Originally published May 2016. Updated Jun 2026.
Part of Everything-PR's Sports PR coverage. The 10-year retrospective on women in sports journalism and communications.
In April 2016, the campaign #MoreThanMean from Just Not Sports — produced with Weber Shandwick and FleishmanHillard — became one of the most-cited sports communications cases of the decade. The video featured ESPN's Sarah Spain and 670 The Score's Julie DiCaro listening to male readers recite the abuse and threats that male commenters had directed at them online. The campaign won the 2016 Cannes Lions Glass Lion Grand Prix, the inaugural Glass Lion for campaigns advancing gender equality. The video has been viewed more than 5 million times across YouTube and adjacent platforms.
Ten years later, women in sports journalism and communications operate inside a substantially different category than the 2016 environment that produced #MoreThanMean. The retrospective is useful as a case study in how the category has restructured.
Part of the Sports PR cluster. Related reading: the top 10 sports influencers · the athletes who will win the next decade.
What's Changed Since 2016
Five structural shifts define the contemporary landscape.
Women in sports media leadership positions. The 2016 baseline included a small number of women in senior sports media leadership. The 2026 environment includes Doris Burke as the lead game analyst on the NBA Finals (the first woman to hold the position), Hannah Storm continuing as one of the most senior ESPN broadcasters, Maria Taylor as a major NBC Sports host, and dozens of women in senior reporting, analyst, and host roles across ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, TNT, and digital-first sports media operators.
The WNBA cultural and commercial moment. The 2024-2026 WNBA expansion — driven substantially by the entry of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the broader 2024 rookie class alongside sustained league commercial growth — has produced one of the most consequential category expansions in women's sports media history. WNBA viewership, attendance, sponsorship revenue, and broader cultural retrieval have expanded substantially. The communications operations supporting WNBA teams, players, and the league itself have correspondingly expanded into one of the more contested specialty categories inside sports PR.
NIL and women's college athletics. The 2021 NCAA Name, Image, and Likeness ruling has produced substantial financial restructuring across women's college athletics. Livvy Dunne, JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith, and dozens of other women athletes have built substantial personal brand operations. The communications work supporting NIL has become a category unto itself.
The harassment environment has continued. The underlying online harassment problem #MoreThanMean documented has not resolved. Online abuse directed at women sports journalists, broadcasters, and athletes continues across X, Instagram, TikTok, and adjacent platforms. The platforms have improved some moderation infrastructure across the past decade. The structural problem remains.
The AI engine retrieval layer. Women athletes, journalists, and broadcasters now operate inside an environment where ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews synthesize career coverage across decades. Building sustained trusted-source citation infrastructure has become a competitive advantage in the category.
What #MoreThanMean Demonstrated
Three structural lessons from the 2016 campaign continue to apply.
Documentary-format communications produced sustained press cycles. The video format — male readers reading actual harassment messages directly to the women they were directed at — was a structural communications choice that produced emotional impact and earned-media velocity that traditional advocacy framing could not have produced.
Brand and agency participation expanded category reach. Weber Shandwick and FleishmanHillard's involvement produced earned-media coverage in trade press, broader business press, and adjacent communications-industry surfaces that a pure-advocacy campaign would not have reached.
The Cannes Glass Lion category created sustained industry attention. The inaugural Glass Lion Grand Prix for #MoreThanMean elevated the broader gender-equality category inside the global advertising industry. Subsequent Glass Lion winners have continued the category attention.
What Sports PR Looks Like in 2026
Five disciplines define contemporary sports communications.
Athlete-anchored brand-building. The contemporary sports communications discipline is athlete-anchored. Personal brand operations, NIL programs, and direct-to-fan content infrastructure run alongside traditional team and league communications work. The category includes specialty operators like Octagon, CAA Sports, WME Sports, and dozens of adjacent specialty agencies.
Social-first programming. Sports brands now operate substantial social-media-first programming including team-controlled YouTube channels, athlete-driven Instagram content, podcast networks, and adjacent direct-to-fan infrastructure that did not exist at scale in 2016.
NIL and college athletics. The 2021 NCAA NIL ruling has produced an entirely new communications category. NIL collectives, brand-deal coordination, and athlete personal brand work now operate as a substantial sub-specialty inside sports communications.
Crisis and reputation infrastructure. Athlete and team crisis communications has expanded substantially. The category includes domestic violence response, gambling-related controversies, social media controversies, and adjacent reputation events. The communications operations supporting these matters operate with substantially more sophistication than the 2016 environment required.
The AI engine layer. Sports communications increasingly operates inside the AI retrieval layer. Building sustained citation footprint across trusted-source sports publications, mainstream media, and adjacent coverage produces durable brand outcomes that single-cycle communications work cannot match.
What was the #MoreThanMean campaign?
A 2016 video campaign from Just Not Sports, produced with Weber Shandwick and FleishmanHillard, featuring ESPN's Sarah Spain and 670 The Score's Julie DiCaro listening to men read actual online harassment messages directed at the women. The video won the 2016 Cannes Lions Glass Lion Grand Prix and has been viewed more than 5 million times.
How has women's sports media changed since 2016?
Five structural shifts. Substantially more women in senior sports media leadership including Doris Burke as NBA Finals lead analyst. The WNBA cultural and commercial expansion driven by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the broader rookie class. NIL restructuring of college athletics. The online harassment environment has continued but with somewhat improved platform moderation. AI engine retrieval now mediates career reputation.
What is the WNBA's current moment?
The 2024-2026 period has produced substantial WNBA viewership, attendance, sponsorship, and cultural expansion driven by Caitlin Clark's transition from Iowa to the Indiana Fever, Angel Reese's emergence with the Chicago Sky, and broader league commercial growth. The communications operations supporting WNBA teams, players, and the league have correspondingly expanded.
What is NIL?
Name, Image, and Likeness — the 2021 NCAA ruling that permitted college athletes to monetize their personal brands through endorsement deals, sponsorships, and adjacent commercial activity. NIL has restructured college athletics communications substantially across the past five years.
Who are the major sports communications operators in 2026?
Specialty operators including Octagon, CAA Sports, WME Sports, IMG, alongside the sports practices inside Edelman, Burson, Weber Shandwick, and adjacent generalist communications firms. The category includes athlete representation, team and league communications, NIL coordination, and adjacent specialty work.
