Swimming-New College Swimming League dives into inaugural season with eye on wider audience

By Rory Carroll Sept 23 (Reuters) The new College Swimming League will launch its inaugural season on Thursday outside Chicago, seeking to give one of U.S. college sport s most successful but least visible disciplines a more prominent stage. The league, built in less than a year, brings together 12 programs ​from the SEC, ACC and Big Ten, three of the leading regional conferences in U.S. ‌college sport, for a fall series of team competitions that will be streamed on ESPN platforms in the United States and shown internationally on DAZN. The opening match at FMC Natatorium in Westmont, Illinois, will feature Indiana, Louisville, Michigan and Ohio State. The eight-event season concludes with a championship in Indianapolis on Nov. 6. College Swimming League CEO Rob Kent said the venture was a calculated gamble, drawing ‌on ​lessons from the International Swimming League (ISL) while seeking to tap into the ⁠established fan bases of major universities. There s only ⁠really two ways to do