With the momentum of the Summer Olympics behind it, NCAA women’s gymnastics will be a lot more accessible via mainstream media in 2022. The ESPN family of networks is set to broadcast more than 60 hours of collegiate women’s gymnastics coverage next year, which will put the talented young women in front of a national audience on many occasions.
For the first time in program history, @UMichWGym are national champions! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/glff17gQ5H
— ESPN (@espn) April 17, 2021
ABC was home to the women’s gymnastics championship last year, and will once again broadcast the finals in 2022. The network will also air regular season coverage of the sport for the first time in 2022, featuring a tilt between the University of Alabama and the University of Florida. The SEC Network will feature a sizable amount of coverage as well throughout the season.
The U.S. Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team has been named 👏
— ESPN (@espn) June 28, 2021
🏅 Simone Biles
🏅 Suni Lee
🏅 Jordan Chiles
🏅 Grace McCallum
🏅 Jade Carey (event specialist)
🏅 MyKayla Skinner (event specialist) pic.twitter.com/LVD6wRPCQ0
While the finals will be aired on ABC, the regional and semifinal rounds will have notable platforms as well. ESPN3 and ESPN+ will be the exclusive home of the regional round—ESPN+ currently has just over 17 million subscribers. The semifinals will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Thursday, April 14.
It’s a nice publicity boost for a sport that always garners significant attention once every four years during the Summer Olympic games. While those competitions get the national pride boost with regards to viewership, the same level of breathtaking talent can be found on display in an SEC or Big 12 meet as well. Olympic hero Suni Lee won a gold medal in the all-around portion of the Games, and has taken her abilities to Auburn University.
Gender equality in college sports has been hot topic of conversation in the past couple of years, with the NCAA even bringing in outside counsel to help identify some of the issues that contribute to it. One such inconsistency surrounded the level of coverage women’s sports received from major media outlets, and it seems like women’s gymnastics is heading in the right direction in order to help balance the scales.
