot 13]

You really want Flo to broadcast the NCAA Finals? Were you not aware of the issues they had with almost any event they have streamed? Also are you not aware of the billing issues they have?

 

No better way to kill the sport than have a stream that is flaky and have people being bills years after the event.

 

I think ESPN did an excellent job. Much better than Flo would have done. But the topic wasn't to compare the merits of ESPN vs. Flo. It was whether Flo was "biting the hand that feeds it". They weren't. Because they're a competing media company to ESPN for this event.

 

DIsagree. They are NOT competing. Not unless Flo can find a way to get their broadcasts on mainstream cable in addition to the internet. Flo gains sole rights to NCAA tournament and zero casual fans are captured. "FLO" while gaining steam, is still a part of the (battered) wrestling community. And the wrestling community should be thankful, not critical, of what ESPN is doing. Another 5 years, maybe wrestling is on more stable ground and we revisit.

[LemonPie 1,368]

ESPN3 > any Flo video I've ever seen

[rhino184 78]

Flo is taking the wrong approach with the past two featured articles. The March Madness and ESPN bashing articles were completely unnecessary and make the wrestling community look like a bunch of ignorant whiners. We should be grateful of ESPN's expanded coverage. Mistakes on sports' broadcasts are unavoidable, but ESPN did a fine job to connect to the wrestling community and a common audience

[pcostilow 2]

I agree with rsabich. I also played/still play lacrosse. He does a great job on lax broadcasts and does a good job with wrestling considering it isn't his primary area of knowledge. I always hate the interviews immediately post match, though. The kids are sucking wind 9/10 times. Quint is good, though.

[LongShot 13]

Flo may have too many cooks in the kitchen at this point. There's just not enough work to go around post NCAA so we get this. They hired two guys to fill in for Joe and now seems Joe is back?

[Tofurky 596]

I like Flo's content, but they preach to the choir. Their base are the folks who are already watching NCAAs. A wrestling-specific website/channel, very much unlike ESPN, isn't terribly interested in reaching out beyond their little base. Outside of the wrestling community, who knows about Flowrestling? Outside of ANY community, who knows about ESPN? If you ask your average Joe/Jane where they can see wrestling matches on television/the web, they're most likely to say ESPN and have zero concept of Flo. It's as if we're comparing cherries to watermelons.

[zeeb 0]

DIsagree. They are NOT competing. Not unless Flo can find a way to get their broadcasts on mainstream cable in addition to the internet. Flo gains sole rights to NCAA tournament and zero casual fans are captured. "FLO" while gaining steam, is still a part of the (battered) wrestling community. And the wrestling community should be thankful, not critical, of what ESPN is doing. Another 5 years, maybe wrestling is on more stable ground and we revisit.

 

What is the business that Flo is in? Sports coverage

 

What is the business that ESPN is in? Sports coverage

 

If ESPN chose to focus more on wrestling beyond the NCAA championships they could easily drive Flo out of business. That means they are competitors.

 

I don't get what is hard to grasp here. They are both media companies who's business is sports coverage.

 

Maybe the brewery idea wasn't getting the point across. Then consider FloWrestling the local mom and pop shop and ESPN to be WalMart.

[Tofurky 596]

What is the business that Flo is in? Sports coverage

 

What is the business that ESPN is in? Sports coverage

 

If ESPN chose to focus more on wrestling beyond the NCAA championships they could easily drive Flo out of business. That means they are competitors.

 

I don't get what is hard to grasp here. They are both media companies who's business is sports coverage.

 

Maybe the brewery idea wasn't getting the point across. Then consider FloWrestling the local mom and pop shop and ESPN to be WalMart.

 

Could the NCAA DI finals subsist on coverage by Flo alone? I'd venture to say no. Can the sport grow without the coverage of the finals on ESPN? I would say no. Flo has yet to offer up a truly professional model for live coverage of events. Then again, the wrestling community is great at devaluing itself, so this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

 

The one thing I truly dislike about both Flo and ESPN is their choice to cover only DIs at the college level. For all of the bellyaching about dropping programs and the decline of collegiate wrestling, I ALMOST NEVER see Martin and his crew making a play at covering topics on the DII, DIII, NAIA or NJCAA levels. When people go to their site to ask for coverage of these events, they're always received with "record it yourself and post it." Regardless of what teams you follow, that's a complete slap in the face to an overwhelming majority of the wrestling community.

[LongShot 13]

DIsagree. They are NOT competing. Not unless Flo can find a way to get their broadcasts on mainstream cable in addition to the internet. Flo gains sole rights to NCAA tournament and zero casual fans are captured. "FLO" while gaining steam, is still a part of the (battered) wrestling community. And the wrestling community should be thankful, not critical, of what ESPN is doing. Another 5 years, maybe wrestling is on more stable ground and we revisit.

 

What is the business that Flo is in? Sports coverage

 

What is the business that ESPN is in? Sports coverage

 

If ESPN chose to focus more on wrestling beyond the NCAA championships they could easily drive Flo out of business. That means they are competitors.

 

I don't get what is hard to grasp here. They are both media companies who's business is sports coverage.

 

Maybe the brewery idea wasn't getting the point across. Then consider FloWrestling the local mom and pop shop and ESPN to be WalMart.

 

You are correct. ESPN covers sports. You make it to ESPN regularly or (in the case of wrestling) once a year, its a huge deal for your sport.

 

Flo, however, covers wrestling. Maybe one day they'll grow so popular that ESPN will consider competing in their niche market or even buying them out. That would be great for our sport and for Flo.

 

For now, they don't have the same goals or trying to necessarily even sell the same product. While ESPN wants to stay in the NCAA wrestling tournament coverage game, Flo is out. And it appears that ESPN does not want to go after Flo's market. They don't compete.

[Flying-Tiger 615]

T.R. Foley definitely agrees with the O.P. Take a look at his Friday Mailbag; the gloves come off, yikes!!

 

http://www.intermatwrestle.com/articles/13144

[headshuck 2,202]

Wow, not sure what to think about that. Gloves came off and the ref didn't stop the beating.

[BobDole 967]

I think Foley needs to tell us how he really feels about FloWrestling. It seems he is holding back a little too much.

[LemonPie 1,368]

Nick's Twitter responses are embarrassing.

[Billyhoyle 1,988]

When you read the Intermat article right after the Flo one, it's amazing to see the contrast in quality....It's as if Intermat actually hired a...*gasp*...real journalist/college educated writer. It's this type of professionalism that Flo completely lacks, which while fine for a Blog/fansite, should not be pervasive throughout the entire site and all of their coverage.

[WalterWhite 40]

Lets agree to start calling it flo not flow sorry this was bothering me.... :evil:

[Chasden 54]

Wow, not sure what to think about that. Gloves came off and the ref didn't stop the beating.

[ironmonkey 137]

Not sure how they are in competition, but I personally would MUCH rather watch ESPN than Flo. Flo would be my last choice for wrestling coverage with all the yelling in the microphone.

[Threadkilla 100]

I wanted to watch the 152 Hernandez/Bova match at FloNationals, they were starting at 152. Logging into the FloPro site at 6:55. The Note on the page says they are starting at 7:30ET. But they started about 7:10. So I missed the match and they had the anklets backwards on the pic on the FB site. So I'm still not 100% sure who won. heh. Flo sucks

 

The ESPN coverage at Nats was Awesome.

[Flying-Tiger 615]

I read that the Flo announcer said that Boykin was going to North Carolina when in fact he is going to North Carolina State. Will ESPN retaliate with it's own scathing article?

[NJWC 305]

Isn't Velliquette the half retarded wanna be carnival barker who uses terms like "historic" and "legendary" to describe a match between two high school sophomores who placed at states the year before in a pre season 1/1/1 wrestling match?

Idiot.

[NickVelliquette 1]

NJWC, I'm the fella who, along w/Willie Saylor and about half a dozen other posters, clowned you for not knowing the definition of simple words like "historic" and "legendary."

 

You didn't (and still don't) seem to know anything about high school wrestling as the match you refer to is the Dean Heil v Aaron Pico match at Super 32. The match was not 1/1/1 and neither were sophomores at the time. I'm sure I already lost you with "Aaron Pico" though so I'll stop. Keep killin' it on the boards, man! I hear nothing but good things about you.