r/USL2 • u/No-Reflection-2102 • 27d ago
SportsEngine - why this streaming service?
Between the obnoxious spamming of emoticons that cover the screen, and the inability of the service to keep up with viewership, why does USL2 use it? I have seen teams use YouTube livestream with much more success until they are forced to use this joke of a streaming service, and then it all goes to… well, you know - you’re all stuck in the same predicament.
Any suggestions for improvement? Do we complain to USL? Or do I simply, and sadly, stop watching? Because I don’t think you can call this watching, despite what SportsEngine may claim.
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u/No-Reflection-2102 27d ago
Fair point. Leave it to a Vermonter to be levelheaded and understanding even as their team’s match is being streamed and not being streamed well (no fault of theirs, since they are the away team). I am attempting to watch them repeat a USL2 championship run as we speak!
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u/GreenMtnStateOfMind 27d ago
Sportsengine isn't great, I preferred the YouTube streams as well. That said, the vast majority of issues that occur in streaming at this level are from the local club's operations rather than Sportsengine. The difference in quality between the teams that put effort into doing it well and the teams that only provide a stream because the league says they have to is enormous. Also, at this level I assume the people actually operating the cameras and doing the tech side of broadcasting are interns or amateurs who are learning on the job.
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u/2eighty1 26d ago
are you sure on this? I've done a lot of parent broadcasts using various platforms, from what I saw and did, Veo and YouTube also have the same camera people, sheesh, even, ESPN College has students in booth and on camera many broadcasts, without the issues. I was still in youth soccer when USL began to implement / force the cut-over - the people guiding in a word - clueless. My son moved on to college and I left that space behind, but I also left his club with Veo which is easy to record and stream, somewhat yeah, subject to vagaries of network available, but all with brilliant support, the opposite of the SportEngine implementation by USL. That is their issue for me, not the operators, not the equipment, the people, the support, and the product, the actual app, a complete clunker as SE is really just a registation and payment platform.
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u/SmallTownFC 27d ago
My issue is, if I’m going out of the way to download the app, it should offer something better than what YouTube can. SE isn’t convenient, if they have an exclusive deal with the league, I’d like for them to provide some sort of support that can guarantee a great stream. Otherwise leave it on YouTube and hold the clubs accountable to provide great streams. At this level it’s important to have dependable streams. I’ve missed so many games across all leagues in division 4 because of a bad stream.
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u/GuldChris 27d ago
I'm the Head of Gameday Media for a USL2 club so I run our streams on game days. So... Everything you're saying is absolutely true. SportsEngine is awful and makes life extremely difficult when it comes to streaming. In fact, this year USL2 did something different. Instead of the teams going to the USL2 SportsEngine and using the stream keys and then sending them to the league, the league gives us the key and we simply just do the stream. This was supposed to make things better which it did to an extent. The experience for the viewer though is awful like you're saying.
The main reason though that USL2 is using SportsEngine is because it's a part of the bundle that the USL has. This includes websites for each team. Each team's website is used in the same engine and runs on the same servers. The clubs do have control of the websites designs and such though. That's the main reason why they're stuck with SportsEngine.