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In 1997, Sheryl Swoopes became the first player to be signed to play in the WNBA, and in 2000, she won her fourth WNBA Championship with the Houston Comets. In 2011, Swoopes was recognized as one of the 15 greatest players in WNBA history, and in 2016, she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Fast forward to 2024, and Swoopes continues to trail-blaze in women’s sports; this time in the podcasting space. Swoopes and long-time sports journalist Terrika Foster-Brasby have joined iHeartMedia’s Women’s Sports Audio Network as the co-headliners of the media platform’s newest women’s sports series called, Levels To This with Sheryl Swoopes and Terrika Foster-Brasby.
Levels To This aims to feature real conversations – primarily with women – about what it takes to excel at the highest level in their respective fields. Once a week, Swoopes and Foster-Brasby will discuss the hard work and obstacles that come along with being at the top of their game, and will dive into their personal highs and lows. The inaugural episode of the show centered on the topic of motherhood, discussing pregnancy, stepmotherhood, and Swoopes’ journey as a mother and a professional female athlete.
“For me, it’s important that people get to see a different side of me. I think a lot of times when people look at professional athletes or movie stars or celebrities, they don’t think we’re human,” said Swoopes. “My hope is that when people tune in and they listen, they can connect. They can connect with myself, they can connect with Terrika.”
iHeartMedia Continues To Invest In Women’s Sports
Levels To This with Sheryl Swoopes and Terrika Foster-Brasby is part of the newly formed Women’s Sports Audio Network (WSAN), which is the first-ever audio platform exclusively dedicated to women’s sports. Earlier this year, iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment formed a strategic partnership to create WSAN with the goal of leveraging the iHeartMedia network to scale women’s sports coverage across broadcast radio, podcasts, streaming and events. The commitment to women’s sports is part of iHeartMedia’s strategy to both capitalize on and support the growth of women’s sports. Other shows in the WSAN include Good Game with Sarah Spain and In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams.
IHeartMedia’s investment in women’s sports comes at a time when the popularity of women’s sports is at an all-time high. According to Deloitte, elite women’s sports are currently expected to become a $1 billion industry in 2024, representing a 300% increase in just three years.
“It’s wise to invest in women’s sports because it’s just quite naturally what any good business person would do,” said Foster-Brasby. “You want to appeal to what’s popular, but you also want to just invest in humans that are really doing amazing things? No one’s doing more amazing things right now than women athletes.”
So far, Capital One, e.l.f Cosmetics, and e.l.f SKIN have all been announced as financial sponsors of the Women’s Sports Audio Network.
Closing The Gender Gap In Sports Coverage
Terrika Foster-Brasby has been covering women’s sports for over a decade. Best known as the co-host and co-creator of ESPN’s WNBA show Around the Rim, Foster-Brasby has worked to provide coverage, especially of women’s basketball, even before mainstream media recognized leagues like the WNBA as newsworthy.
For decades, women’s sports have received just 4% of total sports media coverage. Last year, a new study conducted by The Collective at Wasserman revealed that the percentage of total women’s sports media coverage has grown to 15% – however, traditional and linear media still remains at just 5%.
“From a media perspective, the coverage is still unbalanced, the investment is still unequal,” said Foster-Brasby. “I think that with women’s sports, you have to be willing to take that chance and take that risk. Because as we’re seeing here most recently, that return on investment is absolutely happening.”
Foster-Brasby and Swoopes hope that Levels To This will help fill in some of the gender gaps that exist in sports media coverage.
“We laugh, we cry, we curse, we share tears, we joke. It’s a safe space, and a good space for anyone who’s looking for real conversations,” said Swoopes.
New episodes of Levels To This with Sheryl Swoopes and Terrika Foster-Brasby are released by iHeartPodcasts and the iHeartRadio app every Thursday.
