NFL Star Demands Track and Field’s 1.7 Million NCAA Success To Be Followed in Swimming

Robert Griffin has voiced his concerns about how swimming is not getting any limelight lately. Griffin, who is an ex-NFL player has been quite active even after his retirement, signing up with ESPN as a commentator. During his playing days, Griffin was best known for his antics with the Washington Redskins. And surely, throughout the entirety of his eight seasons, Griffin did not have to worry about the live coverage of the game. 

But as he began to take interest in disciplines like track and field, reality began to kick in. Looking at the lack of streaming options and limelight for Olympic sports, Griffin expressed his disappointment. And while he did salvage a subsequent track and field viewership, the recent state of swimming has left him pained. 

America has produced some of the finest modern-day swimming greats like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. And with the Paris Olympics approaching, the excitement around the sport is sky-high. Unfortunately, despite fans’ eagerness to catch the swimmers live, the options are pretty much limited. Only the major events are being broadcasted, while completely ignoring the NCAA and other tournaments. 

Highlighting the issue, Kyle Sockwell questioned in favor of more social media coverage for the NCAA event. Sockwell also pointed out that NCAA Swimming also did not have an official social media account. And Robert Griffin could not agree more. Pointing out the need for proper broadcasting and social media attention, Griffin commented, “I don’t disagree. There has to be a place for every sport to thrive and it starts with coverage to let people know it’s there.”

This was a stark contrast to what Robert Griffin had earlier posted. Considering himself lucky to be associated with ESPN, he detailed how the viewership has plummeted in the track and field championships. According to Griffin’s post, this year’s NCAA viewership has gone up by 81%. While the numbers stood at 770k in 2023, the viewership count for 2024 is a whopping 1.7m. Well, Griffin might be trying hard to get things back on track. But the withdrawal of several big-shot broadcasters is making things way more difficult. This has irked the likes of Sha’Carri Richardson too. 

Sha’Carri Richardson lashes out at the broadcasters

Back in 2023, the track and field community was stunned to learn about the withdrawal of NBC. Entrusted with the broadcasting rights, NBC decided not to air the US Championship, leaving the entire realm fuming. IS track star Sha’Carri Richardson did not hold back and immediately took a dig at NBC. Visibly frustrated, Richardson stated, “These companies continue to make it HARDER for track and field to have exposure!!! All they want is to continue to exploit sports!!!”

Unfortunately, Richardson’s outburst seemed futile as after a year, SuperSport followed in the footsteps of NBC. Without any prior information to the viewers, the channel simply opted not to air the Prefontaine Classics this year, much to the shock of the fans. Instead, they aired recorded highlights of the previous tournaments. To make things worse, the recent acquisition of the major track and field events by FloSports is likely to increase the cost of watching the events. Thus, with the broadcasting fiasco standing at a stalemate, it will be interesting to see how this Persian knot is untied.