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The sports media landscape is shifting, and ESPN just made a move that signals where the industry is headed.
The network is finalizing a two-year contract with Lily Shimbashi, founder of sports gossip brand Sportsish, to serve as a full-time creator, per Front Office Sports.
Her first major assignment? Leading red carpet content at the NFL Honors awards show on Feb. 5.
This isn’t a typical broadcasting hire. Shimbashi built her audience on her phone, not in a newsroom. Her company operates under the slogan “Not Your Boyfriend’s Sports News.”
And ESPN is betting that her approach to sports coverage represents something bigger than a niche audience play.
Lily Shimbashi represents a change in sports media
Shimbashi started collaborating with ESPN in August as part of its ESPN Creator Network alongside creators Brittney Elena, Jaylin James, Trey Phills and Emily Harrigan. The new deal elevates that relationship significantly.
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“I always grew up wanting to be an ESPN reporter, and then I felt like there was a gap in mainstream sports media,” she said in an interview with Front Office Sports on Feb. 3.
“So out of college, I kind of developed this business plan that became Sportsish, which is the company I’ve been building over the last five years,” she added.
The gap she identified? Sports coverage that speaks to fans who care about the stories behind the stats.
“And slowly but surely, ESPN took note that we have an audience of female fans, and it’s a fandom that they’re trying to reach. And so now we are official partners, and I can’t wait to bring it to life,” she continued, per Front Office.
The 2026 NFL Honors Red Carpet Show airs on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) on NFL Network, and Shimbashi’s approach to the event offers a preview of what this partnership will look like in practice.
A different kind of sports interview
Shimbashi’s content philosophy flips the traditional sports interview format. Rather than leading with performance metrics and game analysis, she prioritizes the human element.
“If I get a chance to talk with [Rams QB] Matthew Stafford, a potential MVP pick, I’m going to ask him why he thinks his wife, Kelly, is the MVP of their home. She’s raising four girls. She’s bringing them to all their games in matching outfits. That’s impressive, right?” she told Front Office.
Her theory: connection creates fandom.
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“So I want to know about people’s stories, how they got to where they are today,” she added. “Because I believe that is what creates a fan. When you learn about the athlete, then you’re going to want to see them succeed. You’re going to want to cheer for them.”
This represents a fundamentally different entry point into sports content.
Traditional coverage assumes viewers already have allegiances and want tactical analysis. Shimbashi’s approach assumes viewers might be looking for reasons to care in the first place.
The numbers behind ESPN’s bet on creator content
ESPN isn’t making this move based on intuition. The data supporting female sports viewership has become impossible to ignore.
The 2025 WNBA season was the league’s most-watched ever across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, per The Athletic. The postseason, aired entirely on ESPN, followed the same pattern.
The 2025 Women’s College World Series set records with an average of 1.3 million viewers across 15 games on ESPN’s platforms, surpassing the record set in 2021, per ESPN.
The 2024-25 women’s college basketball campaign was the most-watched regular season on ESPN platforms since 2008-09 with an average of 280,000 viewers, via ESPN.
And then there’s the Taylor Swift effect. According to the NBC, the NFL reportedly saw $1 billion in publicity and revenue as a result of Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
That last data point is particularly telling. It suggests that the intersection of celebrity culture, personal narrative, and sports creates engagement that pure athletic coverage doesn’t capture.
Shimbashi’s Sportsish brand has been operating in exactly that space.
The creator economy meets legacy media
Shimbashi’s path to ESPN reflects a broader shift in how media companies think about talent and audience development.
“Once upon a time, people were reading newspapers. Once upon a time, people were turning on the news. Now we are on our little rectangle screens reading about sports—and no one knows how to do sports media better than content creators,” Shimbashi told Front Office.
“They’ve grown audiences authentically themselves. And that’s what I’ve done over the past five years. I have built a business off of my phone—and now I’m going to NFL honors with ESPN,” she added.
Traditional sports media built audiences through institutional credibility and broadcast access. Creators like Shimbashi built audiences through direct connection and content that resonated with underserved fans.
ESPN’s move suggests the network sees these approaches as complementary rather than competing.
They have the access, the production resources, and the distribution. Shimbashi has the audience relationship and the content instincts.
A family legacy in women’s sports
There’s a personal dimension to Shimbashi’s work that adds context to her career trajectory.
Her father, Dave Checketts, was the former president of the New York Knicks and was largely responsible for founding the WNBA’s New York Liberty in 1997 when he served as president and CEO of Madison Square Garden, per WBGO.
In addition to the Knicks and Liberty, MSG also owns the New York Rangers, MSG Network and Radio City Music Hall.
“My Dad was part of the New York Liberty coming to Madison Square Garden. It’s an honor for me to say that my dad was a champion of women’s sports long before a lot of other people,” she told Front Office Sports.
The Liberty launched nearly 30 years ago, during a period when women’s professional basketball was still proving its viability. Shimbashi is now working to expand female sports fandom at a moment when that viability question has been definitively answered.
What this move signals for sports media
ESPN’s investment in creator-driven content targeting female audiences isn’t happening in isolation. The network has been building out its creator program, and this deal represents an escalation of that strategy.
The underlying premise: sports fandom isn’t monolithic. Different audiences want different entry points, different storytelling approaches, and different content formats.
A highlight package that works for one viewer might not work for another. A stats-heavy breakdown might engage some fans while leaving others cold.
Shimbashi’s approach—leading with human stories, family dynamics, and the personalities behind the jerseys—represents one answer to the question of how to expand sports audiences beyond traditional demographics.
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Whether this model scales remains to be seen. But the viewership data suggests ESPN is responding to real demand rather than manufacturing interest.
Female sports viewership is growing across multiple properties. The question is whether media companies can create content that meets that audience where they are.
Shimbashi thinks she has the answer. ESPN is betting she’s right.
