They also treat non-dedicated fans like they’re idiots. The average person is smart enough to understand how the scoring system works–they might need commentators to help them distinguish what’s a C skill vs an E skill, but the basic methodology isn’t hard, and helping distinguish the technical points is what commentators are supposed to do. If you just tell the casual viewer “I, an expert commentator on this sport, find the scoring system too complicated to explain and won’t bother to do it” and “I, an expert commentator on this sport, don’t understand what the deductions are” people are going to be much more confused about what’s going on than if the commentator said “That step was more then hip width, so it will be a .3 deduction.”
Grandma living in the midwest who thinks gymnastics is pretty and enjoyed doing cartwheels when she was young is not a stupid woman. The scoring’s different than what she remembers, but it’s not hard to understand if you do the slightest bit of audience education.
Showing rankings–AA and Event–constantly, with a wider range of routines, will also help people distinguish what a good vs bad routine and score look like much more quickly than if they only see one person. And when you see a wider range of athletes, you can develop more stories and develop of a wider fan base. Again, the NBC decision seems to be “People won’t understand which cute little girl to like unless we tell them this is the one they should like and don’t show them anything else.” It’s insulting to the casual fan.