By Alex Burke

The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism held its 19th annual Povich Symposium Tuesday at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. This year’s topic was “The Year of Women’s Sports,” and celebrated a transformative year for women in professional sports.

The symposium featured two panels. The first, “Changing the Business of Women’s Sports,” included Christine Brennan, Phil de Picciotto and Rosalyn Durant. Brennan is a USA Today sports columnist and CNN, ABC News and PBS NewsHour commentator, de Picciotto is the founder and president of Octagon and Durant is the ESPN executive vice president of programming and acquisitions.

The dean of Merrill College, Rafael Lorente, welcomed the panelists and said that the Povich Symposium is always one of his favorite events of the year.

“This event encapsulates what the Povich Center and its namesake represent: conversations in journalism about the intersection of sports in society,” Lorente said. “Whether the topic is women in sports, race and inequality or the future of college sports, these topics speak to us as sports fans, as citizens of democracy and as humans who are just curious and concerned about the world around us.”

The first panel explored the evolution of women’s sports over the past decade, emphasizing the significant strides in visibility, media coverage and business breakthroughs. The panelists highlighted the lack of women in executive roles in sports and mainstream media just 10 years ago, contrasted with the current progress of female coaches in major leagues.

Durant noted the progress made beyond the playing surfaces, including the presence of women in coaching and ownership roles in both men’s and women’s sports.

De Picciotto agreed, noting how visibility has been a key factor in women’s sports becoming more mainstream, coming from a sports entertainment perspective.

“When you’re visible, you can attract fans,” de Picciotto said. “You can attract more attention to the athletes because they become celebrities, then the brands start to invest, and venture firms start to invest, and it’s a very different world from about 10 years ago.” 

The panelists also discussed how ESPN has been covering women’s sports since its inception and how many brands have jumped to invest in women’s sports because of its growing popularity.

Brennan noted the example of Mazda sponsoring the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Championship in 1987, which set the bar for other brands to follow. She explained how brands have seen a positive trend in women’s sports audiences and how these investments have contributed to changing the game for the female professional sports industry.

“They found that women’s sports delivers an audience that is more engaged, 32% more engaged,” Brennan said. “Even more than that, they are 30% more likely to buy products of sponsoring items.”

The second panel, “Changing the Coverage of Women’s Sports,” featured all female journalists and media professionals who focused on the evolution of storytelling in women’s sports in recent years. This panel included ‘92 alumna Bonnie Bernstein, Mirin Fader, Melissa Ludtke, Ava Wallace and ‘84 alumna Pam Ward. 

Bernstein is the founder and CEO of Walk Swiftly Productions and a member of Merrill College’s Board of Visitors. Fader is a senior staff writer at The Ringer and a New York Times bestselling author. Ludtke is the author of “Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside.” Wallace is The Washington Post women’s sports and tennis reporter. Ward is an ESPN play-by-play commentator for women’s college basketball, college softball and the WNBA.

The panelists held a conversation about some of the pivotal moments and women from this past year, where Bernstein discussed her admiration, in particular for athletes like Simone Biles, saying she has “been transformational in destigmatizing the vital conversation around mental health.”

“Simone Biles, both in the previous Olympics and this [one], have cemented the fact that if you work hard and if you speak your truth, then in 2024 you will have the support you will need for the rest of your career,” Bernstein said.

As a tennis reporter, Wallace shared her respect and admiration for Naomi Osaka, another trailblazing athlete. She described Osaka as “the most fascinating athlete I’ve ever covered.”

“She really encapsulates everything about the modern athlete,” Wallace said. “It’s what we look for. It’s people who watch the sport, who love the sport, and who write about it. She definitely gives us a lot to say.”

The panel also reflected on the importance of covering women’s sports with the same depth and nuance as men’s sports. Ward, who has had an extensive career in the sports announcing field, recalled the shift in the portrayal of women in sports throughout her career.

“Back in the ‘70s, in Sports Illustrated, you didn’t even think about suggesting a story of a woman, particularly if you were a woman,” Ward said. “The only way you saw your road to advancement was to want to cover one of the major men’s sports. So clearly, that’s changing.”

Ward noted the shift in enhancing coverage of women’s sports, particularly in this year’s Dunkin’ Beanpot, an annual hockey showdown between four Boston colleges. The 2024 Dunkin’ Beanpot will include women in the TD Garden for the first time, putting the games on equal footing. She explained the historic step this is for college hockey.

“To me, that story was about all the little girls who dressed up in their hockey uniforms when they skated on the ice,” Ward said. “They now see a professional hockey team in the future that they can see it and be it. I would love to see us do more stories like that.”

In 2000, Ward became the first woman to call play-by-play for a nationally televised NCAA football game.

Many attendees of the symposium were journalism students, and the panelists answered questions about getting their foot in the door of the sports journalism industry.

“There were takeaways for every student headed for a career in sports journalism: Be resilient, develop sources, gain trust, tell the most important stories,” said Mark Hyman, Merrill College’s George Solomon Chair in Sports Journalism and director of the Povich Center. “I’d like to think that women in the audience came away feeling especially empowered with so many accomplished women writers and broadcasters telling their stories. The best career advice might have come from ESPN’s Pam Ward ’84, who got her start as a Terp at WMUC: ‘Don’t take no for an answer. Keep going.’”

Featured image: Rosalyn Durant (left), Christine Brennan, and Bonnie Bernstein ’92 during the 19th Povich Symposium at Riggs Alumni Center. Courtesy of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, Nov. 12, 2024