D.C. United supporters got their first taste of the new pay streaming service required to watch most of the club’s regular season matches. For fans who invested time and money in FloSports, Sunday’s experience was disappointing.
At D.C. United’s official watch party at Lou’s City Bar in Columbia Heights, fans missed the first minutes of Sunday’s 0-0 draw against New York City FC because the stream wasn’t working. Members of the Barra Brava supporters’ group who gathered to watch Sunday’s match at Finn McCool’s on Capitol Hill experienced similar problems in the first half.
Shocker. DC United’s “Official Watch Party” for their first match on @flosports is off to a disaster.
— Jeffrey Cook (@JeffreyCook) March 10, 2019
Stream not working, #DCU staffers are scrambling to fix it and dozens of fans at Lou’s in Columbia Heights are missing the first minutes.@RfkRefugees @MLSist @SoccerInsider
#DCU fans at multiple club partner bars - spots like Lou’s City Bar, the Vic, etc, are out of luck right now. Pretty bad look for folks looking to catch the game on FloSports today: pic.twitter.com/2iRZc7VDxx
— Pablo Maurer (@MLSist) March 10, 2019
We want to thank @finnmccoolsdc for their commitment to showing the DC United games. @flosports you owe an apology to everyone for your horrible product and horrible customer service. Sadly we cannot recommend that any of our members subscribe.
— Barra Brava (@Barra_Brava) March 10, 2019
Fans trying to watch from home had their own issues during the broadcast. Sunday’s match also was available on ESPN+, another subscription streaming service, but it was blacked out for viewers in the D.C. area.
Just paid $72 for @FloFC_ to watch @dcunited the stream continues to crash or goes grainy every couple of minutes. This is awful.
— Daniel Reef (@DanielReef) March 10, 2019
@flosports DC United keeps cutting off. Terrible broadcast, please figure it out asap. #dcu #mls #soccer
— WorldWideGoal (@SoccerOnion) March 10, 2019
D.C. United’s official Twitter account was posting GIFs from Sunday’s match using images from YES Network, the broadcast partner of New York City FC. The club’s co-chairmen, Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, released a statement late Sunday about the broadcast problems, saying they were “deeply disappointed.”
“We are taking these issues very seriously and find the problems encountered unacceptable,” the statement read. “We entered into this agreement with FloSports to offer in-depth year-round coverage and to ensure that our fans can watch our matches in high definition and on their mobile devices for the first time in our 24-year history. . . . In the coming days we will be working with FloSports to ensure this does not happen again.”
15' | @StevenBirnbaum 🙅♂️🙅♂️🙅♂️🙅♂️#DCU pic.twitter.com/o0ckfeGr6p
— D.C. United (@dcunited) March 10, 2019
A FloSports employee responded to several complaints over Twitter and appeared to be troubleshooting the issues as the match went on. The employee eventually tweeted that the streaming issue was fixed and fans should be “good to go” during the second half.
You are fine - its 100% us. There is a protocol issue on our end and we are working on it now.
— Patrick Michalina (@patmichalina) March 10, 2019
Fans reported that the stream improved during the second half.
Stream is working better. Not sure if a bunch of people just dropped off or I quit trying to cast it to my TV #DCU
— RFK Refugees Podcast (@RfkRefugees) March 10, 2019
At risk of jinxing it...2nd half stream seems more stable. @FloFC_ @dcunited #DCU
— Deborah Eckbreth (@DeborahE5) March 10, 2019
FloSports apologized for the inconvenience in a statement Sunday night.
“At the start of the D.C. United match today some users were blocked in a region that shouldn’t have been,” the Austin-based network tweeted. “The issue was resolved but we apologize for any inconvenience. When the issue was fixed interruptions may have resulted.”
At the start of the @dcunited match today some users were blocked in a region that shouldn't have been. The issue was resolved but we apologize for any inconvenience. When the issue was fixed interruptions may have resulted. If you were impacted: https://t.co/4Kqy2yukPh
— FloSports (@flosports) March 10, 2019
FloSports is slated to broadcast 21 of the club’s 34 regular season matches this season and has up to a four-year deal with D.C. United.
D.C. United opened its season with a 2-0 victory over the defending MLS Cup champion Atlanta United last weekend. That match was broadcast on ESPN. The team’s popularity rose dramatically in 2018 following the acquisition of Wayne Rooney, the reacquisition of Bill Hamid, the opening of Audi Field and a second-half surge that resulted in a playoff appearance.
Removing most of the team’s matches from traditional television broadcasts was a critical decision for a franchise beginning to reel in casual soccer fans. Even on the heels of an impressive season-opening win, forcing those fans to pay for a streaming service with kinks still being worked out as the match went on is a rough way for D.C. United to start its new broadcast partnership.
Steven Goff and Scott Allen contributed to this report.