How the IFF’s paywall is hurting floorball’s growth and ways to fix it

Floorball fans around the world are united by their love for the game—a fast, dynamic, and inclusive sport, especially during events as a World Floorball Championship. As the International Floorball Federation (IFF) seeks to professionalize and grow the sport, its decisions often walk a fine line between progress and unintended setbacks, and in my opinion the line has been crossed in the last years since the introduction of and commitment to the IFF app.

The irony of “Fair Access, Fair Treatment, Fair Future”

The IFF’s slogan, “Fair Access, Fair Treatment, Fair Future,” encapsulates what the sport stands for: inclusivity, opportunity, and global growth. Yet, the paywall contradicts this message in many ways. In countries where floorball is already well-established, such as Sweden and Finland, national broadcasters often purchase the rights to show games, making them freely available. For smaller countries, however, fans are forced to pay €25 for access — creating a barrier for those who might be curious but not yet committed to the sport.

This inequality is particularly frustrating for fans who want to share the sport with friends or promote it locally. How can a country build a “fair future” for floorball when the entry point is anything but fair? The slogan feels painfully ironic when the most visible events in the sport’s calendar is locked away, limiting its ability to grow in the very places that need it most. Even something basic as watching match statistics of the WFC is locked behind a registration portal which makes absolutely no sense at all. In what way does this represent the open and transparant sport floorball claims to be?

The positives: an experience that keeps improving over the years

To give credit where it’s due, the IFF has clearly invested in making the paywalled experience a more professional one. The streaming quality is excellent, with clear visuals, and a polished user interface. Probably the best decision the IFF has made in the past decade is hire professional commentator Olly Hogben into the scene. He is the voice of floorball and I love it. We cannot wish for a more accessible and friendly ambassador of floorball who can make people fall in love with floorball, which makes it all the more frustrating that so many newer viewers never get to watch a single WFC stream and can get hooked to the sport. Anyway, the improvements the federation has made to present floorball as a top-tier sport are clear, and the intention is there. And if you disregard the registration requirements and paywall, the app itself is top-notch and slick.

The challenge: balancing growth and revenue

The problem isn’t the IFF’s desire to generate revenue — it’s that in their plans for the future they have put an extreme focus on growth (which they should), and that the paywall hinders this to the extreme. Have a look at the image below, summarizing IFF Strategy for 2021-2032.

The IFF’s vision emphasizes floorball as “the most inclusive team sport,” with key priorities such as awareness and visibility and development, service, and expansion. However, the introduction of a paywalled app for the World Floorball Championship and other tournaments directly contradicts this vision. By locking the sport’s most significant event(s) behind a costly paywall, the IFF limits awareness and visibility, especially in countries where floorball is still growing. Floorball is shrinking in many countries, and there has barely been any growth in the last ten years. The /floorball subreddit is quite active, but just have a look at the amount of threads regarding the WFC. Almost non-existent, and the most active one is regarding the very topic of this article, which is telling. Instead of expanding the sport to new audiences, the paywall restricts access, making it harder to share the excitement of floorball with casual fans and potential new players.

While the app may work well in established floorball markets, it creates serious challenges in countries where the sport is still growing. For casual fans or newcomers, a €25 fee is more than enough to turn them away. And don’t get me wrong, in many countries these make up for the vast majority of the audience. This paywall makes it harder to share games with friends or introduce the sport to clubs, schools, clubs, and communities. It is especially in the U19 (qualifications) that it hinders the sport extremely. Imagine a school in which a U19 player plays a qualification for a sport that not many know. Now imagine that everyone has to play, versus the scenario where people can share the livestream with everybody, who share it with other classmates, or family members. Is that really a group you want to earn money from?

YouTube, which previously streamed WFC games for free, was an invaluable tool for grassroots growth. It allowed anyone, anywhere, to watch a game and fall in love with the sport. By moving away from this model, the IFF has made floorball less accessible to the very people who could help it grow.

Striking the right balance

The IFF deserves credit for its efforts to professionalize the sport and improve its production quality. However, to truly grow the game, it needs to find a better balance between making money and making floorball accessible. Here’s what I would do (we have to realize that when you want to market a sport, you’d want to create as little friction as possible).

1. Don’t paywall the (youth) events and qualifications: I think in general it’s not a good move to paywall any of the games, as it hinders the growth of the sport enormously. But specifically the youth events and qualifcations are events that are perfect for growing awareness of the sport. Youth events because they involves schools, parents, family, etc., qualifications because teams play which normally don’t play in the bigger events, and the world championships because they show what floorball looks like at the highest level (and they help in creating a global floorball community).
2. For biggest events, at least offer some games for free: If you do decide to paywall events (which I think is bad), then at least realize there are excellent group stage matches (Sweden vs Finland) in tournaments you could showcase, and where you can advertize to people to buy the whole package.
3. More local partnerships: Collaborate with broadcasters/talent in emerging markets to offer free or low-cost access, ensuring the WFC remains visible where it’s needed most. Be flexible. Right now, in some countries viewers can watch games for free because there is a collaboration with a local party, in other countries people have to draw their wallet to watch any of the games. Totally unfair and based on luck.
4. Get rid of the registrations unless absolutely necessary: If you decide to offer (selected) games for free, make it as easy as possible for people to just watch and share links. People should be able to share a link, directed to a place where you can immediately watch a stream (if offered for free). And I’m not even starting how ridiculous it is to have to register to even watch the match statistics 😉
5. Don’t charge for the basics, charge for the extras and make it exceptional: Okay this may hurt IFF. I love the professional commentators (like Olly Hogben), but I don’t think IFF (board)members have all that much to offer in the streams (who are often the second commentator alongside a perhaps less knowledgable first commentator who does it for a living). It worked well in the beginning (like in World Games 2017 when Olly literally didn’t know the rules), but right now I think we can find better experts for the matches, who not only know the players and general information about the team, but also are experienced in tactics, can see them unfold in real-time, see when coaches change things, can explain why players are pulled, when teams go from 3 or 2 lines, etc. And not only have these commentators during the matches itself, but create talkshows during the day, in a studio, where you discuss tactics of teams, specific players and their runs, highlight them, with compelling visuals and footage. Just look at the average soccer talkshow and you know what is possible. Start making exceptional content and then charge for that, not for the basic content that we desperately need to make the sport grow.

The Road Ahead

Floorball’s future depends on its ability to grow globally, and growth requires visibility. The IFF’s efforts to professionalize the sport are commendable, and the improvements in streaming quality are a testament to that. However, the current paywall system risks alienating fans in smaller markets and undermining the sport’s long-term potential.

By making the WFC more accessible, the IFF can truly live up to its slogan: “Fair Access, Fair Treatment, Fair Future.” A fair future for floorball is one where the sport is visible, celebrated, and inclusive—accessible to everyone, no matter where they live or how much they can afford.

What do you think about the IFF app/paywall? Let us know in the comments!

Photographer: Viktor Källberg

Anne-Jan Hempenius Member since June 25, 2020

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