Latest news with #SarahSpain
Fast Company
04-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Sarah Spain on the future of sports media and women's leagues
Professional sports is big business—and the stakes have never been higher. Sarah Spain, host of the podcast Good Game With Sarah Spain, longtime ESPN personality, and sports journalist, unpacks what those stakes mean for the leagues, teams, companies, and players involved. From the WNBA's breakthrough to the future of ESPN's streaming to the looming legal settlement that could transform college athletics, sports business is at a crossroads. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today's top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. As women's pro sports become more successful, do you worry that it's going to take on some of the toxic qualities of men's pro sports, more aggressive media conversations, bad behavior off the court or off the field? How much is that a looming question that these women's leagues have to sort of grapple with or maybe redefine? Very much. And actually, we saw it last year with Caitlin Clark's entry into the [WNBA]. It was awesome that more people were watching and more people were interested. It also meant talking heads who didn't know the game, weren't watching the games, and certainly didn't understand the intersectionality of women's sports, and how it intersects with race, sexuality, homophobia, misogyny, all those things. And they created damaging and toxic conversations that were actually dangerous to players. There were multiple incidents of players' addresses being sent, and [notes saying] 'I'm going to find you.' Or people showing up in the places the players were and players feeling like they were endangered. Breanna Stewart's wife actually got threats. So I think the attention is great, the investment is great, but what comes with that is an expectation that we'll suddenly turn women's sports into the same as men's. And there's a real gift in it not being the same. There's a real joy in the space feeling different than men's. And I named my show Good Game With Sarah Spain, because originally I wanted to name it The Good Place With Sarah Spain. But that's a TV show, and it would be hard for people to distinguish and find when they looked for it online. But that's how I feel about going to a women's professional sporting event. It's the good place. It is incredibly diverse. It is incredibly kind. Everyone's rooting for their team, and they're very competitive, but there's no fistfights. People aren't getting hammered and falling down the stands on each other. I think that with the NWSL [National Women's Soccer League], for instance, when they had the recent forced purchases of a couple teams due to the toxicity I mentioned, they had a new rule where the majority owner needed to be financially liable as one person. There could be a group of owners, but they required that one owner bear the financial burden, if necessary, and that person had to be a billionaire. That meant that these large groups of women, who have a lot of money but aren't billionaires, were shut out. And it inevitably meant that once again, we were returning to ownership groups where it was going to be most likely a middle-aged white guy that owned it. And that's fine if that person is really dedicated to women's sports, and wants to learn the space and understand everything about it. It's a little tougher if it's another plaything that they have with four other teams, and they don't feel as connected to the space. And, again, #notallmen. But what the problem with the previous iteration of the NWSL was how many owners and coaches it turned out were engaging in toxic or abusive behavior, or at the very least, covering up for each other, sending a coach on his way: 'Thank you for your service.' Nice long letter: 'Thanks for your time here.' While knowing that they were letting them go because of abusive behavior, and letting them get hired somewhere else. And that's not to say that women won't do that and never do that, but there is a belief that you've got to have more women at the highest levels to help prevent those kind of situations, and that kind of atmosphere and culture, from taking over again. Right. I just feel like we're about to enter another HBO Max, Max, HBO, Max, ouroboros kind of situation here. But it feels inevitable. Obviously, during the massive shift away from traditional cable, and the unbundling, where ESPN no longer got $13, or whatever it was, from every human in America who had cable. What a great deal for ESPN, because not all of them were watching ESPN, right? But also, for cable, ESPN was a huge reason that people wanted to buy it. So it was a great partnership for a long time. That goes away, and it becomes quite clear that ESPN needs to try to keep up with the digital side of things, and needs to have a streaming direct-to-consumer service, because people aren't just going with cable anymore. I think for a while, folks who appreciate the television side will still get an approximation of what it used to be. But you're already seeing ESPN2 used to be an incubator for new shows, and creativity, and new talent, and now it's mostly reruns. You're seeing shows like Around the Horn, and others, that are shoulder programming for the live shows, that will start to go away. Because on streaming you don't need to fill a specific amount of time. You just create whatever amount of content you want to have. So they'll start focusing on rights, pre- and post-show Sports Center, and I would say a couple big-property studio shows. But I think those are going to go away more and more. And I think if you also look at ESPN's decision-making around more influencer-type and former-athlete-type content, as opposed to journalistic content, that is unfortunate reacting to the world's, I guess, demands, and the speed and desires of the current younger consumer. But I do worry about how that impacts ESPN's position in the industry. Because what separates them from everyone else is that they're the 'worldwide leader.' If it's on ESPN, it's right, it's accurate, it's vetted, it's journalistically sound. When you've got a Pat McAfee, whose show is produced elsewhere and dropped onto ESPN airwaves, and they wash their hands of the production and creation side of it, and they tell you it's a little bit different—but the viewer doesn't know that. So when he goes on and says things that are factually incorrect, does stories that are—for instance, one he's now being sued for libel—essentially, that aren't vetted, and aren't sourced before he takes them in front of millions. That, I think, impacts how people view everything else on the network, even if it's just subconsciously. When they turn it on, do they still think everything Adam Schefter says is journalistically sound? Or does the fact that Pat McAfee is on the same network. Or Stephen A. Smith, who will say, 'Oh, I can't talk about Dana White hitting his wife on camera; he's a close personal friend of mine.' That's not how journalism works, right? And so when that starts to blur the lines, does the rest of what's coming out on that network get harmed by it? And does it then prevent them from being separated from the pack in a way that they used to be? I don't know. I'm not in charge. It's above my pay grade. From my point of view, yes, and that concerns me. But also, I get that everyone's trying to get the younger consumer, and they seem to like a screaming head influencer or former athlete more than they like someone who knows how to do journalism.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'Around the Horn' panelist questions if ESPN canceled show due to potential 'woke' label
Friday will mark the final episode of a longtime ESPN staple, as "Around the Horn" will be off the airwaves for good after roughly two decades of action. Jay Mariotti, who was a regular on the show until his domestic violence arrest in 2010, said in a recent interview that the show is being canceled because it went "woke." But another panelist, Sarah Spain, questioned whether the network canceled the show, because they would be "scared" of being labeled as such. "It confounds me that they are canceling it. The format allows for a continuous stream of new people, to highlight reporters on your network. I'm admittedly biased, but this is progressive voices and people of color you're taking off TV. I don't know for sure that's their intention, but are you so scared of getting called 'woke'?" she said in an interview with The Washington Post. Tony Reali, the longtime host of the show, said he did not "believe" that was the reason. "I don't believe what that is. I honestly think we did 50,000 topics over 23 years. You're going to tell me 10 or 15 drew an eyebrow up? I'll be like, 'Yeah, we were doing some complex topics from time to time.' I don't mute people in Face Time, so maybe there's two or three there that didn't have the back-and-forth that you'd want. Maybe there's one or two I'd take back if you ask me; those aren't my regrets. Not at all," he said on "The Dan Patrick Show" recently. In one of its final episodes earlier this month, Kate Fagan, who had made scarce appearances since leaving the network in 2018, was determined as the "winner" of the show against Jemele Hill, who had not been on the show since that same year after being fired for negative posts about President Donald Trump. In her victory monologue, Fagan made a plea that "trans kids deserve to play sports." "Think about what you remember from your time playing sports. Ninety-nine percent of it is finding that jersey for the first time, your favorite number, community, joy, those high-fives," Fagan said. "It's that moment when you have a great play with a teammate. It's the feeling of belonging. And it does not know gender. Trans kids deserve the same as everyone else does. Sports is joy. Sports is humanity. And the more people who have that, the better." Mariotti name-dropped Hill in that aforementioned interview, adding the show "lost some audience." In another post on his own Substack, headlined "Around the Horn ended a long time ago - when I left the show," Mariotti reiterated that some of the panelists went "woke" while others were "on dope." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Chicago Tribune
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
ESPN's Sarah Spain shares her story with Lake County female athletes; ‘It's extremely valuable … to hear from an expert who's been in their shoes'
More than 700 high school students, most of them female athletes from across Lake County and beyond, crowded the Deerfield High School auditorium Monday to hear Sarah Spain, an ESPN sports journalist and former Lake Forest resident, share some of her experiences in the world of women's sports. Her keynote speech was part of the first EmpowerHER conference in Lake County, which included a variety of resources and education for female athletes, ranging from training on injury prevention to social media best practices. Although she emphasized positivity, Spain also highlighted the challenges both the student-athletes, and those in the world of women's sports, could face in the future. Molly Tomlinson, assistant athletic director at Deerfield High School and one of the organizers of the event, said the conference was meant to 'inspire' their female athletes. She was thrilled to get Spain as the event's speaker. 'It's extremely valuable for our young athletes to hear from an expert who's been in their shoes, but in a different generation,' Tomlinson said. 'I think it was incredible for our younger generation to hear a little bit about where female athletics have been … and recognizing how far we've come to be here, and other steps we can take to continue to succeed in our fields.' A longtime sports journalist, Spain got her start in the world of sports in Lake County, participating in everything from track and field to basketball, later going on to be a heptathlete at Cornell University. Speaking to the hundreds of young athletes, Spain tried to give them the 'intentional conversation' that she didn't get growing up. She talked about her struggles with body image — she said she had been unusually tall for her age, and literally standing out was upsetting to her. 'It was pretty uncomfortable to be this height,' she said. 'I was very confident when it came to friends and sports, but I was pretty insecure about boys, about my height.' Spain was blunt but honest with the students, talking about the unwanted advances she received as a young teen from older men who assumed she was older, her struggles with eating disorders and the tension caused by an underlying culture that emphasized a body type she could never match. She also discussed how people's understanding of women's bodies and health has changed over the decades. Women's bodies peak athletic performance, Spain said, has been found to be later than men's. Female athletes have faced unfair expectations early in their sports careers because of sports environments 'built by men,' she said. 'We fold and smash women and girls into a male-based infrastructure, then scratch our heads when the same friction points show up again and again,' she said. Spain emphasized the importance of pushing against the disparity in resources seen between men's and women's sports. Girls and women need to 'be treated with respect and resources,' she said. Despite some of the challenges she faced growing up, Spain had an overall positive outlook to share with the athletes in the room. She was glad to see such a crowd, even on a holiday, showing up for women's sports, and spoke about the growing opportunities in the field. 'There's just so much passion for women's and girls sports right now, to have all these athletes in different schools showing up and really getting some great messaging is really cool,' Spain said. However, she also expressed her worries about what lies ahead for women's sports, including threats to Title IX, and policy changes that could impact resources and investment into women's sports. 'But I also know how many years of fight have gone into this,' Spain said. 'It would be really hard to unravel that quickly. I think the key is fighting at every turn to remind folks of not just why it matters … but the economic opportunity.'
