ESPN Front Row: ESPN’s Gymnastics Squad Sticks the Landing with Storytelling Enhancements Through Technology
- Three-Time Olympian John Roethlisberger and Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Aly Raisman to Announce National Championship on ABC, Semifinals on ESPN2; Taylor Davis Makes NCAA Gymnastics Championship Sideline Reporting Debut
- ESPN+ “Stream Team” Comprised of 2008 Olympic Silver Medalists Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan, Former Collegiate Stars Kennedy Baker and Anastasia Webb
- All Televised Presentations and Apparatus Feeds Streaming Live on ESPN+
ESPN’s unparalleled coverage of the NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championship reaches its pinnacle, with some of the sport’s biggest brands and brightest stars set for center stage in Fort Worth, Texas. Eight teams will tumble toward the NCAA title at Dickies Arena, as Semifinal I is slated for Thursday, April 18 at 4:30 p.m. ET and Semifinal II airs live at 9 p.m. Thursday, both on ESPN2 and ESPN+. Semifinal I features No. 2 seed LSU, No. 3 California, No. 10 Arkansas and Stanford, while Semifinal II showcases No. 1 seed Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah and No. 8 Alabama.
ABC is the home of the 2024 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships for the fourth consecutive season, with Championship Saturday flipping into action on April 20 at 4 p.m. (also on ESPN+) and will also be available internationally. ESPN tucks into its Championship Saturday coverage with the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship Live Preshow on ABC at 3:30 p.m., leading into the championship final. This is ESPN’s 12th NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship presentation overall.
Three-time Olympian John Roethlisberger, three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and ESPN reporter Taylor Davis will be on the televised call together for their first Championship Final and Semifinals as a trio. In total, 15 live streams on ESPN+ will surround the televised action on Thursday and Saturday, including apparatus streams, a quad-box option and a Spanish-language viewing option. For direct links to every ESPN+ stream, please click here.
ESPN will once again feature “Stream Team” commentary on ESPN+ for a unique complementary offering surrounding the championship. 2008 Olympic silver medalists and former NCAA standouts Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan will commentate the vault and beam, while four-time NCAA Champion and former Oklahoma Sooners standout Anastasia Webb will pair up with 11-time All-American and Gator great Kennedy Baker to commentate bars and floor. In addition, the quad box all-around stream returns to ESPN+, featuring every routine and every apparatus supplemented by natural sound from championship action at Dickies Arena.
In addition, the new quad meet format will be utilized in Fort Worth, something both teams and fans experienced at the inaugural Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad and during conference championship weekend and NCAA Regionals. The new format ensures that two apparatus will be active at the same time, similar to a dual meet. The events will all end closer together, rather than vault and bars ending significantly earlier than beam and floor. This makes the meet more watchable for fans in the venue and on the broadcast while also making the timing more predictive for the student-athletes and coaches.
Innovative Scoring Tower Takes Storytelling through Tech to New Heights
New this year, ESPN debuted a scoring tower during conference championship weekend, making it even easier for viewers to follow along with the quad meet action. That score tower will be a focal point of the live coverage across ESPN platforms, ensuring the race for the NCAA trophy is clear and concise.
ESPN’s production continues to utilize scoring graphics with enhanced breakdowns, as well as a double-box and replay machines to show as many routines as possible. The scoring graphics cycle overall team totals, individual averages, and team differentials to inform viewers and provide even greater insight into both the team race and technical aspects of each routine. In addition, ESPN and ABC will employ “Tech Tools” to bring the impressive technique and skill of the gymnasts into perspective for the viewer, including height and distance markers on vault, protractors for body angle on bars, the bars height grid and the split-o-meter on beam.
Additional camera angles include:
- An Ultra Mo miniature camera that records up to 1,000 frames per second to provide extremely detailed Ultra Slo Motion replays
- Two handheld cameras that will have Super Slo Motion replay abilities
This weekend’s championship raises the trophy on ESPN’s industry-leading coverage of the sport, boasting a network record 70+ hours of flips, full-outs and all-around action in 2024. For more information on the 2024 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championship this weekend, please visit ncaa.com.
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