Wall to Wall Coverage Needs Work; Open Water Swimming Should Be Media Focus

By Brent Rutemiller

PHOENIX, Arizona, November 7. OPEN water swimming is tempting competitive swimmers from around the world to jump out of the pool and into lakes, rivers and oceans. The sport will be the fastest growing media event in aquatics over the next four years.

Of all the aquatic events, open water swimming has all the elements to be a major media event. The open air atmosphere is mesmerizing with beautiful views of water, sky, and beach. This alone presents a backdrop that major media outlets often desire and exactly what pool competitions often lack.

Why do people watch golf on TV? One of the reasons is the beautiful background of flowers, trees, green grass, etc. These elements add to the visual experience. When you bring human drama to the stage, it can be captivating and that is what sells major media.

Competitive swimming keeps trying to take wall-to-wall swimming to major media outlets, but the fact is that the events take place in a fixed area. Frankly, the pool environment lacks the visual appeal that open water swimming offers. Competitive swimming is mainly marketable because of the drama, which unfortunately only comes on a grand scale every four years at the Olympics. Otherwise, year-round competitive swimming is very predictable. The end result is that without a dynamic visual background and unpredictable human drama, competitive pool swimming will NEVER be a regular television media product.

Open water swimming however, has the entire package and it is about time that we stop beating our bloody heads against the touch pad in trying to package pool events for media coverage and start putting our energy in open water events.

Every open water race holds drama that goes beyond the human factor. Wind, water chop, temperature, boats, water-reflected sun, green trees and park-like backdrops will each have its own story. The fact that most people are afraid to swim in these open water environments is very real. The appreciation factor of seeing these athletes battling it out in an environment that most people would not enter adds to the viewing excitement. The appreciation of these athletes will sky rocket overnight!

The sweeping views of spectators sitting along the banks of each race is great TV viewing. The spectators become part of the event and not just people in seats. Add the human factor of positioning, drafting, bumping, feeding stations, elbowing and endurance and each event becomes more dramatic.

USA Swimming missed an opportunity by not showcasing the Open Water World Championship Trials 10 Kilometer race recently held in Fort Meyers, Fla. To this day, not one video clip from the event has appeared on the Internet, partially due to a media rights dispute. For a sport clamoring for media attention, media access should be inclusive, not exclusive. Open Water is not an after-thought or step child; it is the media showcase savior for swimming that is just waiting to be discovered.

And here is the clincher – there is sponsorship money in open water swimming. One of the proven facts is that competitive swimming has limited sponsorship appeal because there is not a lot of product needed to run an event. Major corporations want their products to be seen and used. Outside of lane lines, flags, caps, suits and goggles… there is not much room for product exposure.

Open Water can showcase more sponsors in three hours than a week of broadcasting a USA National Short Course Championship. In three hours, viewers will see power boats, pontoon boats, media boats, lifeguard equipment, docks, communication devices, supplements galore at feeding stations, hydration products for the athletes, buoys, lane lines, and course signage. All of these are opportunities for major sponsors to be a part of the game. Just imagine if the start of a race was more than a gun or horn, but a firework display… It is not just an event; it is a public day at the beach and the closest thing to the glory days where swim races were held at water parks.

Fran Crippen is one athlete that is leading this revolution. He sat down with SwimmingWorld.TV to talk about how he got involved in open water swimming and his experiences as an athlete who made the transition from lane lines to sea weed bottoms.

To watch this interview on SwimmingWorld.TV click on the button to the right or go to SwimmingWorld.TV to watch this and other interviews.

What do you think about the subject? Click on the Reaction Time link below to give you the chance to sound off and make your opinion known!

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