The Streaming Trend Has Arrived for NCAA Division 2 and Division 3

Last week, the University Athletic Association (UAA) announced a five-year media rights deal with FloSports. The UAA is an NCAA Division 3 conference, which includes the well-known institutions Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, New York University, the University of Chicago, the University of Rochester, and Washington University in St. Louis. The UAA was also home to Johns Hopkins University until 2001, when JHU joined the Centennial Conference. The reaction among the NCAA D3 community has been overwhelmingly negative on social media, largely because the institutions that make up the UAA have combined endowments in the tens of billions (yes, billions), compared to the pittance of revenue generated from this deal.

The UAA is one of six NCAA Division 3 conferences to partner with FloSports and one of 16 across the NCAA. FloSports is committing over $50 million to acquire the rights and production of the college athletic events. Schools will get annual revenue, even if it’s small, while ostensibly seeing an improved product. For reference, FloCollege can be purchased for $20 a month or $108 a year. I’ve included a table below showing the list of NCAA conferences on FloSports and the list is expected to grow across D2 and D3.

I wouldn’t classify myself as a diehard NCAA Division 3 fan, but I do watch D3 sports occasionally, especially during football season. I’m a huge fan of the folks at D3football.com, D3hoops.com, and the D3 community at large for several reasons:

1) They keep me informed throughout the year about D3 athletics.

2) They’ve broken D3 realignment news, are a great resource for reference information, and understanding the D3 landscape.

3) The D3 community tends to be interactive and willing to respond to various topics.

I’ve been tracking the FloSports TV rights deals dating back to 2023 when the Landmark Conference signed on with them. This trend isn’t likely to stop until FloSports has a majority of D2 and D3 conferences in its portfolio. Ideally, D2 and D3 fans will be able to watch any game on the FloSports platform once a majority of conferences sign on. It will be the equivalent of nearly every D1 school on ESPN+, but FloSports will be for D2 or D3. The downside is that FloSports will be like every other streaming service and raise the subscription price consistently. There have also been numerous complaints about the quality of the FloSports platform. It’s also worth mentioning that in November 2023, the NCAA announced it had partnered with Hudl to stream some Division 2 championships.

I acknowledge the financial realities across D3 are different from school to school and conference to conference, leading some conferences to take the revenue now. Federal and state funding cuts, fewer international students are likely to enroll, and the expected decline in enrollment over the next decade are some of the reasons why it makes sense to take what you can get immediately. Additionally, schools can lean on FloSports to provide information and expertise as they upgrade the broadcasts to the required standards.

But the majority of UAA schools aren’t exactly hurting for money. The University of Chicago has a $10.3 billion endowment portfolio, while the reported annual revenue for FloSports is around $30,000 for a D3 school. UChicago is particularly interesting because the school’s own newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, had a recent piece about the lack of sports culture on campus. The UAA members are some of the best research universities in the world. However, these 8 schools couldn’t research their donor lists to find a group of people willing to spot them $30,000 a year to keep streaming athletics for free. It’s not an outlandish idea, especially given the extensive alumni networks that UAA schools can tap into.

Ironically, the UAA probably isn’t worried about the money in this case. It won’t make a difference to them with the focus primarily on academics and research, but it will hurt athletic exposure. A big concern is the prospective athletes who have to sign up to watch these events. The time and money spent on selecting a college is expensive as is, let alone for one of these 8 selective schools, but having to sign up for a subscription service to watch events is terrible optics (or if you’re a parent wishing to see your kid compete).

Then there’s the casual audience, who is far less likely to pay for a subscription that’s used infrequently. It’s difficult to convince anyone to spend money on yet another subscription, but it’s even more difficult when the audience is a casual enjoyer who has free alternatives. If money isn’t an issue for the UAA or athletics aren’t the primary focus, why make this agreement? Are UAA schools strapped for cash from tapping out their donors, while the endowments are earmarked for other initiatives? Was this just getting ahead of the trend of D3 schools migrating to FloSports?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the CAA‘s partnership with FloSports is seen as a huge negative from its fans, particularly in football. Some fans have blamed the CAA’s tumble down the FCS hierarchy on the rights deal with FloSports, which began in 2019. Since then, James Madison (2022), Delaware (2025), Richmond (2025), Villanova (2026), and William & Mary (2026) have announced a move out of the CAA in football. Many additional factors in D1 played a part in some of these moves, and the economics of D1 are quite different than D3. However, the deal with FloSports hasn’t been popular with CAA fans.

It’s also telling that only two D1 conferences have signed up with FloSports in some capacity, while many opted to remain with ESPN in the 6 years since CAA and Flo partnered up. One of the conferences that extended its deal with ESPN? The Patriot League, which is adding Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary as football-only affiliates from the CAA over the next 13 months.

At the end of the House settlement article from two weeks ago, I warned, “…everything that wasn’t already commoditized most likely will be in the near future.” That quote was meant for NCAA Division 1 due to the massive financial liabilities imposed in the settlement, but the sentiment also applies to the NCAA Division 2 and Division 3 membership. It may not be as pervasive compared to D1, but D2 and D3 schools will look everywhere to find a few more dollars to improve their financial standing. That likely means a FloSports future for a majority of D2 and D3 conferences.

Photo credit to the University of Chicago