MARKETING NEW FORMATS, SAME SPORT:

Hold on. If I may, I would like to say that the idea of condensing the format of the swim meet is not a bad idea, certainly worthy of discussion. Meets are too long for both the swim parent and also the spectator. We aren’t trying to turn it into football or any other sport by trying to accommodate viewers. That’s marketing, and there is nothing wrong with marketing swimming. How do we shorten the program without cutting “the fat” (i.e. breaststroke, the skipping race of swimming) and offending people (i.e. breastrokers)? By the way, I am not against breast stroke.

One, cut out semi-finals. Why do we have them? The only time a meet wants more swimming is at the Olympics because swimming gets high television ratings and high ratings mean more $$$. So, the Olympics are the one exception, in more than a few ways. No other meet comes close to marketing itself to the general public the way the Olympics do. Other meets should not be following the lead of the exception.

Other shows have proven that if you throw away enough marketing dollars you can get people to watch celebrity golf so unless your meet has big big big money to market itself you will continue to bore viewers with the eight days, prelims, semi-finals, finals, awards ceremonies and commercials format.

If the Olympics wanted more swimming they should have included the 50′s of the other strokes before adding the semi-finals. No brainer. The viewer wants to know who the fastest in the pool is, not who number 14 is. (Editor’s note: with prelims/finals only format we still can establish who number 14 is.)

I suggest having specialty meets that would not eliminate any of the sub-par events like breast stroke. Just kidding again you wacky breast strokers! You could focus on sprints, 50′s and 100′s of every stroke or distance like the open water events. You could have stroke specific events. Breast strokers of the world UNITE! The Butterfly World Championships. Etc.

This way a competition is created to market different factions of the sport, but most importantly the act of swimming overall. As swimmers we know that competition is a good motivator. Have at it. If the Butterfly World Championships draw a huge crowd and all the sponsors and the breaststroke meet turns into a cricket recording studio then the people have spoken, not just the biased swimmers that have too much time on their hands discussing this stuff in chat forums.

So who is responsible for making this happen? The governing bodies and FINA are the only people making any real money in the sport. And here lies the problem. The only ones that have the money and power to change things currently have a stranglehold on a VERY profitable (for them) sport. Why would they want to change things?

I know that a lot of you are thinking that $14 thousand a year plus a $30 thousand Speedo deal is a lot for a swimmer that has dedicated their entire life to swimming but it’s not enough to create these events and market them.

What do you think? Post now!

SHARK ATTACK:

My sister and I were attacked by a shark. We are both alright. You can read all about it in People magazine next week. Or watch the show on Discovery Channel, or Good Morning America or … It’s bizarre. You can win ten Olympic medals and nobody seems to care as much as when you are attacked by a shark. If you’re looking for attention I don’t recommend the shark attack, though it will get you press.

Maybe sharks are the marketing solution we are looking for in swimming?

I’M BACK AND GRUMPY AS HELL IN MY OLD AGE:

I went to the Janet Evans Invitational and posted a 22.7 for the 50 free after five weeks of training and a shark attack. I placed 6th (tied for 6th) behind in-season speed demon Jason Lezak and the always fast Roland Schoeman, among other very talented swimmers. I was pleased but still my expectations are realistic for this summer’s Nationals. A couple months of training after a couple of years off is a short season, even for me. But, I know what I’m doing. I’m training for the 2008 Olympic Games.

My post about changing the sport, joking, wink, wink comments about breast strokers, the impotence of a rich, content governing body, and punching out a shark is evidence that I’m getting fiestier in my old age of 31. So look out.

But still I remain,

sincerely yours,

Gary