Bourne Dialogue - FloSports 2021-2022 - James Madison University Athletics

JMU Nation,

Before we turn the page to 2021-22, I first want to quickly reflect back on the recently completed 2020-21 JMU Athletics year. It was certainly a roller coaster ride: beginning with late summer announcements of the delayed start to competition; a year that didn't begin until basketball in November; followed by the unorthodox spring with all sports at once; limited capacity in all venues; COVID protocols with social distancing, testing, contact tracing and masking and more.

And yet through the adversity, we emerged with one of the most successful years in JMU Athletics history, culminated by one of the best achievements in our history with softball in the Women's College World Series. I can't say enough about the resilience of our student-athletes, and I particularly want to thank our coaches and staff. We could not have achieved what we did without the positive culture and professional approach that exists at James Madison.

This summer has felt like a blur as we find a new sports year upon us in a flash. As our success builds, the challenge keeps compounding to turn the previous year's achievements into an even better next year. But that's exactly what I expect in this 2021-22 year to come. We're excited to open the Atlantic Union Bank Center to larger crowds, yearning for the best game day environment in the country and a national-championship caliber season in Bridgeforth Stadium and anticipating the start of so many other sports positioned to do well.

When not in person, hopefully you'll tune in to TV, online streams or radio broadcasts of our Dukes. You may have seen Thursday's announcement by the CAA of an expanded media agreement with FloSports. Here are key aspects of the new agreement:

A monthly FloSports subscription has remained at $12.50 per month ($95.88 annual plan).
FloSports is offering a new $6.99 per month rate if signing up with a .edu email address (@jmu.edu or @dukes.jmu.edu) from one of the CAA member institutions.
All streaming events will be exclusively on FloSports for all JMU sports (no MadiZONE, Facebook Live, JMU Sports View or other past platform).
Schools maintain the ability to put football, basketball and a small number of other sports on linear television, if they wish.

If you have not seen my previous correspondence, I have been honest that I don't think FloSports is the best option for JMU. This expanded agreement does not change that opinion. However, as long as JMU must operate within the league's structure, it also makes sense to ensure we are maximizing the opportunity. The previous arrangement had negligible revenue distribution to the institutions. However, this expanded agreement involves a notable distribution increase to JMU, which will allow us to address a few needs while also strategizing future broadcast initiatives. I'd still prefer a different streaming approach, but it's nice to see some benefit for JMU with this expansion.

Despite his spring retirement, we're excited to keep Curt Dudley involved in play-by-play for our televised and streamed broadcasts. He will be joined by Corey Spector, a recent grad of the renowned Syracuse sports broadcasting program, to bring some exciting new approaches to our streaming of many events. This also includes an increase in our total number of broadcasts across all sports compared to previous years. I'm pleased that we could offer our fans an increase in JMU content on the platform if they are paying a monthly subscription for FloSports.

As mentioned in the final bullet point, schools may continue to pursue linear television in regional markets, which JMU has prioritized. Hopefully you saw the earlier announcement of our fall football TV schedule with every home game on NBC Sports Washington. We are also working on TV plans for both basketball programs and will share that when it becomes available.

Media strategies are critical for our growth, but nothing tops seeing the Dukes compete in person. Season tickets are on sale now for football, men's basketball and women's basketball. We hope you, JMU Nation, will come be a part of another thrilling year!

Go Dukes!
Jeff Bourne signature

Jeff Bourne
JMU Director of Athletics

PS – We've heard enough feedback from fans to warrant concerns about customer service with FloSports and the handling of account issues. We have and will continue to share these concerns with the CAA. However, we encourage fans to report account issues to FloSports immediately and also share concerns of any unresponsiveness with the CAA directly to ensure that customer service issues are addressed and prioritized.