NCAA gymnastics changed its postseason, hoping for its own March Madness moments. To become more appealing to a TV audience, a Final Four this weekend will replace what had been a six-team event for decades.
As gymnastics audiences grow, the sport attempts to become more TV-friendly. By Emily Giambalvo Emily Giambalvo Reporter covering University of Maryland athletics Email Bio Follow April 18 at 12:56 PM Every spring, not long after the NCAA gymnastics season finishes, head coaches gather for a weekend of recruiting at Junior Olympic nationals, a meet that features many of the nation’s top gymnasts.
“Let's say it comes down to the final gymnast on the final tumbling run: Can she stick her landing?” said Bart Conner, an Olympic gold medalist who provides play-by-play commentary for ESPN. “That's the buzzer-beater shot scenario in basketball that keeps fans coming back. Gymnastics has created a product like that.”
Greg Marsden, who coached at Utah for 40 years and retired in 2015, built a program that has averaged more than 10,000 fans per home meet for 15 straight seasons. He believes that once an exciting product exists, coverage will follow. But some of his peers wanted assurance that television networks would indeed show more interest if changes were made.
“Once they started to see the results and started to trust us and believe that we believe in their sport just as much as they do, I think that’s where you saw the change,” said Meg Aronowitz, ESPN’s coordinating producer for gymnastics. “Then we started to talk about format change in the postseason and what might be best.”
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