Representatives from the U.S. and British Olympic Committees have evidently been meeting to discuss a type of multi-sport Ryder Cup between the two nations. It would take place every other year (presumably in odd-years), with the countries alternating hosting. NBC and Eurosport are both on board, so it looks like this is going to happen, probably in 2019.
This is a tremendous idea in so many ways. For starters, the United States and Great Britain finished first and second in the medal count at the Rio Olympics (after finishing first and third in London), so the depth and diversity of both nations is obviously there. There's also the long-standing sporting rivalry between the two countries, which, unlike the U.S.-Canada hockey rivalry or the U.S.-Mexico rivalry in soccer. You could extend this one across a wide range of sports without having much of an impact on the quality. One of the issues with the Pan Am Games is that the U.S. is much stronger across the board than the rest of the region. That wouldn't be a problem in a head-to-head type matchup with Great Britain.
The two nation head-to-head format isn't something we see that much in international sports these days. There are plenty of rivalries, but the only annual head-to-head meeting I can think of outside of a tournament setting is the Sweden-Finland track meet. I actually wouldn't mind seeing that expanded into some sort of all-sport series. They could even include Norway if they want. And they could easily have an annual competition like this between Australia and New Zealand (where they'd have the extra benefit of doing it in December or January, which is the middle of winter in the United States and Europe).
It also sounds like a great made-for-TV event. You could easily condense it into a weekend, with the final event, possibly deciding the overall winner, taking place on a Sunday night. The fact that both countries are English-speaking would obviously help, too.
They've said that if this were a go, it would include about half a dozen sports. But picking the sports is where it gets interesting. The U.S. gets most of its Olympic medals in track & field and swimming. You'd have to figure both the USOC and NBC would insist that those two sports be included. I'm sure the Brits wouldn't have many objections to that, seeing as they're strong in both of those sports, as well. And they'd obviously have to cap the number of entries in each event (I'd think two or three each), which would prevent either nation from stacking its better event.
However, I don't see a way where they can include Great Britain's other strong sports such as cycling and rowing. It's got nothing to do with an American bias. I'm just thinking that there aren't many cities that would have the necessary velodrome for track cycling, and road cycling is simply too long for an event like this. They don't have the four-five hours you need for a road race, which doesn't make for good TV, either. Likewise, rowing is usually held early in the morning. Setting up a venue would be easier than it would be for cycling. But that early-morning timeslot isn't really conducive to television, especially in a sport that's not marquee to begin with.
So what other sports do you include then? Well, TV loves gymnastics, and Great Britain has a very good men's gymnastics team, so you'd have to assume that would be included. I'm also saying you include boxing, mainly because I'd love to see a head-to-head USA vs. Great Britain boxing tournament and see who ends up on top. I'm also including diving, pretty much only because Tom Daley is one of the biggest sporting celebrities in Great Britain. Just the individual events, though. For some reason, a synchronized diving competition between just two teams seems a little silly.
Team sports are a little trickier, mainly because either one or the other is good, but rarely both. Most team sports would be easy wins either for the Americans or the Brits. But I still feel compelled to include one. And the only team sport I can think of that would be a competitive matchup on both the men's and women's side is rugby. So, rugby sevens is the final sport included in the Anglo-American Cup (I'm wide open to suggestions for a better name).
In order to create that Ryder Cup or Olympic-type feel, all six sports will take place in the same city. Otherwise, what's the point? (That should be obvious, but I feel it needed to be said anyway.) But you'd really only need four different venues (swimming and diving would obviously take place at the same Aquatic Center, but boxing could be held in the same arena as gymnastics), which would presumably all be standing and likely used regularly, keeping the cost of hosting the event (which would have to be in a major city to have any sort of relevance) down.
Before I break down how the points would go, here's what I've come up with for a sample schedule. I can definitely see NBC and/or NBCSN setting up something similar to this if this thing does actually happen in 2019 (times could be adjusted for national and local news, etc.):
Friday: 8-9:30 Diving (Women's Springboard); 9:30-11:30 Women's Gymnastics
Saturday: 1-2:30 Diving (Men's Springboard); 2:30-5 Men's Gymnastics; 5-6:30 Diving (Women's Platform); 6:30-9 Track & Field (Day 1); 9-11 Swimming (Day 1)
Sunday: 1:30-4 Boxing; 4-5:30 Diving (Men's Platform); 5:30-6:30 Rugby; 6:30-9 Track & Field (Day 2); 9-11 Swimming (Day 2)
For scoring, I've got 15 points available, so eight gets you the overall win:
Swimming (3 points): 1 men's team winner, 1 women's team winner, 1 overall team winner
Track & Field (3 points): 1 men's team winner, 1 women's team winner, 1 overall team winner
Gymnastics (4 points): 1 men's all-around, 1 men's team, 1 women's all-around, 1 women's team
Diving (4 points): 1 to winner in each event
Boxing (1 point): 13 events--first nation to win seven bouts gets the point
Rugby (2 points): 1 to men's winner, 1 to women's winner
Hopefully these talks go somewhere. Because they've got me really excited about this event now. It's innovative. And it's just crazy enough to work.
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