FloSports Signs Deal with Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; Bringing Over 900 Games to Streaming
Streaming service Flosports has broken its own record. On Monday, the sports-focused platform announced a four-year, seven-figure deal with the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to carry the league’s games and matches, according to a report from Front Office Sports. The deal will bring more than 900 games to FloSports across 21 different sports, starting on Aug. 25.
The exact terms of the deal have not yet been released, but it is reportedly the most expensive streaming deal in the history of NCAA Division II athletics. FloSports already owned the record for Division II streaming deals when it signed a deal for the rights to all South Atlantic Conference games earlier this year. According to Front Office Sports that deal was also seven figures and brought over 1,300 games to the platform.
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has 10 members spread across Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin and the deal will be the first-ever conference-wide broadcast deal for the GLIAC. The league’s current members are Davenport University, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Tech University, Northern Michigan University, Purdue University Northwest, Saginaw Valley State University, Wayne State University, and University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
FloSports clearly wants to position itself as a leader in Division II programming. Senior Director of Global Rights Acquisition Chris Keldorf says that FloSports wants to keep investing in “underserved sports” and that “We’ve been thrilled with the success of our D-II properties.”
One of the big draws for FloSports was the success the GLIAC’s football teams. Grand Valley University and Ferris State are both ranked in the top five in Division II, meaning that the conference is bringing a championship pedigree to the streaming platform.
In addition to the GLIA and South Atlantic Conference, FloSports also has deals with the BIG EAST, Colonial Athletic Association, Atlantic Hockey Association, Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, Gulf South Conference, and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The streaming market for college athletics has been red hot lately, and cord-cutters should expect that trend to continue. Negotiations for the media rights to the Big Ten are ongoing, but the additions of USC and UCLA put the price tag around $1.25 to $1.5 billion for the Division I conference. With such numbers flying around, it’s little wonder that FloSports is doing everything possible to lock up as much content as possible.
FloSports
FloSports is a subscription video streaming service with unlimited access to live events across 25+ sports, plus over 300,000 hours of sports competitions live or on-demand, exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage and interviews, original programming, news, expert commentary, films, documentaries, weekly studio shows, podcasts, and more.