It can be done.
The NCAA has approved a permanent move of the Division I men’s and women’s tennis singles and doubles championships to the fall season, with the team championships continuing to be held in their traditional season in the spring.
The championships are in year two of a two-year pilot program testing the idea, and after evaluating the championships, the Tennis Oversight Committee decided to make the new season structure permanent.
From the NCAA:
Part of the original rationale for the decision to hold the singles and doubles championships in the fall involved student-athlete well-being.
Under the previous format, student-athletes only in the singles and doubles championships could wait up to three weeks from the end of the regular season until they competed again. In addition, tennis student-athletes in both the team and individual championships could compete for nine of 10 days.
With so many matches in a short span, some student-athletes withdrew after selections and during the championships due to injury. Some student-athletes also withdrew directly after selections or after losing in the team tournament.
In 2023, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which is the coaches association for college tennis, and the United States Tennis Association collaborated on a survey with the former Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Committee. The survey showed 68% of respondents favored the singles and doubles championships shifting to the fall. A winter 2026 NCAA survey of the coaches and conferences showed 75% in support of the shift to the fall.
Why does this matter for swimming? Because it means that there is a pathway for an individual championship meet (with or without team scoring) in the fall and a dual meet championship in the spring, or vice versa.
As swimming works to cope with its identity and what kind of competitive product, other sports are pushing forward with transformative innovation that is changing the trajectory of those sports.
Gymnastics, for example, moved from a six team final to a four team final in 2019, and have now had their championships aired on ABC each of the last six seasons – including a record 1.7 million peak viewers earlier this month.
The dual meet championship format has received a lot of energy behind it, including a mid-season dual meet tournament from the CSCAA last season and the upcoming Kyle Sockwell-led College Swimming League planned for next season.
Whether there’s a dual meet format that can appeal to the more mainstream swimming audience remains to be seen, but tennis’ big shakeup shows that, while adaption can be uncomfortable, the end product can be worth the squeeze.
I know it’s an n of 1 currently, but Arkansas dropping tennis AFTER this ruling came out is a little ominous. Maybe swimming should be a little skeptical of the split season idea and let this play out a little more in the tennis world first, as it might be a sign of what even P4 schools might see as “ok this is enough, it costs too much….”
I like the idea of a long course championship in the spring, but I think it would put the sport overall at risk. I could see ADs justifying cutting swimming because they didn’t have a long course pool. While most of the power 4 conference teams have long course pools, a lot of mid-major programs do not.
Does Tennis have any sizable viewership? Only non-football/basketball championships that get prime-time coverage seem to be wrestling and gymnastics. Wrestling doesn’t seem to have high viewership, yet it sells out large arenas; gymnastics does the same.
How is tennis performing, and what is spectator attendance for it?
Volleyball
Softball
Wrestling drew 712,000 viewers on ESPN.
Tennis is usually on ESPN+, couldn’t find any ratings.
A distance running athlete can theoretically be “in-season” for longer than even an academic year. X-C season practices start before the academic year starts in August, and they run through regionals in the second week of November. Indoor season starts soon after, and they can run conference meets and NCAA in February and March. Then a seamless transition to outdoor season. Three “different sports,” three different seasons. Even the sprinters and throwers can be “in-season” for indoor + outdoor from early December to May. Don’t tell me we’re trying to maintain academic integrity here.
How could this be applied to swimming?
A short-course yards season that starts in late August, with Conference in the first week of November and Nationals… Read more »
The analogy in swimming would be to have an open water ncaa championship in the fall, scy champs in the winter, and lc champs in the spring.
I love this idea. Individual champs in the fall, and a 16 team duel meet tournament in the Spring taking place over 4 days (4 rounds needed to determine the champion) as the championship determinant. For distance events, you swim the 1000 on day 1 and it scores round 1 and quarter final and the the 1650 on day 3 and it counts for semi final and finals.
The only problem I envision is Duel meets are really boring without parity, you can end up with a 60-12 score half way through the meet. And I don’t know how you fit diving. Maybe 8 dives the day before the meet that carry over to all the meets and only… Read more »
I don’t think that’s too different from any first round of any tournament. This past year in March Madness a game ended 114-55…
For it to be interesting to the general public it probably needs to be a final day with the Top 4 teams. That format is what ABC is showing, last day with the top teams.
Correction: Gymnastics went from a 6 team final to a 4 team final in 2019.
slight correction: women’s gymnastics moved from a 6 team final (super six) to a 4 team final (four on the floor)
An ‘individual’ championship would be great for people who can swim 4-6 events; help create some buzz around individual swimmers / get them more name recognition.
Or a scy champs and lcm champs like T&F does indoor and outdoor