[Stevensville Mike]

When I first posted my thoughts on this on the Smackdown thread, It took me a little while to get my head around is. By the way, flagboy, good move making this its own thread.

Flo is its own company. They air many different things, usually all related to sports. So the only interest they have in motorsports is to make money for themselves. They are not owned by a group of midwestern tracks owners or promoters.

My Flo subscription was ~$50? I honestly cannot remember the exact price, but for the sake of argument, let's says that is money for three race nights for me - tickets. I have more than gotten my money back from Flo for this service. I am now much more apt to watch something on Flo when I am tired, pressed for time, etc., than go on a four hour round trip drive to a race. The latter half of that drive coming home at night. Nothing new. I have done this for decades.

But with this new Flo dynamic in my life, it has distracted me from attending the events live. And I am your average dirt track sprint car fan. A litmus test, so to speak. A larger comparison of things is how many kids play board games anymore? Or cards? Video and computers have knocked out that old way of living. Ten years from now, where will your crowd be, how big will it be, and who will actually BE the crowd? I am not talking about the Knoxville Nationals, or Kings Royal, but your weekly crowd at your weekly track.

The one thing I think will happen, though, is as Flo and others become more popular, the price will start slowly ratcheting up. They will be able to ask this of people and probably get it - to an extent.

In the early 00s, I want to say/remember Emmett Hahn not wanting to air the Chili Bowl live for he wanted the fan base at the track. This was when it was on SPEED TV. Then it did not air for a few years, but came up as PPV in 2007. $24 on HBO. Now that is 24 2007 dollars. Flo is like.... $50 for the year. So Flo is a true deal. All people like deals. But the Chili Bowl can get by airing live (on MAV-TV) for that event is self sustaining, like the Nationals or the Kings Royal.

So for now, I think this is going to start trickling down into Flo's coffers as more and more fans sign up and start slowly putting away their "board games" and get out the "video games".

Enough of me for now. Back to masses of the forum.

[cmakin]

I am a bit different in that while I am a fan, I am also at an event to shoot. Other than the Indy 500, I don't know of a race, local or otherwise, that I have attended just to watch in over 14 years. I also am not a real big fan of watching racing on TV, and I avoided getting Flo until this year. Some know that I am a huge rugby fan, and I used to subscribe to a web streaming service that provided rugby coverage. It was purchased by Flo a few years back, and I didn't renew the subscription because there was very little content. Well, this year, Flo stepped up their rugby game, and I get both rugby and racing for the same dollar. Great deal, to be honest. This year, I also have found out who is involved with Flo racing, and they are folks that I have known for some time, even from the production level, and overall, I am pretty happy with the coverage. For me, the benchmark will always be the ESPN "Thunder" shows of the 90s, and I don't know if that standard will ever be reached. That said, from what I have been watching on Flo for the past few months has more than proven to be worth the money, and that is both for rugby (they stream Sky Sports and other broadcast feeds, and not their own) and racing. One point that was brought up by the original post, and I have not seen addressed in any comments is SPONSOR EXPOSURE. We can argue all day long about how streaming might have an effect on attendance, but I feel that there is little argument that for a series and race car sponsor, getting exposure via the stream is invaluable.

[Charles Nungester]

Flo is 150.00 a year, Something Im willing to pay for the content given. I can't justify the 300 that dirtvision charges and that doesn't include a couple of events.

Also had and have LUCAS/Mav. Haven't purchased anything else.

I got to the track every time I can now and it's not even close streaming as what it is to live. Some broadcast are better than others with more cams. And seeing a battle for second or third coming to the checker on a stream is rare unless the winner had a huge lead or the camera is towards turn one.

[cornerthree]

I go to a lot of big shows. I have never seen a ppv take up more then a handful of seats.

[mc/rider]

I spend from 4 to 6 thousand dollars a year going to mostly USAC races. Motels, fuel, etc. I dont have Flo but I do have IOW

[glittleton]

I went to the BC39 - as always - I was thinking that if people were watching on Flo they were greatly impressed - the crowd was roaring and you can't get that feeling on Flo - my vote would go to Flo helping spread the word and making more fans - I didn't go to Kokomo this year, which we usually do, but the crowded mess and poor seating there ( we usually go to one race during the Smackdown) made it a Flo race for me.

[badcoupe]

I like flo because I can watch a little bit of everything on there as a motor sports fan of many disciplines. I rarely ever turn on a tv but many nights I’ll see what’s on flo and watch something be it from down under or some local stock car track I’ve never heard of. But we still race in person and attend some other events. I don’t think it keeps me from attending any races but adds some entertainment at times when I have nothing else interesting to read or do.

[Jerry Shaw]

I definitely don't go to any less races. If anything, I'm more racing addicted than I previously was. There's certainly more wings on my racing diet than there used to be. More Late Models, too. And in the last two years, streaming has allowed me to be witness of the two Kyle Larson multi-racing division nationwide barnstorming tours.

So, now, not only am I at the races, but during the lulls, I am streaming Flo, Dirtvision, MavTV Plus, Lucas Oil TV or whatever and watching that action. And then, when I get home from the track, it's time for USAC/CRA, NARC, King of California, ect.

Jerry

[Charles Nungester]

Yup, Come home from the local show or even sometimes further and able to catch the feature of a USAC/CRA race. Watch the Heats and Races at Port. Not a wing fan but watching Macri is a joy. GASSER..

Really not liking All Stars at all. Shows are drawn out and on crappy tracks way more than not. Think the format fits bigger car counts better than USACs but the redraw and dashes take a hour, A hour that should be cut.

[cmakin]

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester Yup, Come home from the local show or even sometimes further and able to catch the feature of a USAC/CRA race. Watch the Heats and Races at Port. Not a wing fan but watching Macri is a joy. GASSER.. Really not liking All Stars at all. Shows are drawn out and on crappy tracks way more than not. Think the format fits bigger car counts better than USACs but the redraw and dashes take a hour, A hour that should be cut.

That is why I stream, and don't always watch the shows live.