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Fort Worth, Texas • Texas is a hotbed for gymnastics recruiting because many large gyms are located in the state. But that club-level success hasn't translated to local popularity for the NCAA event this weekend.

A few thousand people have watched this weekend's events at the Fort Worth Convention Center, a far cry from Utah's record Huntsman Center crowd of 16,019 fans who watched the Utes on March 6.

Seeing all the empty sections has made Utah coach Greg Marsden more convinced than ever holding the championships at a neutral site isn't a good idea for the sport.

He, like many coaches, is concerned collegiate gymnastics is becoming an endangered sport as schools look to cut costs. He doesn't like giving administrators any reason to cut sports, including lack of popularity among general sports fans.

Just 61 programs sponsor the sport at the Division I level.

"I don't care who wins championships, but we need to be on television and we need the stands full," he said. "If we have that, we have a strong case for our sport to stick around. If we don't and we are empty and not on TV, then no one cares."

Fort Worth will host the championships again next year, then the championships move to St. Louis for 2017 and 2018.

The championships were shown on ESPN3.com because televisions don't like the format that includes byes.

Marsden has been pushing to drop the championships to eight teams, then a round of four, to eliminate byes, but he has little support from other coaches.

"People are worried because it means less teams in the championships, but we have to think about the good of the sport," he said.

Rare occurrence

The inclusion of both Alabama and Auburn in the Super Six is the first time the two schools have made it to the finals together since 1993.

The only other pair of schools from the same state to do so have been UCLA and Stanford in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2012.

The Tigers are coached by Jeff Graba, who served as Utah's assistant for five years before being named Auburn's head coach in 2010.

Of note

The Utes are the only team to qualify for all 34 NCAA Championships. … Utah's bar score of 49.575 was its highest. … The other gymnasts to earn 10s in the Super Six on the uneven bars were Georgia's Courtney Kupets in 2009 and Georgia's Lori Strong in 1993.