The CSCAA made the wrong changes to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship, and these changes have worsened the overall viewing experience. 

Since the introduction of NIL in college sports and the subsequent House v. NCAA settlement, NCAA Swimming has been forced to make changes to increase viewership and ensure that college swimming remains viable. 

These changes included major modifications to the national championship meet, including changes to the swimming event schedule, splitting the six rounds in diving finals into two sets of three rounds that occur after the second individual swimming event and just before the relay of the day, moving all but the fastest relay heats to the morning and most notably, scrapping the consolation final (more commonly known as the B-final). 

I think the changes to the relays and the cutting of B-finals were unnecessary and have done more harm than good. I also think there is a significant issue with the commentary and overall coverage of the NCAA Championship meet, which the NCAA seems to be avoiding. 

Relays at the NCAAs are swum as timed finals, meaning each relay swims only once, and heats are seeded regularly (not circle-seeded) and ordered from slowest to fastest. 

From 2021 until last year, all of the relays, regardless of heat, were swum in finals, meaning that viewers of the finals stream could watch all of the relays. 

This year, however, only the top eight-seeded relays swam in finals, despite the fact that all relays are scored together, meaning that relays from earlier heats could score in the top eight if their times were fast enough. 

There were several relays that made the podium from morning swims, but many people did not get to watch these swims, however, because they occurred at approximately 11:45 a.m. Eastern Time, when a lot of potential viewers had to be at work or school. 

I also didn’t see any benefit to cutting B-finals from a viewership standpoint. The meet lasted just as long, if not longer, due to the additional diving delays, than it would have lasted if B-finals had been included. 

In addition, many athletes who competed in the meet have expressed discontent with the elimination of B-finals, citing that they give ninth through 16th place swimmers a second swim that can be crucial for building experience and confidence. 

Instead of making format changes like the aforementioned ones, I think the CSCAA should make improvements to how the NCAA Championships are marketed towards viewers, which starts with the commentators.

I have respect for Rowdy Gaines, but I, like many other dedicated swim fans, have grown tired of his commentary. 

He does little research on athletes outside of the top seeds, pronounces names wrong, makes inaccurate and unhelpful predictions and discounts record-breaking swims if they weren’t as fast as he thought they should have been.

We have better options than Gaines and Ted Robinson, such as prelims session commentators Kevin Cargill and Katie Hoff.

The CSCAA should actually look into what athletes and viewers are saying about issues with the NCAAs instead of making pointless changes, and there is a possibility that we can dig college swimming out of the hole we have dug.