Settle down, let's not get insane.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023Or listen on Y98 radio?Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023You'd buy a ticket to the game? Or pay to watch it, just like the Blues, Cardinals, Lakers, Canucks, Bears or any other team?MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023Public support money + anti-trust law? Why did we pay for a stadium to acquire a team we can't watch?
https://www.stlcitysc.com/news/st-louis ... l-and-kxok
- 1,610
- 1,868
Back in the old days you used to be able to watch local sports on something called broadcast television.Laife Fulk wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023That's not how it works? No professional team broadcasts or streams their games for free. Why should this be any different?
- 1,610
Bread used to cost a nickel.
- 1,792
I will say soccer makes a little more sense streaming than other sports. There are very few good break moments where you can insert commercials. They do have the adds on the boards and jerseys but for tv the add revenue is in commercials.
Now I do question the wisdom of the business model for a league still trying to develop a fanbase. $15 per month is steep for someone who might catch a game or two. I am not sure how practical it is but a tier that gives you access to just CitySC games or just to away games would make a lot of sense to me. Might be too complicated for the platform but it seems to be an important part of building the fanbase. Also might be a good move for apple to get people on the platform hoping to bring them into the larger service.
Now I do question the wisdom of the business model for a league still trying to develop a fanbase. $15 per month is steep for someone who might catch a game or two. I am not sure how practical it is but a tier that gives you access to just CitySC games or just to away games would make a lot of sense to me. Might be too complicated for the platform but it seems to be an important part of building the fanbase. Also might be a good move for apple to get people on the platform hoping to bring them into the larger service.
First 4 away games are already free to watch. 4 of first 7 are free so far. That’s better than most sports to have over 50% of the first month and a half free to watch.STLEnginerd wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023I will say soccer makes a little more sense streaming than other sports. There are very few good break moments where you can insert commercials. They do have the adds on the boards and jerseys but for tv the add revenue is in commercials.
Now I do question the wisdom of the business model for a league still trying to develop a fanbase. $15 per month is steep for someone who might catch a game or two. I am not sure how practical it is but a tier that gives you access to just CitySC games or just to away games would make a lot of sense to me. Might be too complicated for the platform but it seems to be an important part of building the fanbase. Also might be a good move for apple to get people on the platform hoping to bring them into the larger service.
- 8,904
Check out the views from this condo building in Leyton, London.
![]()
https://ochomes.co.uk/property/2-bed-fl ... 91017a.jpg[/IMG]
https://ochomes.co.uk/property/2-bed-fl ... 91017a.jpg[/IMG]
- 1,792
Correction. I feel they (MLS) are doing a poor job raising awareness of viewing options because i didn't know about the T-Mobile deal until yesterday, and i have now just learned about this. Wish they weren't so front loaded in the season as I've already missed several opportunities, but I'll take it. Of course most of the people i talked to had season tickets so they had access via that route.jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023First 4 away games are already free to watch. 4 of first 7 are free so far. That’s better than most sports to have over 50% of the first month and a half free to watch.STLEnginerd wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023I will say soccer makes a little more sense streaming than other sports. There are very few good break moments where you can insert commercials. They do have the adds on the boards and jerseys but for tv the add revenue is in commercials.
Now I do question the wisdom of the business model for a league still trying to develop a fanbase. $15 per month is steep for someone who might catch a game or two. I am not sure how practical it is but a tier that gives you access to just CitySC games or just to away games would make a lot of sense to me. Might be too complicated for the platform but it seems to be an important part of building the fanbase. Also might be a good move for apple to get people on the platform hoping to bring them into the larger service.
Like i said no way would i pay $15 monthly for access to all the MLS games since as a parent at best i will have time to watch a few games each season and only would bother if they were City SC games. Glad to hear there are ways to do that, but i am surprised i haven't heard about this option until now.
- 9,539
Had some time before flight home to check out the Columbus Crew stadium, it’s a nice facility just outside downtown but it’s in a bad area for other things- while there is an apartment building across the street going up, the other direction are cut off by 2 highways/state roads and a rail line. Not much room to grow around it
+5
They will add more free games as they go. They update the free games about 4 weeks out.STLEnginerd wrote: ↑Mar 24, 2023Correction. I feel they (MLS) are doing a poor job raising awareness of viewing options because i didn't know about the T-Mobile deal until yesterday, and i have now just learned about this. Wish they weren't so front loaded in the season as I've already missed several opportunities, but I'll take it. Of course most of the people i talked to had season tickets so they had access via that route.jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023First 4 away games are already free to watch. 4 of first 7 are free so far. That’s better than most sports to have over 50% of the first month and a half free to watch.STLEnginerd wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023I will say soccer makes a little more sense streaming than other sports. There are very few good break moments where you can insert commercials. They do have the adds on the boards and jerseys but for tv the add revenue is in commercials.
Now I do question the wisdom of the business model for a league still trying to develop a fanbase. $15 per month is steep for someone who might catch a game or two. I am not sure how practical it is but a tier that gives you access to just CitySC games or just to away games would make a lot of sense to me. Might be too complicated for the platform but it seems to be an important part of building the fanbase. Also might be a good move for apple to get people on the platform hoping to bring them into the larger service.
Like i said no way would i pay $15 monthly for access to all the MLS games since as a parent at best i will have time to watch a few games each season and only would bother if they were City SC games. Glad to hear there are ways to do that, but i am surprised i haven't heard about this option until now.
The social medias say when they are free. It’s also on the schedule on the team site.
- 6,118
Personally, the way they're playing I think $15 every now and then if you want to stay in and watch a game is fine. You can do it month by month. No need to sign on for the whole year package. (Though you probably would have to be smart about canceling.) So far I think we've gone out for the home games and stayed in for the away games, so it's worked out. We're actually trying to figure that out, odd as that sounds. I'm coming to the conclusion that we haven't paid yet, but I expect we will eventually. And that's fine. Apple seriously needs to work on their audio production, as it's generally hard to hear the announcers over the crowd. But maybe the venues have been trickier than I would guess. (Only ever been in NCAA broadcast booths.) But all that said . . . holy cow, but this is fun! I'll give Apple/MLS some money sooner or later. And for now, I'm paying local bars and giving Apple/MLS my eyeballs.
- 102
St. Louis City SC won tonight and are now 5-0-0. The Battlehawks (now 4-2), Cardinals (16-6 in spring training), and Blues also won today. Today was a great day for St. Louis sports.
I see other people have audio issues also but I haven’t had any, for any games. So I’m curious if it’s an issue of what people are using to watch?symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023Personally, the way they're playing I think $15 every now and then if you want to stay in and watch a game is fine. You can do it month by month. No need to sign on for the whole year package. (Though you probably would have to be smart about canceling.) So far I think we've gone out for the home games and stayed in for the away games, so it's worked out. We're actually trying to figure that out, odd as that sounds. I'm coming to the conclusion that we haven't paid yet, but I expect we will eventually. And that's fine. Apple seriously needs to work on their audio production, as it's generally hard to hear the announcers over the crowd. But maybe the venues have been trickier than I would guess. (Only ever been in NCAA broadcast booths.) But all that said . . . holy cow, but this is fun! I'll give Apple/MLS some money sooner or later. And for now, I'm paying local bars and giving Apple/MLS my eyeballs.
The sound issues are the mix.jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023I see other people have audio issues also but I haven’t had any, for any games. So I’m curious if it’s an issue of what people are using to watch?symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023Personally, the way they're playing I think $15 every now and then if you want to stay in and watch a game is fine. You can do it month by month. No need to sign on for the whole year package. (Though you probably would have to be smart about canceling.) So far I think we've gone out for the home games and stayed in for the away games, so it's worked out. We're actually trying to figure that out, odd as that sounds. I'm coming to the conclusion that we haven't paid yet, but I expect we will eventually. And that's fine. Apple seriously needs to work on their audio production, as it's generally hard to hear the announcers over the crowd. But maybe the venues have been trickier than I would guess. (Only ever been in NCAA broadcast booths.) But all that said . . . holy cow, but this is fun! I'll give Apple/MLS some money sooner or later. And for now, I'm paying local bars and giving Apple/MLS my eyeballs.
The first half of last night's match there were times you couldn't hear the announcers over the crowd even when not much was going on. Then in the second half it's like they turned all the stadium mics off and you heard nothing from the crowd.
Now I know everyone will joke it's because St. Louis scored 4 goals: but you couldn't even hear groans or some of the booing that people at the stadium reported.
- 6,118
Sure, it's dead clear it's a mix problem, but I'm not quite sure why they're having such a hard time with it. Some venues are more challenging than others, but I'm assuming the broadcast booth has some degree of sound isolation from its surroundings: insulation in and on the walls, heavy windows that can be opened or closed as the need arises, that sort of thing. So long as you don't get too crowd noise in the booth itself it shouldn't be rocket science. But man, it seems like it is. Add to that that their main output level seems lower than every other station we get . . . (forcing us to crank the gain on our end through the stratosphere) . . . And if you forget to reset that before you change channels it can be a rude awakening. In spite of which I'm loving it. I just need a different audio source. Are any of the local radio stations calling the match? Ought to look into that.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023The sound issues are the mix.jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023I see other people have audio issues also but I haven’t had any, for any games. So I’m curious if it’s an issue of what people are using to watch?symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023Personally, the way they're playing I think $15 every now and then if you want to stay in and watch a game is fine. You can do it month by month. No need to sign on for the whole year package. (Though you probably would have to be smart about canceling.) So far I think we've gone out for the home games and stayed in for the away games, so it's worked out. We're actually trying to figure that out, odd as that sounds. I'm coming to the conclusion that we haven't paid yet, but I expect we will eventually. And that's fine. Apple seriously needs to work on their audio production, as it's generally hard to hear the announcers over the crowd. But maybe the venues have been trickier than I would guess. (Only ever been in NCAA broadcast booths.) But all that said . . . holy cow, but this is fun! I'll give Apple/MLS some money sooner or later. And for now, I'm paying local bars and giving Apple/MLS my eyeballs.
The first half of last night's match there were times you couldn't hear the announcers over the crowd even when not much was going on. Then in the second half it's like they turned all the stadium mics off and you heard nothing from the crowd.
Now I know everyone will joke it's because St. Louis scored 4 goals: but you couldn't even hear groans or some of the booing that people at the stadium reported.
Y98 is. You also have the option to change the audio feed on apple to the radio feed instead of apple announcers. I have liked the apple announcers though.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 27, 2023Sure, it's dead clear it's a mix problem, but I'm not quite sure why they're having such a hard time with it. Some venues are more challenging than others, but I'm assuming the broadcast booth has some degree of sound isolation from its surroundings: insulation in and on the walls, heavy windows that can be opened or closed as the need arises, that sort of thing. So long as you don't get too crowd noise in the booth itself it shouldn't be rocket science. But man, it seems like it is. Add to that that their main output level seems lower than every other station we get . . . (forcing us to crank the gain on our end through the stratosphere) . . . And if you forget to reset that before you change channels it can be a rude awakening. In spite of which I'm loving it. I just need a different audio source. Are any of the local radio stations calling the match? Ought to look into that.dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023The sound issues are the mix.jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2023
I see other people have audio issues also but I haven’t had any, for any games. So I’m curious if it’s an issue of what people are using to watch?
The first half of last night's match there were times you couldn't hear the announcers over the crowd even when not much was going on. Then in the second half it's like they turned all the stadium mics off and you heard nothing from the crowd.
Now I know everyone will joke it's because St. Louis scored 4 goals: but you couldn't even hear groans or some of the booing that people at the stadium reported.
Again audio wise I’ve had to turn my volume down not up for the games. I think I had it at 6 on my tv last night. Usually it’s around 15.
So I’m still curious if the device you use plays into it, not that I think it should but it seems like people have had a wide swath of it being fine to not good.
- 6,118
^It's worth a shot. Everything plays into it. The mics feed a series of preamps at a mixer, probably a number of onboard and offboard devices with filters and more small amps, another output amplifier to send stuff from the mixer to the main amplifiers, which then send it off to . . . let's call it the broadcast server with I would guess a series of virtual amplifiers. (I've done live theatre and radio, but not web stuff. The technology should be pretty analogous, but the terminology is doubtless different.) And when it gets to your device there's several more distinct virtual amplifiers there, in the aps, in your sound card, and eventually there's a real live amplifier sending an analog signal to at least one actual, physical speaker. And somewhere or other there's probably a potentiometer controlling that, though you may not have physical access to it. Gain structures are a messy and complicated thing, and in some ways computers only make them even more so. Could be that there's a gain setting in the Apple+ somewhere I'm not seeing. I love computers. They make so much possible and make sound equipment . . . light. (Which is fifty flavors of wrong, but oh so lovely.) But chasing gain in a digital structure cobbled together by ten different companies can be a special piece of headache. I've never had this kind of trouble with Netflix, Disney+, or YouTube. Or even Crunchyroll for that matter. But I haven't used Apple's service much, and the problem is annoying as all get out. (Though the balance between the audience mics and the announcers is not something that would be controllable from in the ap. That's all on whoever is mixing the program in the first place.)
What is your steaming device? Fire stick? Apple? Roku? Smart tv?symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 28, 2023^It's worth a shot. Everything plays into it. The mics feed a series of preamps at a mixer, probably a number of onboard and offboard devices with filters and more small amps, another output amplifier to send stuff from the mixer to the main amplifiers, which then send it off to . . . let's call it the broadcast server with I would guess a series of virtual amplifiers. (I've done live theatre and radio, but not web stuff. The technology should be pretty analogous, but the terminology is doubtless different.) And when it gets to your device there's several more distinct virtual amplifiers there, in the aps, in your sound card, and eventually there's a real live amplifier sending an analog signal to at least one actual, physical speaker. And somewhere or other there's probably a potentiometer controlling that, though you may not have physical access to it. Gain structures are a messy and complicated thing, and in some ways computers only make them even more so. Could be that there's a gain setting in the Apple+ somewhere I'm not seeing. I love computers. They make so much possible and make sound equipment . . . light. (Which is fifty flavors of wrong, but oh so lovely.) But chasing gain in a digital structure cobbled together by ten different companies can be a special piece of headache. I've never had this kind of trouble with Netflix, Disney+, or YouTube. Or even Crunchyroll for that matter. But I haven't used Apple's service much, and the problem is annoying as all get out. (Though the balance between the audience mics and the announcers is not something that would be controllable from in the ap. That's all on whoever is mixing the program in the first place.)
I’m mostly fire stick/cube. But have a Samsung smart tv also I use sometimes.
I'm all in on the Bissell SteamShot delux.jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 29, 2023What is your steaming device? Fire stick? Apple? Roku? Smart tv?
But really, my AppleTV device is great. Switched to only that for all services and love it. It's 1 or 2 generations old as well...still truckin'.
- 1,610
- 6,118
It's a Roku ready TV. I'll investigate further this weekend if we stay in. (Might well go out. Not sure yet.)jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 29, 2023What is your steaming device? Fire stick? Apple? Roku? Smart tv?
I’m mostly fire stick/cube. But have a Samsung smart tv also I use sometimes.
I'll have to ask around to other people who have issues and see if they are roku also or what. Not sure it SHOULD matter but I am intrigued.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 30, 2023It's a Roku ready TV. I'll investigate further this weekend if we stay in. (Might well go out. Not sure yet.)jshank83 wrote: ↑Mar 29, 2023What is your steaming device? Fire stick? Apple? Roku? Smart tv?
I’m mostly fire stick/cube. But have a Samsung smart tv also I use sometimes.
Let me clarify - anybody has the ability to stream these games, if they're willing to pay for it. But my guess is that probably fewer than 50K people in the STL metro have MLS Season Pass subscriptions on Apple TV+, which is the only way you can get the subscription (and it's on top of the Apple TV+ base subscription).
The NFL is locked into a complex $110 billion TV deal that runs through 2033 and is spread out among 5 different entities: Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox and NBC. Starting in February 2027, ABC will join the Super Bowl rotation, which will move the big game between the four major broadcast networks every year (right now, it's just CBS, NBC, and Fox in the rotation).dweebe wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023Because he says so.Laife Fulk wrote: ↑Mar 23, 2023That's not how it works? No professional team broadcasts or streams their games for free. Why should this be any different?
Plus we're in uncharted territory with the MLS being the first league to go 95%ish streaming-only.
In a few short years streaming might be the only option. We don't know how the NFL will go as they're with their current TV, cable and Thursday night games on Amazon deal until 2030.
- With the Diamond/Sinclair/Ballys Sports bankruptcy we could soon see the Blues and Cardinals on streaming shortly.
- Supposedly the NBA's new TV contract with Google could involve 50-75% of the games being on streaming.