It’s common knowledge that women like sports, but what’s not so much common knowledge is how to get involved with working in sports.
As a referee’s daughter, I grew up attending basketball and football games to watch my dad run up and down the sidelines calling the game. As I attended all his games all throughout my childhood, I grew a passion for sports and fell in love with being a part of the team camaraderie. Personally, nothing else compares to the rush of sports. For as long as I could remember, I always knew I loved the sports environment, but I never knew that there could be opportunities for me to be involved, nonetheless a career path.
The sports industry has long been viewed as a male-dominated space, but in recent years, women have been rewriting that narrative. From front offices to sidelines and social media to sports networks, women are taking on leadership roles and redefining the values of working in sports.
Photo courtesy of @megpaschall on Instagram
Figures like Kim Ng, who made her own history as the first female general manager in Major League Baseball with the Miami Marlins, have proven that women are more capable of having leadership roles on major sports franchises.
Similarly, Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels – two of the NFL’s star quarterbacks – are represented by female agents and teams, another demonstration that women are landing high caliber roles with some of the most star-studded athletes in the current industry.
One of the more groundbreaking advancements comes from the rink in the NHL, when Jessica Campell became the league’s first female in a coaching position under the Seattle Kraken. In recent years, one of the toughest frontiers for a woman to break through in sports has been coaching in men’s professional leagues. Campbell’s position represents a major step in the right direction for women in sports. Campbell is not only coaching at the highest level but also setting a precedent for future women who aspire to follow in her footsteps. She is even in line to possibly be the NHL’s first female head coach one day, which would be even cooler.
In sports, an area that a lot more women have been getting involved in is the social media landscape. The rise of sports social media has created new avenues for storytelling, fan engagement and career growth by simply making content.
Social media is where I have seen myself flourish the most in working in sports. From gaining opportunities from social media management to on-camera reporting strictly for social platforms, to being able to have full creative freedom in creating personality content for football and basketball athletes at the University of Connecticut, the opportunities are truly endless.
Social media has become one of the fastest-growing and most influential areas in sports. Yet, because these roles are newer and often happen behind the scenes, many girls or women who are looking to break through in the sports industry don’t see them as options. However, it is mostly women that are behind the camera of the majority of sports media content across professional teams, leagues and networks.
Social media can be just as powerful as the playing field and here’s some instances of how. Influencers like Katie Feeney (7.6 mil on TikTok) and Kait Maniscalco (328k on TikTok) have highly leveraged platforms on TikTok and Instagram that connect with audiences and carve out dynamic careers in sports content creation.
As Feeney is involved with college football and the NFL while Maniscalco is involved with mostly MLB, they have both created personal brands through creating a fandom of women who simply enjoy talking sports. Maniscalco is known for her “Baseball for Baddies” series, where she teaches girls about the basic knowledge and rules of all sports, specifically baseball. Both of these influencers have elevated their work and have built such known names for themselves that they went from filming videos in the comfort of their own spaces to being hired by ESPN and MLB Network to create content for a more name-branded audience.
“Katie Feeney isn’t holding a broadcast mic. She’s not perched behind a sports desk. Instead, she’s standing in the middle of a college football tailgate with just her phone, a creator’s instinct and millions of loyal followers. This is ESPN’s new strategy,” wrote Ian Shepherd in an article from Forbes.
“I think ESPN noticed the engagement I had with my audience and reached out,” said Feeney after announcing her position at ESPN. “To me, this is a big opportunity to legitimize creators in the space. Working with a traditional network and now bringing in a creator is a monumental experience.”
This digital shift has empowered fans to become more than just spectators, but rather participants in content as the doors open wider for women to work in sports through creative, media-driven roles.
Women have started to pave the way of establishing greater opportunities in many avenues of sports through management, coaching and social media. This shows that the future of sports is more inclusive, diverse and dynamic than ever before and women are driving that change.