Following the growing trend of sports shifting to streaming, the USA Gymnastics has just signed a five-year deal with FloSports. With the U.S.’s 2021 elite gymnastics season set to kick off with USAG’s Winter Cup in February, fans of the sport will now need to tune into FloSports in order to watch.
Beginning with the 2021 season and running through 2025, USAG and FloSports will broadcast more than 35 events to audiences in North America and around the world. FloSports costs $29.99/month or $149.99/year with discounts will be offered to USAG members.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming FloSports, a partner who is aligned with our goals of expanding athlete health and wellness resources and providing outlets for our athletes to tell their stories,” said USAG CEO Li Li Leung. “We know the FloSports platform will provide a unique opportunity for us to continue growing the sport of gymnastics at all levels and across all disciplines.”
“FloSports has been a strong advocate for Olympic sports since our founding and these have been at the core of our product and content offerings. We live and breathe these sports daily and understand how to engage athletes and enthusiasts to build a strong community around them,” says Mark Floreani, CEO and Co-Founder, FloSports. “We are proud to partner with the team at USAG to expand access to gymnastics to a wider audience, build a global community around this sport and support the health and wellness of their athletes.”
Following the announcement of the deal, there has been significant backlash.
In 2014, FloSpots was linked to an article of nude photos of Olympic champion McKayla Maroney. In a statement on their website FloSports said:
Seven years ago while reporting on gymnastics, a content editor posted a link in a story that was wrong and in terrible judgment. When discovered, the link in the story was immediately removed and the story was ultimately taken down.
FloSports did not believe this editorial decision was right in 2014 and we still believe that to this day. People and companies make mistakes but we remain dedicated to improving our business each day. Significant editorial staff and organizational changes have been made since 2014 and enforcement of new editorial policies has been strengthened to ensure such incidents can’t happen again in the future
According to Gymnastics Now, there has since been a petition asking to revoke the deal.
In it, it says “After the article was reported to USA Gymnastics, FloGymnastics had their journalistic credentials revoked. But only temporarily, only for a year. And now, USA Gymnastics has decided that they are the best people to have access to their content”
In a statement to Gymnastics Now, USA Gymnastics said:
USA Gymnastics and FloSports are both committed to learning from past mistakes and implementing necessary changes to ensure those mistakes are not repeated.
As we enter this partnership, we do so with the shared goals of increasing the reach of our sport at all levels and across all disciplines, empowering athletes and amplifying their voices, and enhancing the health and wellness resources available to USA Gymnastics members, while demonstrating consistent progress and accountability.