Let this be the repository of all the information you could possibly need for each of this week’s regional competitions.
Beginning with the links and viewing instructions. And remember, don’t shoot the messenger.
| Thursday, April 4 |
Scores | Stream |
Info |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT Georgia Play-in [31] NC State [34] New Hampshire |
LINK | ESPN3 | |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT Michigan Play-in [29] Illinois [30] Central Michigan |
LINK | FLO | |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT LSU Play-in [35] George Washington [36] Lindenwood |
LINK | ESPN3 |
Rotations |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT Oregon St Play-in [32] Iowa [33] Arizona |
LINK | FREE | |
| Friday, April 5 |
Scores | Stream |
Info |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT Georgia Semifinal #1 [8] Georgia [9] Kentucky [19] Missouri [22] Iowa State |
LINK | SEC+ | |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT Michigan Semifinal #1 [7] Michigan [10] Alabama [23] Penn State {26] Ohio State |
LINK | FLO | |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT LSU Semifinal #1 [6] Utah [11] Minnesota [17] BYU [20] Arkansas |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT Oregon State Semifinal #1 [5] Denver [12] Boise State [18] Washington [24] Southern Utah |
LINK | FREE (main) FLO (events) |
|
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Georgia Semifinal #2 [1] Oklahoma [15] Cal [28] Maryland Play-in winner |
LINK | ESPN3 | |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Michigan Semifinal #2 [2] UCLA [14] Nebraska [27] West Virginia Play-in winner |
LINK | FLO | |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT LSU Semifinal #2 [3] LSU [13] Auburn [21] Arizona State Play-in winner |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations |
| 10:00 ET/7:00 PT Oregon State Semifinal #2 [4] Florida [16] Oregon State {25] Stanford Play-in winner |
LINK | FREE (main) FLO (events) |
|
| Saturday, April 6 |
Scores | Stream |
Info |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Georgia Regional Final |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT Michigan Regional Final |
LINK | FLO |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT LSU Regional Final |
LINK | SEC+ |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
| 10:00 ET/7:00 PT Oregon St Regional Final |
LINK | FREE (main) FLO (events) |
Rotations** Projected Lineups/NQS |
- The Georgia and LSU regionals will be broadcast online on the WatchESPN platform, with the sessions involving SEC teams on SEC+ and the sessions not involving SEC teams in ESPN3. Access requires a log-in from your TV provider.
- The Oregon State regional sessions will have a main feed on the Pac-12 network website that is free to access and will bop around from team to team. Dedicated event feeds will be on FLO behind the paywall.
- The Michigan regional sessions will be exclusively on FLO behind the paywall.
It’s getting rough out there. And by there, I mean Twitter. The news that the Michigan regional is exclusively on FLO has not gone over well—particularly because the NCAA used to enforce a rule that streams on services that are normally behind a subscription paywall had to be free for regionals. No more, apparently. It’s almost like the NCAA shortsightedly cares only about money in the immediate sense, and not so much the growth and exposure of women’s college gymnastics and fan access. Or something. Just spitballing here.
Among the reasons we were sold on the change in the postseason format was the desire to make these meets more broadcast friendly in order to improve exposure. (I was in it more for the increased number of rounds of competition and increased stakes that come with making it harder to advance to nationals, and also the elimination of those stupid-ass byes.) It’s a very noble and necessary goal, increasing exposure of the championship meets, and something had to be done about these unwieldy regionals that have been stuck in the purgatory of web streams even as TV exposure of the normal, random regular season meets grows every year.
It’s the most bizarre situation—an early-season February dual with Michigan and Nebraska is live on big ESPN even though it ultimately matters 0%, and then when the meets actually matter for elimination purposes, it’s like, “Here’s a fuzzy live stream of a 1/4 of a beam routine hosted by Shard Brockingdude, and he will call the gymnasts players.” We need to get these elimination regional meets to a much better state of exposure. Why isn’t the Oregon State regional on the Pac-12 Network like every other meet this season? Why aren’t the Georgia and LSU regionals on the SEC Network like every other meet this season? That’s where we need to go. Like soon. Like now. And I do think the new format makes it more likely to get there. And maybe selling to Flo and showing that there’s a market is a stepping stone on that path? I don’t know. But in the short run, it’s so bad and aggressively undermines the goal of more eyes and more visibility.
All I can offer you is a live blog.
**We obviously don’t have the actual rotation order for the Saturday regionals yet because we don’t know who’s competing in them, but the rotation order will be as follows:
Vault – Semifinal #2 Runner-up
Bars – Semifinal #1 Runner-up
Beam – Semifinal #2 Winner
Floor – Semifinal #1 Winner
With the new format, there are fewer meet conflicts than during regionals in past years when we often had five sessions going on at once, but Friday will still be pretty jammed. What I mean is, you’re still going to want a rotation schedule.
So… it’s objectively better to be the runner up in semi-final than to outright win it. Sure?
I know that these draws all happen before the season, but like.. there has to be a better way
I thought they said that Flo is streaming but it will be free still?
No you have to pay $30 to watch anything on flo! The Michigan regional is just on flo but the Oregon St. is on flo but PAC 12 will be streaming for free with cable login.
I think the main Oregon State feed is free-trade, not free-with-cable-login free (which isn’t really free). Right?
Oregon State feed is completely free! No cable login required
I’m hoping that once the new postseason format catches on, the TV channels will pick up on it. In the short run it sucks, but in the long run, I think it will be beneficial. Big 12s has been behind the Flo paywall for the last couple of years, but ESPNU (finally) picked it up this year
That whole “It’s the most bizarre situation… more eyes and more visibility” paragraph deserves a standing ovation.
Also, yay, there are only ever three events running at one time! What a sad thing to be excited about!
👏
I haven’t (and won’t) pay for Flo, but, honestly, the move to conference networks and ESPN had greatly decreased the number of meets I am able to watch. I don’t have cable, let alone a fancy enough package to get all the conference networks, and very few offer a separate streaming subscription options. So, whereas I used to follow Michigan, UCLA, Georgia, and several other schools regularly, I now just follow Michigan because I can go to their meets in person and occasionally catch an away meet in BTN+.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but more meets on cable TV is just making things worse for people like me who once were bigger fans but are losing interest because we can’t watch as much since we can’t afford cable (or Sling or Fubo or the various streaming alternatives that cost almost as much now).
As someone else who doesn’t have cable, I have paid $35 for a month of slingtv once or twice and it’s worked out pretty well. For the cost of 3-4 in person meets I (and anyone I can convince to watch with me) can see as many meets as I want on ESPN, PAC-12N, etc. as I want for a month.
Is it as good as the VCR days? In some ways no. But there are access options that are more affordable than cable.
Yeah, I’ve been using Sling for the last three seasons and can’t recommend it enough. You can get all the ESPN channels (including SEC network) and Pac 12 for $30/month. The only thing you don’t get is BTN, but there aren’t tons of meets on there anyway.
Why does a runner-up get Olympic order in the finals and not a winner?
In response to Flo actually taking sports steps back in accessibility. This happened with sport climbing 2 years ago and the athletes, coaches, and fans revolted! I know it’s different than NCAA, but the lesson learned is that Flo CAN be defeated. The climbing community proved it and the IFSC (International Federation of Sport Climbing) still provides live feeds on their youtube channel of all world cup events, which has been very important in gaining viewers going into its debut at the 2020 olympics. Lesson: Never stop trying to defeat FLO.
http://www.climbingbusinessjournal.com/behind-the-scenes-of-the-broken-deal/
Is Maggie being listed in the projected OU lineup reflective of hopes and dreams, or do you have inside information that it is/might be happening (besides the vault video she retweeted on Sunday)? 🤞
Ugh! I’ve never watched Flo but they are already pissing me right off.
So Alabama is on FLO? Really? In no universe am I paying $30 for that. But it’s damned annoying. I already hate this 4 format. Which was supposed to make it more accessible to viewers. How about making it about the athletes and letting more of them participate?
The same number of teams are making regionals. The multiple rounds also puts more focus on the lower-ranked teams. I’m also not sure whether I’m fully on board with the switch like most people are, but I did also notice that your complaint at the beginning was specifically about access despite your complaint that that’s everyone’s focus.
There will be fewer teams making the NCAA final session, which is worse for the athletes. As for access, I have the option to have access for $30. That’s much better than when I got a couple of meets per year on ESPN and an hours worth of Nationals coverage a month or so after it happened (I’m an old curmudgeon.). I just don’t want to encourage them by doing it.
Looking for suggestions for a way to watch the LSU Regional internationally:
I live in Saipan, CNMI – a small U.S.Territory near Guam. Sometimes we are treated as being international and other times we are treated as domestic. Netflix gives us U.S. programming, however I have been able to follow all of the Pac12 meets because the International Pac12 YouTube channel identifies my IP address as being international.
When trying to view SECN+ through either Sling or ESPN Player (where SEC Network directs international viewers), I’m getting blocked. Sling identifies the IP address as international and won’t sell a subscription. ESPN Player simply says it is “not currently available in your region,” making me think it is identifying my IP address as domestic. I can go to the regular SEC Network homepage and try to view the current streaming though Watch ESPN, but I am prompted for a US Cable provider log-in, which I obviously don’t have.
Any technical geniuses out there with ideas?
Have you tried a virtual private network (a VPN) to mask your IP address to look like it’s in the USA? If not, I recommend trying Tunnel Bear, but there are MANY others. Some free, some you pay for, & some you pay for have a free trial first.
“All I can offer you is a live blog”
Seriously, the understatement of the century.
Many, many thanks Oh Humble One. (Bowing my head ala Vera Caslavska, except not in protest. Oh and sans the beehive).
Thank you for your blog Spencer! As you can see we all hate Flo yet there isn’t anything we can do before this weekend… sigh! Deanna please do some amazing videos!!
Love all of the comments…but seriously, I lost it at Shard Brockingdude!!!!
Spencer
Any idea why the Gymternet hasn’t done “YOU ASKED the Gymternet answered” in MONTHS? You guys are colleagues right? I send a comment but No response?
Lauren did a whole bunch of them right in a row during the elite “off” season (January or thereabouts). I’m assuming that actual competition coverage and other in-season news has simply been the focus of their time and resources lately, which makes sense. When those slow down Lauren will probably do some more Q&A.
Saturday upset wishes:
Kentucky over Georgia
Auburn over Utah
I so want this Kentucky senior class to make it to nationals. And, Auburn. After Cerio’s injury, it would be sweet to see the team make it in her honor. Friday’s performance was impressive, and could be enough to make it through.
And Bama through as well.