The International Swimming League (ISL), the club-based professional series, has appointed Gravity Media as its broadcast content and production partner ahead of its relaunch later this year.
The tie-up will be focused on the league's relaunch event, the ISL All-Star Match. The one-night event takes place at the London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on December 19.
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The event will see the world's fastest swimmers compete in a team-based, two-hour, head-to-head competition.
Four teams will compete, based on a geographical principle: the United States, the Commonwealth, Europe, and the rest of the world, each made up of the leading athletes from their region.
For the All-Star Match, Gravity Media will deploy a “comprehensive” production package, including underwater and specialist cameras, robotic rail camera systems, gyro-stabilized robotic camera systems, starting block and finish-line robotic mini-cams, and optional real-time data integration.
The production will be supported by Gravity Media's full-service OB fleet and Production Centre in Cologno Monzese, Italy.
Mario Medeiros, ISL chief strategy and commercial officer, said: “We are creating a visual spectacle that captures the speed, athleticism and drama of our event in a way audiences have never experienced.
“Gravity Media shares our vision of pushing creative and technical boundaries, and their track record with major international sporting events makes them the ideal partner as we relaunch the ISL on the global stage.”
Claudio Cavalotti, Gravity Media’s Italy managing director, added: “With the International Swimming League, we aim to bring the storytelling of swimming into a new dimension, transforming live sports production into an increasingly immersive and engaging experience.
“Today, technology allows us to capture the competition from entirely new perspectives: from above and below the water, through robotic systems and dynamic poolside cameras, to the integration of data and digital content. Our goal is not only to showcase the athletes' performances, but also to convey the speed, energy and emotion that make this format so modern and appealing to younger audiences.
“For us, covering the ISL All-Star Match in London means helping to define a new way of experiencing swimming content, while giving audiences the opportunity to feel truly immersed in the competition. This is the direction in which we will continue to invest: using our expertise and the most advanced technologies to transform every major sporting event into a truly memorable experience.”
The ISL’s comeback campaign will see as many as seven fixtures staged in venues across North America, Europe, Asia, and potentially the Middle East next year.
It will feature a refined format, with the trial of a one-day event concept, as opposed to the prior two-day edition.
Late last year, ISL commissioner Ben Allen explained that this relaunch will come with a revamped commercial and funding model aimed at ensuring the sustainability of the series, which was suspended in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which hampered the business interests of primary investor Konstantin Grigorishin.
Grigorishin, the founder and chair of ISL, remains involved, but the series is also now drawing on a wider range of revenue streams, particularly sponsorship and broadcast income, to ensure its commercial model is more balanced going forward, and to further insulate it from geopolitical shocks such as the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The series was initially conceived as a means of maintaining interest in swimming annually, as opposed to just when the Olympics takes place.
In its initial iteration, ISL attracted high-profile names such as Olympic champions Adam Peaty and Katinka Hosszu, but those same swimmers have also been mired in lawsuits related to antitrust concerns against the World Aquatics governing body.
It faced a legal dispute with FINA (now World Aquatics) during 2018 and 2019, with the governing body having initially refused to allow athletes to compete in it as an unsanctioned series and then launching its own direct competitor.
As with other sports around the world, the ISL then faced disruption during 2020, its second season, because of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as further associated legal difficulties.
With the lawsuits seemingly settled and new backing secured, a roadmap for the return of the ISL was created.
Allen also stated his hope that the momentum surrounding the LA28 Olympic Games and swimming’s position at the games could help to bolster interest in the series.
