Women in sports broadcasting and the road to 2024

On Tuesday, June 20, in Cannes, France, Axios senior media reporter Sara Fischer and Axios Pro media deals reporter Kerry Flynn hosted conversations with prominent women in sports broadcasting. They discussed trends to look for in the world of sports in the lead up to the 2024 Olympics. Guests included Olympic Gold Medalist and NBC Sports Olympics analyst Nastia Liukin, Getty Images sports photojournalist Elsa Garrison, TNT’s sports media journalist Taylor Rooks, ESPN Veteran Commentator Holly Rowe, and Executive Producer & President of NBC Olympics Production and Executive Producer of Golf Channel Molly Solomon.

A View from the Top sponsored segment featured Salesforce VP of C-Suite Marketing & Partnerships Kexin Chen, VP of C-Suite Marketing & Partnerships, and Sparks Chief Experience Officer Robin Lickliter.

Nastia Liukin opened up about her experience growing up in an Olympian family and what to expect at the 2024 Olympics.

• On what the biggest story was in the last Olympics and what it will be in the 2024: “Simone and Simone…Somebody doing something like that, you know, spoke in my opinion, way louder than anything–any gold medal that she could have won… putting herself first, her mental health first…I think that she will be once again the biggest story.”

In a panel discussion, Elsa Garrison, Taylor Rooks, and Holly Rowe dove into what it’s like to cover games and interview top players.

• Garrison on capturing the most iconic shots in sports: “They don’t last a long time. So you have to really be… watching and being aware of the arena around you and the people around you and just notice everything. Like I'm always just constantly… darting my eyes around looking for that…I'm really drawn to kind of reaction pictures because it shows the human side of sport and that's what I really love.”
• Rooks on getting interviews with players that show viewers a different side: “I love the emotion. Like that's one of the reasons that I love interviewing specifically is because you're able to see, you know, these athletes and these people that you watch doing one thing and a completely different way…Something that interviewing has really taught me is we allow narratives to become who that person is, and if you don't ask them anything outside of the narrative created for them, it's easy for them to become that, like, even if that's not who they are. So I always want to give people that opportunity.”
• Rowe on the impact media coverage had on Aliyah Boston’s viral 2021 crying image: “...Two years ago, this young athlete, Aaliyah Boston–she missed a little layup to win a game to go to the national championship… She just dissolved into tears. And those tears and her crying were on every commercial, every promo, every video that got done about women's sports for the next year. So fast forward another year and she wins the national championship…And we had this really hard conversation with her about how she felt traumatized and victimized by people showing that crying and I said, but the agony of defeat, the ecstasy of, you know, winning, and the agony of defeat is part of our job. And she said, ‘But it became the only narrative. No one ever talked to me about anything else except for me crying in that moment’... Media has a responsibility to dig further and not have that one tired trope be the story.”

Molly Solomon discussed the LIV and PGA Tour merger, what defines the best stories in the Olympic games and what to expect in 2024.

• On finding the best stories at the Olympics: “... You just don't pick gold medal stories and put them on…winning a medal in the Olympics is a victory unto itself. And we've always tried to stay away from just focusing on gold because becoming an Olympian is an honor and winning any medal really is a victory.”

In the View from the Top segment, Kexin Chen and Robin Lickliter discussed the crossover between emerging technology and sports.

• Chen on using AI as a way for fans to engage with athletes: “What we really want to be able to do is using AI to personalize that experience. And with generative AI, imagine it's no longer about just the right message at the right moment, you can actually create hyper personalization with individualized, personalized AI curated content generated at the time that person is most interested. And so like for me, I wake up very early in the morning–I have kids. And I wake up and read my information at 5 a.m. I read the news then. So imagine if AI knew that and they were able to actually generate me and my information about what I love about Team USA right then.”
• Lickliter on bringing new experiences to fans for the 2024 Olympics: “…the key to these global moments is that personalized, authentic experience for everyone. The shinier, bigger things–that's not what people want anymore. They want that personal, authentic connection, and Le Club is a great opportunity for Salesforce to bring that to Paris.”

Thank you to Sparks for sponsoring this event.