The NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Committee approved new rule changes for the 2024-2025 season. Listed in the 2024-2025 rules modification summary, the committee agreed on various rule changes, but Rule Modification 3 will cause controversy. The modification states in two parts:
- Competitions will use a “four up four count” format on each event for competitions.
- The competition roster will be capped at 12.
So how will these changes affect NCAA Men’s Gymnastics?
Why “4 Up 4 Count” is Controversial?
Prior to this modification, NCAA Men’s Gymnastics followed a “five up five count” format with a 15 man roster for for competition. With the new changes to “four up four count” and a 12 man roster size, the NCAA is reducing the total number of routines and also competitors.
On first glance, this seems bad for college gymnastics. With only four athletes competing per event, competition lineups become more competitive and it reduces the number of opportunities individual gymnasts have to showcase their ability. Likewise, with competition rosters set to 12, we see the potential for roster cuts to the total. Teams might want to decrease the total number of athletes on their team since they no longer need to bring as many to meets, further limiting college opportunities in an already limited sport.
However, its not all bad and has the potential to be better for gymnastics long term.
Why 4 up 4 Is Good For Men’s Gymnastics?
Although I am not a fan of fewer opportunities for men’s gymnastics, this change is actually a good thing for the sport long term. Here are the reasons this will help grow Men’s Gymnastics:
TV Coverage
The “four up four count” format speeds up meets by decreasing the number of routines in a competition. This makes a gymnastics competition easier to sit through and more promising for TV coverage. A cited reason in the rules modification change is that this change will help the NCAA championship fit into a two hour tv broadcast. Although I don’t love prioritizing money over the expense of athlete opportunities, the sport desperately needs more marketability and financial incentive.
Any way to get more gymnastics on the TV brings more attention and money to the sport. This will drive growth long term.
Aligning With NCAA Women’s Gymnastics
Both Men’s and Women’s NCAA Gymnastics competitions will have 24 routines per team. By matching the number of routines, the length of the meets will better sync up. Matching the total number of routines encourages more double dual meets, where both girls and guys compete at the same time in the same gym. Obviously Women’s Gymnastics brings more attention than Men’s Gymnastics, but double duals will expose more people to their schools Men’s Gymnastics teams.
Again, more double duals mean more involvement with Men’s Gymnastics.
Following the GymACT
The NCAA also appears to be taking cues from the GymACT, a rapidly growing alternative to NCAA gymnastics. GymACT teams have sprung up like weeds over the past five years, and this is partially due to how simple it is to form a team. Self funded programs, GymACT teams require less financial burden to form and maintain and teams require fewer athletes to become competitive. GymACT follows a “four up three” count format. Programs are smaller and require less investment, but there are more GymACT programs.
Moving to “four up four count” with a 12 man roster means that the NCAA is embracing the principles that make the GymACT succesful. They want to make it so teams need fewer athletes to start a program, and only needing four quality athletes on each event means that they can become competitive quicker. In fact, the committee justifies the rule change stating that, “By reducing the number of competitors, it may help programs remain competitive while navigating roster
limits and financial restraints.”
The NCAA wants each program to be smaller, but they want more programs in return.
Again, these changes appear to be negative in the short term. Reducing the number of opportunities in competition and decreasing roster sizes is not good for athletes. But long term, “four up four count” has the potential to drive more engagement with the sport and make it easier for colleges to start up and support new Men’s Gymnastics programs.