The female reporters and content creators filling your feeds with the most engaging short-form content on the internet are thoroughly unimpressed by the dads, Brads and Chads who mansplain to them the x’s and o’s of sports.
A viral trend on TikTok features these women leveraging their talent, expertise, access and camera rolls to publish montages of their short-form content set to Shania Twain’s timeless anthem, “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”
“It resonated with me because — like other women in the sports industry — I have encountered instances of being underestimated and marginalized because of my gender,” Sydney Schneider said of the trend. Schneider is a photographer for the Kansas City Chiefs and a member of the Live Content Coordinator (LCC) program Major League Baseball and Greenfly first introduced in 2017.
LCC programs are now a vital part of content marketing operations at almost every major professional sports league in North America. These creators are positioned in stadiums to capture real-time content, allowing club social personnel to get photos and videos from the field to the feed as quickly as possible.
“The encouraging comments from women cheering me on left me inspired and in tears,” she said. “To feel seen and supported is powerful. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with exceptional colleagues in both the NFL and MLB who make the job easier.”
On Greenfly, the top 10 users in terms of total assets uploaded in 2024 were all women, including nine who have served as LCCs for MLB. Expand that group to include the top 100 users and you’ll find 42 women on the list.
And that representation should only grow, thanks in part to Verizon’s Behind the Lens program dedicated to helping young women pursue behind-the-camera careers in the NFL.
These women and those that follow in their footsteps represent a new generation of content creators quite literally producing — and publishing — some of the most engaging and popular short-form content in sports.
At the NBA, three of the five most productive Greenfly users in 2024 in terms of assets downloaded — and then published to official social media channels — were women.
They’re an integral part of the mechanisms bringing brands to life behind the scenes. Greenfly knows it. The teams and leagues know it. The players and decision makers know it. So it seems preposterous to think that the public at large somehow…doesn’t know it? Or does, but can’t bother to act accordingly.
The good news is that they’re finally starting to take notice of women’s sports at large, and that could be the first domino to fall.
“The surge in interest and investment in women’s sports is a long-overdue acknowledgment of the value women bring to the industry, on and off the field,” said Greenfly Chief of Staff Kelsey Smith. “As women’s sports gain visibility, it creates a ripple effect that extends beyond athletes, opening doors for women across all aspects of the business.”
That ripple effect should be in full swing after an absolutely monster year in women’s sports. In 2024, the National Women’s Basketball Association (WNBA) saw its ratings skyrocket to an average of 657,000 viewers per game (the highest mark in 24 years). The league broke its single-game ratings record multiple times during the 2024 season.
Speaking of Indiana Fever superstar and TIME Athlete of the Year Caitlin Clark…the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament saw a peak of 24 million people tune in for the final game between Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes and the Dawn Staley-helmed South Carolina Gamecocks.
The women’s tournament final outdrew the men’s in viewership for the first time ever.
But the meteoric rise of women’s sports didn’t start and stop with basketball. The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) dropped the puck on its inaugural season of play on New Year’s Day 2024. In August, 35 million people tuned in to watch Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Sha’Carri Richardson win gold medals at the 2024 Olympics.
That growth extended into front offices and athletics departments all over the world. In December, Carolina Panthers President Kristi Coleman was elevated to CEO of Tepper Sports. Major League Baseball appointed Uzma Rawn Dowler as its new Chief Marketing Officer that same month.
“The rise in women’s sports isn’t just about visibility,” Smith added. “It’s about creating opportunities. The more we invest in women’s athletics as a product, the more we normalize women leading at the highest levels of the industry.”
Change is impacting all levels of organizations in professional and collegiate sports. Last year saw Marquee Sports Network in Chicago, NBC Sports Boston and New England Sports Network (NESN) all air games featuring first-ever all-female broadcast teams.
With the start of each season on the sports calendar it seems as though we’re seeing more content focused specifically on women’s athletics, but we’re also seeing more women in camera wells, in radio booths, in TV studios and behind official team and league social media accounts across the entire sports landscape. The further these opportunities trickle down through the funnel, the greater the potential impact on the future representation of women in sports.
“Demand for authentic voices who truly understand the space is rising and women are uniquely positioned to fill gaps as the ecosystem expands,” Smith offered. “Former athletes, for instance — especially those with high-level experience — bring an understanding of team dynamics, discipline and strategy that translates really well into front office roles.”
“I grew up surrounded by sports,” Schneider reflected. “My dad was a college football player, my brother was a college baseball player, and I was a college swimmer. The sports discussions and experiences I had growing up provided me with a unique perspective into the mindset and storytelling of an athlete’s life.”
So the dads, Brads and Chads of the world can officially stand down as their services are no longer (were never) needed. On the fields, behind the camera, at the table and especially in the short-form content space, these women are absolutely crushing it…and they’re holding the door open for those following in their footsteps.
“I’m excited to see what the next generation of women accomplish in sports, on and off the field,” Schneider concluded.
Check out more videos from the TikTok trend:
