Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Women's sports have exploded in popularity on the national scene over the last few years, and one that has benefitted most recently is women's gymnastics.
The sport continues to grow in popularity — just last year, the championship meet on ABC was the most-watched meet on the ESPN networks and the entire 2021-22 season set records — with household names that continue to impress on the national scene.
That growth in popularity has prompted ESPN Events to host its first-ever owned and operated women's gymnastics invitational event in January 2024. That invitational meet will be held at the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Jan. 13, 2024, and will feature Utah, LSU, Oklahoma, and UCLA — four programs set to compete at nationals on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The quad meet will be broadcast on ABC and will highlight four programs with some of the best gymnasts competing in the sport. While Utah gets to host the first-ever event, Oklahoma will host the second invitational on Jan. 11, 2025, of which, both Oklahoma and Utah will compete.
"We want to be geographically aligned with where the center of the sport is," said Clint Overby, ESPN Events vice president. "That sometimes is a moving target, but we do think that being in Salt Lake City in Year 1 is a natural fit; the fan base is there, people like that marketplace, there's a lot of great connections there. And the audience, from a TV standpoint, we believe has been established."
Overby told Awful Announcing, who worked in partnership with ESPN to announce the invitational, that the "worldwide leader of sports" made the move to host its own invitational for "all the right reasons."
📢 @ESPNEvents is adding #NCAAGym to its portfolio
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 12, 2023
With the launch of an inaugural event in Jan. 2024 on @ABCNetwork ft. @OU_WGymnastics, @LSUgym, @UtahGymnastics & @uclagymnastics
🤸 https://t.co/3Uw88cRvNV
More from @AndrewBucholtz & @awfulannouncing: https://t.co/MFkLnxXOCupic.twitter.com/2qOxg3jbLt
"The sport continues to have great coverage on our air; its popularity continues to rise," he said. "It sits at the intersection for us between meeting the needs of intercollegiate athletes while serving sports fans. It serves so many positives for us; it's a natural connection.
"Any time you can get four of the best teams out there, and I know there are many great teams out there, but we're fortunate to have what we believe are four of the best, it brings credibility. It's certainly a showcase, in my mind, more importantly, of the value of the sport, that those teams want to try to participate together in a premium event like this."
Utah head coach Tom Farden alluded to a big event coming next season during a media session earlier this year, but having Utah host the event only add credibility to the program in its pursuit for its 11th national championship.
The Red Rocks will take part in the second session of the national championship semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m. MDT on ESPN2. The semifinal will feature No. 5 Utah against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 9 Kentucky. In the first session, No. 6 LSU will compete against No. 3 Florida, No. 7 California and No. 14 Denver at 1 p.m. MDT on ESPN2.
The top two teams from each semifinal will advance to the national championship meet on Saturday.
