The Women’s World Cup has never been bigger or better. As the women’s game continues to surge in popularity around the globe, this year’s tournament will feature an expanded bracket of 32 teams for the first time.
And could it also be the first time we see a three-peat champion? The U.S. women’s national team is looking to win a third straight title (and its fifth overall) as the world’s greatest squads head Down Under. But as other squads follow the U.S.
Author: Michael
SEATTLE — Everyone here has been talking about Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani—by how much will he clear half a billion dollars when he becomes a free agent after the season, is he a better pitcher or a hitter, is there anyone more talented on earth—and frankly, enough is enough.
Sure, Ohtani is probably the best baseball player in the history of the sport. Just about every night, he does something we have never seen before and may never see again. He’s a miracle. We are lucky to be alive while he is.
Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is used to being called ‘the GOAT,’ but being likened to Moses may be a new one for the 71-year-old.
Moses was the man who came to mind for Casey Poe, a four-star offensive lineman who recently committed to the Crimson Tide. Poe was offered by most big-name programs around the country including the likes of Clemson, Auburn, LSU, and Arkansas, but when he visited Tuscaloosa and got a glimpse at Saban, it was a wrap.
Nick Saban is like Moses, according to a recent Alabama commit.
Between the lines, power brokers are easy to spot—it’s called keeping score. But the sports world is really shaped by those who wield influence in more nuanced ways. By controlling wealth and access. By building audiences. By parlaying on-field success into real-life clout. In 2023, these are the 50 most influential figures and forces in sports.
ATHLETES | INFLUENCERS | EXECS | ICONS & LEADERS | DEALMAKERS
Athletes
These fierce competitors have reached the pinnacle of power and prestige through their outsized impact on the field and off.
The August 2023 issue of Sports Illustrated features The Power List, the definitive index of the 50 most influential figures and forces who drive the sports world, on and off the field and court.
“You know what’s funny?” Jake Paul asks, directing the question at no one in particular. It’s early May, and Paul is in Dallas, corralled in a locker room in American Airlines Center. A pair of cameramen, there to capture Paul’s movements before a press conference to promote his August fight against former UFC star Nate Diaz, sit across from him.
The August 2023 issue of Sports Illustrated features The Power List, the definitive index of the 50 most influential figures and forces who drive the sports world, on and off the field and court. For more on The Power List’s Icons and Leaders, like Kobe Bryant, click here.
Skylar Diggins-Smith met him—her primary mentor/inspiration/idol/most improbable friend—at a commercial shoot. They filmed the spot in 2013, after her star turn at Notre Dame and before she became a WNBA mainstay.
Nike sponsored her, same as him, which is how both arrived in the same place, on the same set.
The August 2023 issue of Sports Illustrated features The Power List, the definitive index of the 50 most influential figures and forces who drive the sports world, on and off the field and court. For more on The Power List’s Athletes, like Naomi Osaka, click here.
It was the summer of 2020, and veteran tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg seized on a thought. Naomi Osaka would make for a hell of a biography. Then 22, Osaka was emerging as a singularly beguiling figure, the personification of a globalized, multicultural, digital, complicated world.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be held July 20-Aug. 20 in Australia and New Zealand. This is the ninth Women’s World Cup since the tournament’s inception in 1991 and eight titles have been awarded. Four of those titles have gone to the United States, including the last two. Germany has won the title twice; Norway and Japan have one title each.
The reigning champion U.S. Women’s National Team defeated the Netherlands for their fourth title in 2019, and they enter this competition as the heavy favorites at +225. The No.
Some drama is swirling at Wimbledon involving Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and the World No. 1’s dad ahead of the likely scenario where the two stars meet in the final.
Besides Alcaraz and The Joker dominating the grass courts throughout the championships, ‘spygate’ has made headlines in London with allegations emerging about the Spaniard’s dad filling Djokovic’s practice sessions.
According to Serbian outlet b92, Alcaraz’s dad “closely followed the events at Djokovic’s training” and was spotted “recording everything that was happening.
With her famous NBA father, Dennis, in and out of her life, Trinity Rodman’s journey to the USMNT is a testament to her self-made success and the support of her mother.