I would love to see this. The sport needs teams and head-to-head competition if it wants to grow in popularity. What do you think? There's gotta be some rich person out there who can make it happen!
Former Member
fina has an open water pro series.
for pool events, there would be little appeal watching world record holders perform below that level (and if they were competing regularly, say like once a week, they certainly would). i think it would turn swimming into a traveling circus (like figure skating)
I was under the impression that to compete in NCAA you specifically could NOT be pro. You can only appear in ads and stuff if you don't endorse a particular brand, there is no brand name in the ad, and you don't get paid.
Sadly, the only people who really care about swimming are swimmers.
John Smith
But is that a function of the sport itself or how the sport has been marketed? I think it's a combination.
Perhaps not a pro league, but how about televising some NCAA dual or three way meets. One of the most exciting events I can remember was watching a three way meet at SMU (back when they were the SWC and National powerhouse) swim against Indiana and Tennessee. SMU even had a small band in the pool area.
Perhaps they could include a number of stats (pool record, school record, # wins against opponents in the event) and start some interesting grudge matches. Revenue sharing would help some of the smaller schools.
Surely there is some programming airtime available on the Eternal Sports Network.
Some sports are fun to watch for various reason.. people may have played them in high school..Football, baseball basketball . Some sports are fun to watch because they are exciting NASCAR .and other motor sports. Some sports are fun because they have a "punch them up" factor fights and wrestling. And many sports lend themselves to gambling. Football baseball are two biggies and theres more money spent on the gambing then most people will ever think about.. Sports gambleing is huge.. That all said .. swimming..oh well its really lame to watch compared to the other sports mentioned unless you are a speed swimmer (unless its the Olympics then national pride comes in and we all root for our country) and as far as gambleing on it ..forget it. So thats why there no pro swimming.
Now all though I say lame to watch if you are the participent as in a masters event that is fun and if you are watching your meet that can be exciting as well as the comp. but in general the public sees swimming as lame. Yes they can relate to long distance swims and
give credit to those who complete these swims but can the average person name English Channel swimmers? No they cant ...As far as watching swimming ? Is the average person interested ?.... naw lame unless theres a bet to be made.
I just think that if people actually get excited about GOLF, there's got to be a market for swimming too!
You point is well taken, but the fact remains, it is easier to play golf than a relatively unnatural endeavor like swimming. In addition, training for golf is FAR easier from an aerobic perspective and much more social during the act itself than swimming. Hence fewer followers willing to endure or experience the sport first hand.
Unless Phelps can keep the momentum going on TV from a marketing perspective, the sport will fade in another 8 months like it always does after the Games.
John Smith
Perhaps not a pro league, but how about televising some NCAA dual or three way meets.
a spin off from this idea, why not a weekly highlights show from NCAA meets. it could be a fast passed show with highlights, interviews, stats, records. No reason to show the entire 800 or 1500, the start, lead changes and the dramatic finish.
in an hour show you might be able to highlight 12-20 races from several meets, maybe each week the show could focus on 1-2 of the top 25 teams, building up to the Championships.
maybe even take a few pre-season favorites and follow their season.
of course a show like this will be mostly dominated with 50-100 races, but there should be time to show a few 200-400-800+ races too.
if that works then maybe smaller sports networks can pick up on it. maybe even show Zones
I know that NESN shows my old schools football games, WHY? is what I say every time I see my school will be on tv. I think their record in the last 15 yrs is like 53-97 (guessing), only a few +.500 seasons in the 15 yrs I have followed them. They must have lots of dead air time, so why not fill it with swimming.
