USL Pro to stream all games for free, good article

Discussion in 'United Soccer Leagues' started by RobtheAggie, Jan 29, 2014.

  1. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    http://www.businessofsoccer.com/201...f-the-curve-with-free-live-stream-of-matches/

    Interesting take, that this decision might have been done as the NASL is now making people pay to watch their matches.

    USL PRO understands their limits as a third division league. Soccer fans would not jump at the opportunity to watch a third division soccer match when the first division league (MLS) attracts better talent, has higher quality play, and is affordable and easily accessible. By not charging a fee for online viewers, USL PRO has offered soccer fans unrestricted access to their product. This will create more exposure for the league as it reaches for a wider audience, and will attract more fans who otherwise might never follow the league. - See more at: http://www.businessofsoccer.com/201...-live-stream-of-matches/#sthash.9NLl6hkQ.dpuf
     
  2. Mikey mouse

    Mikey mouse Member

    Jul 27, 1999
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    thanks for the link.

    the streams have been free for a while but I think switching to Youtube will be a huge boost. More accessibility and familiarity for most people are use to using YouTube
     
  3. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    With the MLS affiliated clubs fans from their MLS partner can tune in to see how their loaned players are doing in the minors and get some players who are on the actual ULSPro team contract who could stand out
     
  4. Mikey mouse

    Mikey mouse Member

    Jul 27, 1999
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Teh streams were their last year for people who wanted to watch. But it was a stand alone service that required registration and logins,

    YouTube can handle the traffic better Im sure and like I said has a much higher profile and support
     
  5. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think most were on Ulive or something like that. I am hoping that the Youtube streams are much better quality. It is also more of a brand name than other streaming sites.
     
  6. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Certainly going with Youtube is a much more fan friendly and better well known streaming.
    MLS teams could actually place the link to there affiliate on their websight
    The MLS main page could to the same on a league wide level.
    while the transitioning to current USL Pro teams are going on some teams will own their own USL pro franchise and the more eyes and easier access to the USL Pro games will benefit MLS clubs and their loaned players
     
  7. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I find a interesting future brewing. It looks like it will be MLS and USLPro against NASL and NPSL. The advantage is for MLS and USLPro, but NASL and NPSL are trying to force some major changes on the soccer landscape.
     
  8. cflsteve

    cflsteve Member

    Jul 21, 2013
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    I certainly agree that the NASL can be very successful very fast. Scouting of the Central American and Caribean CONCACAF countries and bring them to the states at a young age where as the MLS does not have enough space on their rosters for international to sign these guys at a younger age.
    In Canada a lot of MLS drafted Canadians and MLS Canadian teams academy players find little room on MLS rosters in the US where they are considered Internationals and even limited space on the Canadian team rosters with the number of young players that are coming through the acedemies will need a spot to land and only EDM and Ottawa currently right now in the NASL should be quite a few young talented guys that will not have to leave the country to find jobs and keep them close to international team training sessions being based around the North American soccer season.
    CSA, Vouncouver White Caps, and UBC are building a top class training facility out west and TFC has one in the east.
    I can see alot of U23 national team players staying in Canada via the two NASL franchises as pros and be close to both training facilities.
    Should leave the door for Hamilton to also acquire some good young players that are spilling over with lack of space on Canadian team rosters
     
  9. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That they're streaming free isn't news. The news is that they are streaming ALL teams for the first time, and YouTube will make it enormously easy on the viewer side.
     
  10. Prosoccercdn

    Prosoccercdn Member+

    Aug 6, 2011
    Club:
    FC Edmonton
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    One set of league's doesn't have to be against the other, they take different places in the pyramid and their respective divisions and each serve a purpose with MLS, NASL, and USL Pro being D1, D2, and D3 respectively. The league's all have a future and role and the pyramid seems to be working well in its present format.

    NASL continue's to grow and had a good year last season and the USL Pro has really made some good strides this off season and is really fitting into place as the 3rd Division Affiliate league for MLS. Having all their games on youtube for 2014 is a good choice.
     
  11. ButlerBob

    ButlerBob Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 13, 2001
    Evanston, IL
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just remember that the YouTube doesn't control the quality of the video. They just host and launch the content / video. So if the in venue video quality isn't very good, this won't help. It would require an investment in recording devices/ cameras at the venue. But as someone else pointed out the biggest upside here is the possible exposure to a larger audience.
     
  12. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It was called UNation, and they had a subsite called USL Nation for us.

    And as Bob said, the big question is what they are willing to invest to ensure everybody has quality video capabilities.

    Orlando doesn't have that problem. If you've ever watched the Disney Pro Soccer Classic on ESPN3 (or on MLS's YouTube channel, as they did last year), you understand the quality available to us now.

     
  13. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Rochester's audio was always about 4 or 5 seconds behind the video.
     
  14. Macsen

    Macsen Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 5, 2007
    Orlando
    Club:
    Orlando City SC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, I noticed that. That might be a producer error. Hopefully they fix it.
     
  15. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You overestimate the NPSL.

    All the NPSL is doing is adding a shit-ton of teams, many of which will be gone by this time next year.
     
  16. Blando13

    Blando13 Member+

    Dec 4, 2013
    Lee's Summit, MO
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Also, if you're adding NPSL wouldn't you also be compelled to add the USL PDL to the other side of the equation since they are a 4th tier equal (or close to equal)? At least at this point in time they are both 4th tier equals.
     
  17. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The NPSL is now apparently larger than the PDL, which has 65 teams at last count. Not all of the teams in either league are of a reasonable quality, though I could not tell you the last time a PDL team had to forfeit, reschedule or cancel games because it could not gain access to its stadium (as happened at least twice with Miami United last year and with San Diego Boca). The PDL has 16 clubs that have been around at least as long as the NPSL has been around. The NPSL has no clubs that have been around as long as the NPSL has been around.

    Both leagues provide opportunities for college-age players to get more games during the summer months, and, as such, are valuable components to our overall soccer hierarchy.

    But the PDL is run better than the NPSL (Hitchcock will, I believe, help upgrade the NPSL, but they have a ways to go to prove that), PDL teams are, by and large, run better than most NPSL teams, PDL teams win most of the ties against NPSL teams in the Open Cup, and it appears as though far more D1 college players choose PDL teams to play on in the summer than choose NPSL teams.

    The franchise failure rate is nearly identical between the two leagues (though the final accounting of NPSL teams can't be done yet as their final lineup is almost certain to have some teams that have fallen by the wayside since the end of last season, so the NPSL will probably edge "ahead" in that metric), with 50.5% of PDL teams that started since 2003 having failed and 48.7% of NPSL teams that started since 2003 having failed.

    I would not necessarily put either one into either "side's" column as a real factor, and neither is going to "force major changes" on the landscape.
     
  18. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What is the average length of time a franchise endures. That could show a stronger organization.
     
  19. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just told you.

    51 of 101 team (50.5%) that have started play in the PDL since 2003 have failed. (This also includes at least a couple of teams that didn't start their lives in the PDL, but dropped down, like the Indiana Blast, so there are some interpretive calls.)

    58 of 119 teams (48.7%) that started play in the NPSL since 2003 had failed as of the end of last season. That number will surely rise as some teams from last season do not return this season. How much higher, we'll see. But I am fairly certain it will be higher.
     
  20. Zoidberg

    Zoidberg Member+

    Jun 23, 2006
    #20 Zoidberg, Feb 7, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2014
    Trying to move a sailboat with 10 battery run fans is the best analogy I can come up with, with regards to this statement.
     
  21. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I understand that, what I am asking is does the PDL franchise last longer than the NPSL franchise?
     
  22. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not a completely fair question, given the NPSL has only been around since 2003.

    I have no doubt the 101 PDL teams that have started play in the PDL since 2003 have lasted longer, on average, than the 58 NPSL teams that have started in the same time period. But I'd have to run you the actual numbers.

    (The PDL teams have lasted an average of 4.48 years, but that's a bit misleading because it counts all the 2014 expansion teams with a "1" in that category and any team in either league that started in, say, 2010 hasn't had the opportunity to be around for five years yet.)

    But, like I also said, there are 16 PDL teams that have been around as long as the NPSL has been around. But there are no NPSL teams that have been around (at least in the league, the Brooklyn Italians have been around forever) as long as the NPSL has been around.
     
  23. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Because we don't know the final (!) makeup of the NPSL for 2014 yet and we do know the final makeup of the PDL for 2014, I've taken the 2013 clubs out of the equation for both leagues and looked at clubs that started play in 2003-2012 for each league.

    97 teams started play in the PDL between 2003-2012. 46 of them survived to 2013 (47.4%) and have lasted or did last an average of 4.38 years. There were 14 one-and-done teams (14%, though that includes teams like Dayton, which moved up after one year).

    102 teams started play in the NPSL between 2003-2012. 40 of them survived to 2013 (39.2%) and have lasted or did last an average of 2.75 years. There were 30 one-and-done teams (29%).

    In each year except 2006 and 2011, the PDL teams had a longer average lifespan than corresponding NPSL teams (and in 2011 the difference was negligible, 2.54 years to 2.44).

    There is no metric I am aware of by which one can say the NPSL and its teams are better-run or more likely to survive than PDL teams. The barriers to entry - decried by some - must be having an effect that reduces the impact of fly-by-night operators (not a surprise to me, but possibly a surprise to some).

    Some people jump on USL for "just taking a check" from anybody, and I've been a critic of their ownership vetting going back to when I first got into the league in 1997. But just because the checks are smaller in the NPSL doesn't mean their rapid expansion (especially this off-season) is any more calculated than that, nor does it mean their business model is revolutionary.
     
  24. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just because it's free doesn't mean people will flock to it.

    How many new MISL fans do you think we've created this winter?

    And USL Pro matches have been free for a while now. I haven't seen anyone tout this as a masterstroke of marketing until the NASL started charging.

    Which, I would add parenthetically, every business does for its products.
     
    ceezmad and Prosoccercdn repped this.

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