How 2024 became a watershed year for women's sports media
Almost every professional women’s sport saw significant increases in ratings and popularity this year. And this growth shows no signs of stopping in the years to come: Caitlin Clark is now one of the most well-known athletes in the country, both the WNBA and NWSL are adding expansion teams, and a new 3v3 professional women’s basketball league, Unrivaled, is slated to debut in early 2025 with a national television deal already in hand.
For these reasons and many more, 2024 will be remembered as a game-changing year for women athletes — but also for those who cover them.
Sarah Spain, an ESPN personality who this summer partnered with iHeartMedia to launch her own daily podcast focused exclusively on women’s sports, has been at the forefront of this change. That the opportunity to create such a show even presented itself is reflective of a media ecosystem that is dedicating more resources to covering women’s sports than ever before, Spain told Awful Announcing earlier this year.
“I think the biggest difference [between 2024 and previous years] is how many more outlets are offering spaces for people to engage with women’s sports,” Spain said. “For so long, it felt like women’s sports coverage was predominantly handled by espnW and a few niche social media accounts. Today, the content universe is much larger.”
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