is “free” access to stats a new trend?

I went to the Arvada Colts team page today to check on the progress of Illini pitcher Drasen Johnson.  The Colts are in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Baseball League.  As I clicked on the “Stats” link, I was presented with only three categories of stats (Games pitched, innings pitched and wins) plus this disclaimer:

“FREE Access to the Arvada Colts for all Fans

To view expanded season statistics you must be a Fan of the Arvada Colts”

Boo.

I have a hard time digesting this.  To put a price on baseball statistics, even when it is “free”, sets a really bad precedent. 

The Arvada Colts subscribe to the GameChanger service which displays their stats for them. 

6 thoughts on “is “free” access to stats a new trend?”

  1. It’s all about the money! If you click from their site to the Game Changer site (an apt moniker in this instance), somebody is going to get some $$$ for that click. Hopefully, they won’t require “cookies”. If they do, be sure to delete them immediately after going to a blank home page. It’s really getting old having to give up your privacy for something so simple.
    (I’d prefer to not have to give my e-mail on this site, but know it would degenerate quickly if you didn’t require e-mail addresses.)

  2. Hello,

    I appreciate the feedback about our use of Game Changer. As we developed our site and use of technology for capturing stats and getting those stats to the public, we could not find a better alternative than Game Changer.

    We don’t make any money whatsoever when you click from our site to Game Changer. In fact, we pay a yearly fee to Game Changer as a team to make stats free. While they do ask for you to sign up, this is so that fans can set notifications of when games start, end, track players etc.

    All of our stats are done via their iPhone app and are real time. This allows parents of players to follow the game in real time if they are unable to tune into our radio broadcast.

    We are more than open to other alternatives, however, our research didn’t turn up any other programs that are as comprehensive and useful as Game Changer. Please send me an email with any other programs that we can take a look at.

    thank you
    Jon Luciano
    Arvada Colts Board of Directors

  3. 1. So, does Game Changer use the information for marketing purposes?

    2. Is there a way to access it through a general login so that fans that just want to look at stats can do so without giving out their info?

  4. To answer “A baseball fan” questions. I sent your questions to GameChanger and below is the response I got:

    “GameChanger does use user information for SOME marketing purposes. Specifically, we can target coaches who seem to have trouble scorekeeping and figure out where they need help or we can target fans who might wish to follow live play-by-play action. We DO NOT sell or distribute user information to outside parties. Everything we do is intended to better the product / experience of our users. We do have some outside advertisers that run ads on our site and some will be targeted more for fans and others for administrators, but as you know, we have a very clean site without much advertising clutter.

    Most of our marketing efforts that use any user information is for product improvement. Hope that helps.

    There is no way for fans to look at stats or follow a team without creating a GameChanger account. Our business model dictates that we MUST have more fans following teams and a percentage of those fans will choose to purchase Premium Access for $10. To make this business work, we must have fans creating accounts follow teams and view stats online.”

    Lastly, let me state that after considerable research for a better alternative, we stand behind GameChanger and what they offer for both our team and for fans. There is no other solution out there that offers the real-time play-by-play (via iphone app), the game cast, the number of stats, the ease of use, the clean and sleek UI and the historical keeping of stats. There are solutions out there that might do one of these better than GameChanger, but no other solution does all of these overall as well as GameChanger.

  5. To Jon L.,
    Appreciate your candid, comprehensive responses. As a fan of the game and not necessarily a specific player(s) wanting stats on the team or real-time info, I probably won’t create an account and will rely on news reports for general info. For someone like tBZ, the stats are probably more important and, as you mentioned, the real-time info would be of interest to family/friends of the players.

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