Courtesy of the Florida Gators
We are two weeks into the NCAA gymnastics season which means every team has now had the chance to compete. Despite there being many meets taking place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there are few meets that have accessible coverage, and for meets that do have broadcasting, there are issues in how they are covered.
Before I get into what needs to change, I’ll start with what is going right when it comes to NCAA gymnastics coverage. Everyone watches women’s sports, and it’s a no-brainer that they are growing in popularity, attendance, and viewership. This of course includes women’s gymnastics, which has always been one of the most popular women’s sports. This is moreso with the Olympics, but it is clear that the popularity of NCAA gymnastics is growing. This year, ESPN, across its eight platforms, will provide coverage for a record breaking 60+ meets. The 2024 NCAA Gymnastics Championship broke the attendance record for the meet and in 2023, the NCAA Gymnastics Championship, which was broadcasted on ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN+, had a record high 1.32 million viewers.
If you stream it, they will watch.
Courtesy of Oregon State Gymnastics (@BeaverGym on X)
What networks should be doing, especially coming off an Olympic year and with multiple Olympians competing in the NCAA, is capitalize on the sport’s popularity last summer. After an Olympic year, casual viewers or new fans will already be acquainted with some competitors, namely Team USA Olympic gold medalists Jade Carey of Oregon State and Jordan Chiles of UCLA. The Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences, as well as NBC, have made many posts featuring Carey and Chiles’ routines, as well as a picture of them when they competed against each other. It would have been nice, though, if we could have seen them competing against each other in their first meet since the Olympics.
The first couple weeks of competition typically consist of non-conference matchups, tri-meets, and quad meets, and usually the home team’s conference network will take charge in broadcasting the meet. There were competitions that took place at neutral sites, though, and there was no broadcast or livestream at all, and the only way fans could watch routines was through the individual teams’ Instagram lives. These teams, gymnasts, and fans deserve so much better. There needs to be a push for a livestream at all, at the bare minimum, but that should be something of the past so there can be a push for fewer meets behind paywalls and blackouts, and more meets with national coverage.
I’m going to repeat myself just because of the absurdity of the situation: a meet that featured Olympians Carey and Chiles and their teams, as well as 2024 NCAA runner-ups Cal, had no broadcast or live coverage at all. Would we be fine if a basketball game featuring big stars or a football game between top 10 teams didn’t have any broadcast? No. So, we shouldn’t be fine with this happening in gymnastics, just as we shouldn’t be fine with it happening in any sport.
Courtesy of Forbes
What happens within the broadcasts themselves needs to change too. This sounds nitpicky, especially after pointing out the lack in broadcasting to begin with, but we can’t expect things to change or get better if we don’t point out what’s not working.
There has been a judging overhaul, in which judges are taking present deductions rather than ignoring them in favor of big scores, as what seemed to be the case over the past several seasons. As a result, there have been no Perfect 10s through two weeks of competition. This should mean that when there is a perfect score given out, it truly is a perfect routine. There have been a couple routines already that have come close to perfect, but of course were not given a perfect score.
Despite this, commentators for meets have made comments of “this could get a 10,” rather than pointing out where the judges could take a deduction based on the angle they have of the routine. I’m not sure if this is a result of routines getting a perfect score despite having visible errors in the past and commentators not wanting to point out a mistake in what’s scored as perfect, or if it’s the overall problem with NCAA gymnastics commentary and not understanding its viewers.
When you’re watching a sporting event, and it could be football, basketball, baseball, hockey, really any sport that is popular and usually has a lot of coverage, you don’t have the rules of the game explained to you every single game. And you know that if there is something you don’t understand, you can easily look it up, ask someone who would know, or figure it out as you watch. With NCAA gymnastics, the rules of competition are explained every single meet. It'd be understandable to do for the first meet of the season for new fans or for the NCAA Championships when national coverage may bring in more viewers. But for the most part, I’m positive most of the viewers for NCAA gymnastics are the same across all meets and teams, are gymnastics fans, and therefore do not need the same repetition of rules every meet.
NCAA gymnastics commentators should instead focus on naming the skills a gymnast competes, explain the composition makeup of a routine and what the gymnast needs for their routine to start from a 10.0 start value, and not be afraid to point out a deduction where there is one.
This isn’t to say there aren’t any great commentators covering the sport, in fact there are several great ones who share their knowledge and enthusiasm and understand what their audience wants/needs to hear. Two of my favorite commentators in NCAA gymnastics are ESPN’s Aly Raisman and Big Ten’s Olivia Karas. Raisman, the six-time Olympic medalist, began commentating last season, and provides a fresh yet familiar voice for the sport. Karas, a University of Michigan gymnastics alum, brings the perfect blend of excitement and knowledge to each meet she covers.
Courtesy of Forbes
If we want change for the sport, and more coverage and viewers, we need to be vocal on what’s not working and what we want to see.
Truly, though, I am so excited that NCAA gymnastics is back! I just wish there was more of a push to bring this sport to the forefront (because gymnastics doesn’t happen just once every four years), investment in it having national coverage, and treatment like it is an important top sport (because it’s the best sport).
Edited by Giana Robertaccio
Comments