On June 20, the UAA announced that they have entered into an exclusive five-year media rights agreement with FloSports that will begin in the Fall of 2025.
Through FloCollege, a dedicated sub-platform of FloSports, the UAA will receive live and on-demand coverage for 20 different sports, following the full UAA athletics calendar. In addition, FloCollege will provide personalized content tailored specifically for the conference.
“Beyond live competition, FloSports will also invest in original content and storytelling initiatives online and across social media aimed at elevating the profile of UAA student-athletes and institutions,” said FloSports in an article about the new streaming agreement.
The new contract marks a significant milestone for the UAA and its efforts to elevate the visibility of its athletes. Until now, schools were largely responsible for managing their own athletic streaming, resulting in a patchwork of solutions. For example, Washington University in St. Louis relied on third-party services, while CWRU has partnered with BoxCast (a live-streaming company founded by CWRU alumnus and former Spartan baseball player Gordon Daily) and MediaVision to provide free webcasts of athletic events to parents at a significant annual cost to the athletic department. However, these approaches often lacked consistency, professional commentary and high-quality production, elements that are standard for many other collegiate athletic programs.
“UAA student-athletes are second to none in their academic and athletic successes—and we are grateful to have a streaming network that will give us an opportunity to appropriately promote them,” said Sarah Otey, Commissioner of the UAA in a statement to FloSports. “This agreement will allow our institutions to ensure they can stream UAA competition and promote the UAA brand in a manner that best reflects the exceptional nature of our UAA student-athletes.”
While having a designated streaming service shows much improvement by the UAA, some players and parents expressed disappointment that a subscription is required for the service.
“I personally don’t mind paying a monthly subscription fee if it truly delivers a better viewing experience,” Jennifer Gootman, mother of a CWRU women’s soccer player said. “However, I worry about the broader impact on friends and family who only tune in occasionally. Many of them have enjoyed being able to drop in through the Case platform to watch a game or two, but they’re unlikely to pay for a subscription just for that.”
Currently, FloSports offers two subscription options: an annual plan billed at $8.99 per month, or a month-to-month plan at $19.99 with discounts available to users with an educational institution-affiliated email. While the pricing may seem high, subscription-based streaming services are common in collegiate athletics. Many Division I programs, for example, partner with ESPN+, a platform that costs $11.99 per month, to broadcast their games. Despite the price, CWRU Women’s Soccer second-year Vivian Nohra believes that this new partnership will improve accessibility, making it easier for fans to find and watch UAA matchups.
“I think that having a designated streaming platform will be very helpful in viewership for the UAA,” Nohra said. “The streaming platform would help for away games that families can not go to, and hopefully with FloSports our games can be streamed better and will be easier to find by friends and family.”
However, like many streaming platforms today, FloSports uses your home’s public IP address to verify that all devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network and located in the same physical space. As a result, if a family member or friend is in a different state or country, they won’t be able to stream using the same account. For families spread across multiple locations this means each household would need to purchase its own subscription in order to access the service.
“I think this restriction will make it much harder for families and friends to share in the experience of watching the games together,” Gootman said. “Instead of bringing the community together, it creates barriers that limit who can tune in and support the players. Over time, this could reduce the sense of connection and enthusiasm around the team because fewer people will have access.”
While subscription fees and restrictions are not uncommon in collegiate sports streaming, FloSports’ pricing model and viewing limitations have already caused frustration among some CWRU families and athletes who are used to free access through CWRU’s own website. Upon learning of the new agreement, Gootman raised several questions about what the contract means for both the UAA as a whole and CWRU specifically.
“It’s unclear what specific benefit this arrangement provides to UAA and to the Case women’s soccer team,” Gootman said. “What’s also unclear is the rationale behind the deal, specifically what tangible benefits it provides to the UAA and to the Case women’s soccer program. If there are financial advantages, it would be important to know whether those resources will directly support student-athletes by improving facilities or expanding opportunities. Without that transparency, it’s difficult to see how the trade-off of reduced accessibility is justified.”
FloSports has stated that it is investing “more than $50 million to support rights fees, production, content, product technology, and marketing for its NCAA rights.” Hopefully this investment, enhanced streaming quality and content offerings will justify the cost for viewers.
“I do think that this will put a good spotlight on the UAA and its athletes who are often overlooked,” Nohra said. “I think this gives the conference a good opportunity to increase exposure for the schools and promote what are highly competitive programs.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly said Case Western Reserve University developed its own streaming platforms and apps to share content. The university had previously partnered with BoxCast and MediaVision to provide webcasts for the CWRU community. The correction was made on Aug. 23, 2025.