The ESPN Invitational was announced a year before it was set to debut, making it one of the most hyped regular-season meets of the year. It did not disappoint. In only week two of the season, 12 of the top 36 teams competed over three sessions, resulting in hours of highly competitive gymnastics. At the end of the competition, the first ever ‘crown’ was awarded to Oklahoma after it scored a huge 197.9 during the second session.
When the event was first publicly announced in 2023, there were a lot of questions surrounding its creation, the participating teams, and the expectations for such a large, new event. These were addressed in advance of the meet by Kristen Shaver, a director of events for ESPN, as well as Dan Margulis, senior director of programming and acquisitions at ESPN.
This idea came to fruition less than a year ago when a slot opened up on ABC Network, which expressed its interest in becoming more involved with NCAA Gymnastics. “It has been a priority of ours to grow in the women’s owned and operated event space,” said Shaver, who has successfully managed several other events involving women’s sports. “(After having this success with others) you start to look at what other sports are out there that are taking off and gymnastics was one of…
