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If you’ve ever felt like traditional sports media wasn’t made for you—like you had to prove your fandom credentials just to have a seat at the table—Lily Shimbashi wants you to know: your time has arrived.
The creator behind the wildly popular sports gossip brand Sportsish is officially joining ESPN in a groundbreaking two-year deal that signals a massive shift in how the sports media giant thinks about its audience.
And honestly? It’s about time.
From phone screen to the biggest stage in sports media
Here’s the thing about Lily Shimbashi that makes her story so relatable.
She built her entire career the same way many of us consume sports—on her phone, through social media, one authentic connection at a time.
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“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,” she said in a Feb. 3 interview with Front Office Sports.
“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.
Let that sink in for a moment.
A woman who recognized that mainstream sports media had a gap—a blind spot when it came to female fans—created her own lane, built a loyal following, and is now being welcomed into the very institution she once felt excluded from.
If that’s not the ultimate validation of a different way of engaging with sports, what is?
Lily Shimbashi’s Sportsish slogan says it all
Shimbashi is the founder and CEO of Sportsish, a sports gossip brand that operates under the slogan, “Not Your Boyfriend’s Sports News.”
That tagline alone captures something powerful about the female fan experience—the assumption that women only care about sports because of the men in their lives, that our fandom is somehow borrowed or secondary.
Sportsish flips that narrative entirely.
It says: we’re here, we’re invested, and we want sports coverage that speaks to how we actually engage with the games and the athletes we love.
“I’m really excited to be associated with a company like ESPN. I always grew up wanting to be an ESPN reporter, and then I felt like there was a gap in mainstream sports media,” she told Front Office Sports.
“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.
That gap she identified? It’s the same one so many female sports fans have felt for years.
The sense that coverage prioritizes certain angles while ignoring the human stories, the family dynamics, the personal journeys that often make us fall in love with athletes in the first place.
Shimbashi’s fresh take on sports interviews
What makes Shimbashi’s approach so different—and so appealing to fans who crave more than just stats and highlights—is her focus on the whole person behind the jersey.
She’s expected to kick things off on Feb. 5 as ESPN’s lead red carpet content creator for the annual NFL Honors awards show, according to Front Office Sports.
The 2026 NFL Honors Red Carpet Show airs on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) on NFL Network.
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And she’s already thinking about the kinds of conversations she wants to have—conversations that go beyond the typical “how does it feel to be nominated” questions.
“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 Sports.
“So I want to know about people’s stories, how they got to where they are today. 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 approach resonates deeply with how female fans actually connect with sports.
They’re not just watching games—they’re following stories. They care about the relationships, the support systems, the families cheering from the stands.
Shimbashi understands that these elements aren’t distractions from sports; they’re part of what makes sports meaningful.
The creator-to-mainstream pipeline is real
Shimbashi’s journey from independent content creator to ESPN talent represents a significant shift in how traditional media companies are thinking about reaching audiences.
She began collaborating with the network in August as part of its ESPN Creator Network alongside Brittney Elena, Jaylin James, Trey Phills and Emily Harrigan.
“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 told Front Office Sports.
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This is the creator economy meeting legacy media in the best possible way.
ESPN isn’t just hiring a social media personality—they’re recognizing that creators like Shimbashi have done something remarkable. They’ve built authentic communities around sports content that speaks to underserved audiences.
For young women who have grown their sports knowledge through TikTok breakdowns, Instagram stories, and Twitter threads rather than traditional broadcasts, seeing someone from that world step onto ESPN’s biggest stages feels like a win for everyone.
Women’s sports is having a moment — and numbers prove it
Shimbashi’s hire comes at a time when women’s sports is absolutely thriving, and the viewership numbers tell a story that can no longer be ignored.
The 2025 WNBA season was the league’s most-watched ever across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, per The Athletic. The same goes for the postseason, which was aired entirely on ESPN.
The 2025 Women’s College World Series also 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 let’s not forget about the reported $1 billion in publicity and revenue the NFL saw as a result of Taylor Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce, per NBC.
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These aren’t just impressive statistics—they’re proof that female fans have always been here, always been passionate, and are now finally being counted and catered to.
Networks are waking up to the reality that women represent a massive, engaged audience that has been underserved for far too long.
A family-wide legacy of championing women’s sports
What makes Shimbashi’s story even more compelling is the family legacy she’s building upon. Her father, Dave Checketts, was a pioneer in women’s professional sports long before it was trendy or profitable.
Checketts, the former president of the New York Knicks, was largely responsible for founding the 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.
There’s something beautiful about this generational connection—a father who helped create space for women’s professional basketball, and a daughter who’s now creating space for women’s voices in sports media.
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It’s a reminder that progress often builds on the foundation laid by those who came before.
