Whether you tried to watch Barstool’s Rough N’ Rowdy 9 online or live at the arena, your night of boxing was mildly inconvenienced Friday night. Technical difficulties to the online PPV stream plagued the show which necessitated a thirty minute delay so viewers at home wouldn’t miss anything.  Those in the arena were quite unhappy with the lengthy delay.

Just before the fight started, multiple people took to Twitter to say that they were having trouble logging in to watch or in trying to buy the event. The @roughnrowdy Twitter account put out a tweet saying there was a technical issue and put out the same generic apology tweet to anyone tweeting at them that they were having issues.

The event was supposed to start at 7:30 but because of so many people having issues, the event was postponed until the issue was fixed. With fans at the arena getting restless, the fights started at 8:05 but were broadcasted for free on Periscope before eventually moving over to the PPV platform once the issues were sorted out.

One person who wasn’t at all happy about that was Barstool president Dave Portnoy. Portnoy was a bit limited being on vacation but was understandably pissed off seeing so many people having issues, as well as the decision of the Twitter account to put out generic tweets and those at the arena to postpone the event. Portnoy fired off a tweet storm being fed up of the situation and just wanted to get things started.

 

In terms of handling a crisis scenario such as this, there were some things done well and some not so much. For one thing, there should be a separate help account to deal with issues like this because if I’m following and am looking for updates on the fight, the last thing I want to see on my timeline is dozens of the same tweet being sent to individual people. If I was having issues, and I saw that impersonal tweet and saw it dominate my timeline, I probably would be more upset than if they just didn’t say anything.

Despite starting things a half hour later and having those in attendance boo, putting the start of the fight on Periscope was at least an attempt to make a problem right. It might not have been ideal but it was what it was.

It’s unknown what the fallout will be or if there will be any compensation as a result of the technical difficulties. Despite being late, Barstool technically got to broadcast the entire event but admitting the error and doing something for viewers may help bring them back for the next event.

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp