Which Pay Site Is Best?

Submitted by SC Wolverine on

If I was to pay a subscription for only one pay site, is there any consensus on which is best?  Or is there a breakdown of the relative strengths?  Thanks.

gwkrlghl

May 24th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^

No idea what insider access is like, but the addition of the composite ranking and the prediction thing is pretty cool. I'd want to jump on that bandwagon if I was looking for a service because it definitely seems like they're trying hardest right now

JHendo

May 24th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^

What kind of paysite?  Are we talking about sports or porn, because I only have a helpful opinion on one of those topics...

 

...and it's the porn one.

Inuyesta

May 24th, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^

I have VIP at 247, Rivals, and ESPN, and that's pretty much the order I'd rank them in. 247 has easily the best interface, has a mobile site that works extremely well, and the combination of reporters there are covering recruiting as well as anyone. They also seem to have by far the most coverage of underclassmen...which might seem meaningless at first (no should care who leads for a kid 2 years before his signing day) but leads me to believe they'll be well-positioned, perhaps the best-positioned when those recruitments start to really matter. Probably the main drawback is that the Michigan site is still young, so the board isn't as active as you'd like and a lot of the people who are there still aren't very good at being on a message board (jokes and sarcasm go over a lot of people's heads and result in stupid arguments, that sort of thing).

ESPN has a much smaller volume of what i'll call "formal" recruiting coverage (designated articles and the like) compared with the other two sites, but TomVH and the rest over there are probably the most interactive group of reporters, and you can learn a lot just by reading their responses to people's questions. ESPN also has detailed scouting reports in the profiles of each player, which is nice, and have good coverage of the NFTCs, which is cool. Their mobile compatibility is atrocious though, and the forum gets basically no traffic unless something big has just happened. In all, ESPN wouldn't be worth it if they tried to charge like the other pay sites, but its so cheap (and the rest of ESPN insider is so good) that its a good subscription to have.

As for Rivals, I constantly go back and forth on whether or not to cancel my membership, which feels redundant now that I have 247. The reasons I've kept it are: (1) they have by far the best coverage of the camp circuit, which is pretty much your only opportunity to see new video/learn new things about recruits in the summer; (2) during spring practice and the offseason they have the best coverage of the actual football team; (3) the Nightly Recruiting and Inside the Fort features are great; 4) the forums are easily the most active; and (5) they have The Ticker, which is quick and easy one-stop shopping for everything across the Rivals network related to any prospect Michigan is remotely interested in.

LeadersandBest

May 24th, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^

I am currently paying for ESPN, Scout and Rivals and used to have a 247 account.

 

If you want information as to what the staff is thinking Scout is #1 and it isn't even close (then Rivals and ESPN and 247 just give you guesses you could come up with regarding what the staff is thinking).  If you want interviews of the kids all are about the same.

I value most the insider information and let's face it Sam Webb is the best.  At Scout you are paying for Sam Webb.  Their website design will soon be updated.

My recommendation is that you go with Scout if you are truly looking for insider information.

Mr. Rager

May 24th, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^

The good:

Best insider: Scout (Sam Webb)

Best format: 247

Best community: Rivals (their commenters know the most / have the most "connections")

Best price: ESPN (and you get TomVH)

The bad:

Worst mods: Rivals (lost A LOT when Helmholdt took the Midwest job)

Worst format: Scout

"All flash, no depth": 247

Worst rankings: ESPN (historically)

Gun to my head I say go with Rivals.

BeatOSU52

May 25th, 2013 at 9:24 AM ^

How about we get another comment saying that it's not worth paying for a subscription and to get all your info here at mgoblog.  There hasn't been enough comments like that yet.