espnW hits the week preparing for its fifth annual annual Women + Sports Summit, with all-star lineup speakers slated to include the likes of Maria Shriver, Stacey Allaster, Anita DeFrantz, Brittney Griner, Sarah Robb O’Hagan and Former U.S. Ambassador Melanne Verveer on this year’s agenda. Joining them from Oct. 8-10 in Dana Point will be ESPN staples that also include espnW’s Kate Fagan, Julie Foudy, Jane McManus and Sarah Spain, as well as NBA Countdown host Sage Steele, SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm, SportsNation host Michelle Beadle, along with ESPN President John Skipper, ESPN Executive Vice President and CFO Christine Driessen, espnW Vice President Laura Gentile and Alison Overholt, Editor-in-Chief, espnW.
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This year’s theme, “Making an Impact,” will hone in on the influence athletes and business leaders have on the women’s sports landscape. Cynopsis Sports spoke with Overholt about the Summit, the evolution of the espnW platform and how the company is transforming its editorial approach to women and sports.

Overholt on the call to action at espnW: We want to lead the conversation for women and sports. We really try to keep that at the forefront in all of the conversations we have internally with the editorial team as well as with stories and content plans as we ask ourselves ‘What do women want today?’ and ‘How can we advance and evolve that conversation?’ So, I’d say that has really been our organizing principal. I came on-board after talking with Laura earlier this year and we felt that we were really at the moment where we could really find a way to be that voice for women who love sports and are involved in sports. On the content front, we were determined to raise the profile of great stories and start conversations that sometimes people don’t have and we felt that we were at a moment in the marketplace where people were starting to realize how much women have to say in the sports world.

On developing talent: From a talent perspective, espnW has become the place where people come to see the next great generation of sports journalism talent. We are showcasing that and putting them in the pipeline to other parts of our company. That’s a huge goal here. That opportunity for me to work with talent was very exciting for me.

On the media monitoring ESPN’s editorial coverage of controversial subjects: One of the advantages of being on a digital platform is that we can sometime push pause and see if we are going in the right direction and if we are exploring stories in the correct way. We ask our talent about the stories they wished they were telling and about what are some subjects we should be looking into that we haven’t. But that is also a way for us to differentiate ourselves, be distinctive and still be very clearly female. Frankly, we don’t spend that much time wondering how we are going to be scrutinized as the female voice of ESPN. I think our coverage of the recent news on the NFL really shifted the way everybody talked about it and how people covered that subject. There was so much detailed reporting, and we are proud that we were able to stand up and point out that domestic violence is a crime and not just a family matter. It changed how we are talking about that. So, I am less concerned about the ESPN perspective and more concerned about the W perspective.

On the Summit: I can’t wait to see all those people together in one space. It feels like the Summit, in a lot of ways, is the best and truest expression of the W brand. Being new to this outfit, it is exciting to look forward to that and see that idea come to life in a live space. I was looking over the schedule to see how to bring it to life on the site and knit them together with the other aspects of our brand under one unified identity. The mix of speakers, topics and formats feels like a great combination of hearing world-class athletes share their experiences and know-how and then getting to learn from executives in the business who can shine some light on where the business is heading. To me, it is this opportunity to see in real-time that intersection of social conversation, the business of sport, the athlete experience and seeing everything from very serious to very fun. It should be an amazing event.

Meanwhile, Turner Sports is seeing its own momentum for the 2014 MLB Postseason, with TBS averaging 3,875,000 total viewers, for a markup of 15% over the network’s AL telecasts to date last postseason. Games notched a 2.5 HH average rating, based on Nielsen Fast Nationals, for 14% growth through 5 games in 2013. Thursday’s ALDS doubleheader featuring Detroit/Baltimore and Kansas City/LA Angels averaged 4.1 million total viewers, up 32% over comparable LDS coverage airing on the network in the same telecast windows last year, with a corresponding 2.6 average HH rating and up 30%.

Continuing the theme, MLB Network announced that its exclusive coverage of the Dodgers win over the Cardinals on Saturday set records as the most-watched and highest-rated program in the network’s history. The telecast reeled in 1.8 million viewers with a 1.7 coverage rating, to set markups of 38% and 31% respectively over the previous highs for its telecast of the 2012 ALDS Game Two. MLB Network carries Game Three of the NLDS between the Nationals/Giants today at 3p.

Another blowout on Thursday Night Football didn’t stop the franchise from scoring overnight ratings gains on CBS and NFL Network. The game earned an average overnight household rating/share in the 56 metered markets of 10.4/17, up 96% from last year’s comparable game, carried on NFL Network and over-the-air-stations within the two team markets. Through four games of the schedule, TNF is averaging an overnight HH rating/share of 10.9/18, up 56% compared to last year’s 7.0/12 for the games on NFL Network. 

The NFL formally announced a move to Chicago for the 80th NFL Draft, slated for April 30-May 2 at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. The annual event will see round 1 on April 30 in primetime, rounds 2-3 on May 1 and rounds 4-7 on May 2. Round 1 festivities are slated to include prospects walking the red carpet on Michigan Avenue, while 32 members of the NFL Legends community announcing selections during Round 2. In addition, the Draft will expand to Grant Park and Congress Plaza with an outdoor fan festival for all three days that will include interactive exhibits and autograph sessions with current and former players. Tickets will be free for all fans.

NFL Network’s Rich Eisen unveils his latest forum today with the series debut of The Rich Eisen Show on DIRECTV and NFL Now. The series will run a noon as a three-hour daily talk show that will run exclusively on DIRECTV’s Audience Network and be available digitally on NFL Now. During the first week of the show, Eisen will talk with guests that include Marshall Faulk, Steve Mariucci, Michael Irvin, Daniel Jeremiah, Marcus Allen, Peter King and Dan Patrick.

Amid a string of upsets this past week, CBS Sports has announced that its SEC on CBS football doubleheader games for Saturday will feature unbeatens Auburn/Mississippi State in the 3:30p window. Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson and Allie LaForce will call the game. At noon, the channel will feature Georgia/Missouri with Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor and Jamie Erdahl on microphone duties.

ESPN is giving the spotlight to the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games this month with two prime-time windows in the works. The channel will carry three consecutive episodes featuring the female athletes on Wednesday from 8-11p as well as three consecutive episodes featuring the male athletes on Oct. 15 from 8-11p.

MSG Network is teaming with Spike Lee to explore What Is The Triangle Offense: A Spike Lee Orange and Blue Skies Joint this fall. Lee directs and produces the special with his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, and will also appear on camera for interviews with New York Knickerbockers President Phil Jackson, Head Coach Derek Fisher, and Knicks players. The program will premiere after the Knicks postgame show on Friday, October 24 at 10:30p.

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which brand once featured a campaign that featured Michael Jordan vs. Mia Hamm? Answer: Gatorade. Kudos: Andrew Feingold-Nielsen/NY; Jeff Day-Metropolitan Golf Association/NY; Michael Brown-PGA TOUR/NY; Chris Long-Flocasts.com/NY; Mike May/PHIT America; Rick Wiener-Harmelin Media/Philadelphia; David Schaefer-Golf Channel/Orlando; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Matt Sautter-OpenTV/Golden; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles local/LA; Miriam Aardahl-OMD/LA; Anne C. Wettig-Fox Cable Networks/LA.

Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group

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Copyright Cynopsis 2014