powerlist-v3

INFLUENCERS

EXECUTIVES & DEALMAKERS

ATHLETES

ICONS & LEADERS

LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD

LeBron James

ICONS AND LEADERS

THE 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURES IN SPORTS

hat is influence? You know it when you feel it—and it’s not limited to those who rack up Ws. The sports landscape is shaped by all kinds of power brokers: dealmakers, cultural titans, icons of leadership and, yes, incredibly high achievers. Some are athletes who push limits, redefine success and have an outsized impact between and outside the lines. Some are dominant coaches or Hall of Famers crafting legacies in real time. The sports conversation is also driven by

While pro basketball’s G.O.A.T. debate rages, the G.O.A.R—greatest of all résumés—is a settled argument. Consider the first page of James’s curriculum vitae: 21 seasons (and counting), four NBA titles, three Olympic gold medals and the league’s all-time scoring record. James will finish his career with more than $500 million in on-court earnings and with more than 200 million followers on Instagram and X. He wields more influence than any American athlete. So what do you get the player with everything? How about a chance to play with his son? That’s what the Lakers gave James by drafting 19-year-old Bronny out of USC with the 55th pick in June. The James duo will be only the fourth father and son to team up in a major professional sport and the first ever to share an NBA floor. —Chris Mannix

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On the course, what the 15-time major winner achieved in 2024 will be just a blip in his bio. He played in a mere five events, completed 11 rounds and made the cut only once. But off the course Woods became one of the game’s most influential power brokers. Last year he was given a seat on the PGA Tour Policy Board, and this year he has been a central figure in negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) to strike a deal between the Tour and rival LIV Golf. Woods is so consumed with shaping the sport’s future that he passed on a U.S. Ryder Cup captaincy in 2025 to better focus on the task at hand. Oh, and this year he also teamed up with TaylorMade Golf to launch his own clothing line, Sun Day Red, in the process ditching the Nike swoosh that no athlete this side of Michael Jordan has been more associated with. —Jeff Ritter

Tiger Woods

PGA TOUR GOLFER

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Simone Biles

U.S. GYMNAST

“They used to try to put [gymnasts] in a box, and they were like, ‘If you [aren’t] like this, then you’re not going to be successful,’ ” Biles said in Paris. “And whenever I came around, it wasn’t really my style. At the [Károlyi Ranch, the former national team training facility], nobody really would talk and laugh and all that stuff. But I was like, Yeah, that’s not how I do gymnastics. So I’m going to continue to do it how I know and how I love, because it’s the reason why I fell in love with the sport.” As always, Biles, 27, faced questions in Paris about her legacy and largely demurred. Eleven Olympic medals, the most ever for an American gymnast; 41 total Olympic and world championship medals, extending her lead as the most decorated gymnast of all time; five eponymous skills? “I would’ve had to Google that,” she said. “I don’t keep count.” But this is what she will leave behind whenever she is done: a team that looks more like her, in so many ways. When Biles was a child, she believed her ceiling as a Black gymnast was a college scholarship. Now four of the top U.S. gymnasts are Black: Biles, two-time Olympian Jordan Chiles, and Shilese Jones and Skye Blakely, two members of the 2023 world championship team. Along with Suni Lee, who is Hmong American, and Hezly Rivera, whose parents were born in the Dominican Republic, the Paris team was 80% people of color, the highest percentage in history. When Biles was growing up, most female gymnasts peaked before they finished high school. But she likes to say she is aging “like fine wine,” and the rest of the sport has followed. In Paris, the team’s average age of 22.5 was the oldest in U.S. history. And then there are the smiles. At the Károlyi Ranch, 60 miles north of Houston, where Béla and Márta Károlyi started training camps in the 1980s and ran the U.S. gymnastics program beginning in 2000, there was a culture that many have said amounted to verbal, emotional and physical abuse. (The Károlyis have denied all allegations.) The facility was also the site of some of the assaults perpetrated by former team doctor Larry Nassar, who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and was later sentenced to 40 to 175 years in state prison. Days after Biles released a statement in January 2018, lamenting that she would have to return to the place she was abused, USA Gymnastics cut ties with the Károlyis. After Tokyo, when a case of the twisties derailed her Olympics, she could have retired. Instead she began a conversation about mental health in sports, then returned to gymnastics and dominated the world, as she always had. In Paris, her events were the hottest ticket in town. She blew kisses to fans during competition and talked about her therapist after it. The world was watching. She showed it a lot more than gymnastics. —Stephanie Apstein

Bob Bowman

TEXAS DIRECTOR OF SWIMMING AND DIVING

OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP/Getty Images

The coach who built Michael Phelps into a medal machine again showed his prowess in 2024 with an NCAA men’s title at Arizona State and a bountiful Olympics. If the United Nations of Bowman had been its own entry in Paris, its seven golds, three silvers and one bronze would have been third in the swimming medal table, behind only the U.S. and Australia. That was the haul for Bowman trainees Léon Marchand of France (four golds, one bronze), Regan Smith of the U.S. (two golds, three silver) and Hubert Kós of Hungary (one gold). Now Bowman is taking over at Texas and the next hotshot from France, 17-year-old Olympian Rafael Fente-Damers, has already committed to the Longhorns. So Bowman, 59, will continue to train international stars to beat Americans while also coaching many of the U.S.’s best. —Pat Forde

In a family of coaches, he had long been known as the “third Hurley,” behind father Bob and brother Bobby. But that was before Dan led UConn to back-to-back national championships while winning all 12 NCAA tournament games by double digits. Predictably, suitors came calling this offseason, but Hurley, 51, turned down a pair of tempting job offers—one from Kentucky and another from the Lakers. Hurley opted to stay with the Huskies who rewarded him with a new, six-year $50 million contract, setting himself up to build a dynasty in Storrs and become the face of men’s college basketball. —Kevin Sweeney

Dan Hurley

UCONN MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH

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Pep Guardiola

MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER

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As if leading Manchester City to six of the last seven Premier League titles—including the last four—and a Champions League trophy in 2023 weren’t enough, Guardiola has former assistants (Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, Enzo Maresca at Chelsea) and players (Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich) spreading his style and philosophy across Europe. And much to the chagrin of fans tiring of Pep’s heavy-possession and play-out-from-the-back tactics, the biggest compliment you could have given to the top squads at this summer’s European Championship was that they looked like club teams. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and increasingly for Pep, that means defeating those imitators year after year. —Lorenzo Arguello

At a time when women’s college basketball has attained the kind of liftoff that its supporters had long hoped for, it’s fitting that a stalwart of the sport is running its greatest powerhouse. Last season Staley, a two-time Naismith player of the year as a point guard at Virginia in 1991 and ’92 and six-time WNBA All-Star, coached South Carolina to its third national title since 2017. The young Gamecocks were sixth in the preseason rankings but went undefeated and topped Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the championship game. And guess what? Most of the team’s core players are back for the 2024–25 season, meaning Staley will have a good shot at cutting down the nets once again and further enhancing her iconic status in the game. —Clare Brennan

Dawn Staley

SOUTH CAROLINA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH

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Candace Parker

FORMER WNBA PLAYER AND BASKETBALL ANALYST

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She retired from the WNBA after 16 seasons, but Parker still has lofty ambitions. In addition to working as an analyst for TNT and NBA TV, in May she became Adidas’s president of women’s basketball. Plus, she has declared her aim to own NBA and WNBA franchises. —C.B.

After winning seven Super Bowls as a player, the former QB will be back at the big game in February to cap off his debut season as lead analyst on Fox. He’s also an owner; Brady has a piece of the WNBA’s Aces and has been working toward buying part of the NFL’s Raiders, too. —Matt Verderame

Tom Brady

FORMER QB AND FOX LEAD ANALYST

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Emma Hayes

USWNT HEAD COACH

Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated

After establishing Chelsea as an elite side with seven Women’s Super League titles and five Women’s FA Cup trophies, Hayes was made the highest-paid women’s coach in the world by the U.S. national team. Taking over less than two months before the Olympics, she quickly made an impact on a squad that had been in a funk. The U.S. cruised through the group stage and then won its three knockout games without conceding a goal. Just like that, the USWNT is back, gold medals in hand. —A.G.

As his illustrious career approaches its end, the former Barcelona star has shown he isn’t done adding to his legacy just yet. After completing a blockbuster move to Inter Miami, last year Messi went on to become the first to win the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best player while playing for an MLS club. This summer, the 37-year-old won his second straight Copa América with Argentina, a fitting follow-up to its 2022 World Cup title. Now Messi, who is recovering from an ankle injury suffered during the Copa América final, will focus on the remainder of his first full MLS season. As the biggest signing in the league’s history, his $20.4 million salary alone is higher than all but three MLS clubs’ entire payrolls. He’ll be expected to turn that into some hardware before his contract expires at the end of the 2025 season. —Andrew Gastelum

Lionel Messi

INTER MIAMI FORWARD

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Connor McDavid

EDMONTON OILERS CENTER

DAVID E. KLUTHO/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

While his Oilers ultimately watched the Panthers lift the Stanley Cup in June, the Edmonton center was still the star of this year’s Finals. His four-point efforts in Games 4 and 5 pulled his team out of a 3–0 hole, and he became just the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy while on the losing team. His 42 points in the postseason was the fourth-best total ever, behind only Wayne Gretzky (1985 and ’88) and Mario Lemieux (’91). The 27-year-old also had his seventh 100-point regular season, keeping his career numbers on pace with those greats. Now McDavid will be chasing the achievement that will place him firmly in their company: a Stanley Cup. —K.N.

Playing for Deion Sanders, college football’s most accomplished two-way player of the past 40 years, Hunter is out-Priming Coach Prime. As a sophomore in 2023, he averaged 114.7 snaps per game for the Buffaloes, a workload that was unmatched nationally. Hunter spent slightly more time on defense (cornerback) than offense (wide receiver), with a smattering of action on special teams. Despite playing only nine games, he tied for the team lead in interceptions (three) and pass breakups (five) while also leading Colorado in receptions per game (6.3). The NFL will probably view Hunter as a cornerback first, but at this point there’s no reason to place limits on him. —P.F.

Travis Hunter

COLORADO BUFFALOES CB AND WR

ERICK W. RASCO/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Victor Wembanyama

SAN ANTONIO SPURS CENTER AND POWER FORWARD

GREG NELSON/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Last spring, when the NBA released its list of the most viewed players on its social media, it was topped by the usual suspects: LeBron James, Stephen Curry … and a certain lanky Frenchman. The reigning Rookie of the Year checked in with 1.3 billion views, a nod to the mind-boggling skill set Wemby packs into his 7' 4" frame. From Saint-Tropez to San Antonio, fans gobbled up his content. In France, league pass subscriptions had spiked 26% by midseason while Wembanyama’s jersey was the leading seller in all of Europe. In June, French phenoms Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr topped the NBA draft, while countryman Tidjane Salaün went sixth overall. The French revolution has begun. —C.M.

After entering 2024 as the No. 1-ranked player in the world, Scheffler kicked off the season with wins at the Arnold Palmer Championship and the Players, then stiff-armed all pursuers at Augusta on the way to his second green jacket. A traffic misunderstanding at the PGA Championship that resulted in his arrest and brief detainment (charges were later dropped) might have derailed the season of a lesser player but only seemed to galvanize him. He capped a strong summer by shooting an airtight final-round 62 in Paris to win Olympic gold. As the tears flowed from Scheffler atop the medal stand, his competitors may have shuddered at the thought of just how much winning means to the most dominant player since peak Tiger Woods. Really, they’re the ones who should be crying. —J.R.

Scottie Scheffler

PGA TOUR GOLFER

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Paul Skenes

PITTSBURGH PIRATES PITCHER

Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports

The Pirates’ righthander is power personified on the mound. Skenes averages one of the highest fastball velocities (north of 98 mph) of any MLB starter, but it’s his mid-90s hybrid “splinker” pitch and impeccable command that separates him from the pack and sends opposing hitters back to their dugouts. The No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB draft was called up by Pittsburgh in May and dominated in such fashion that he became the first rookie pitcher to start the MLB All-Star Game since 1995. The 22-year-old ace has quickly brought hope back to PNC Park, and even if the Pirates aren’t quite ready to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2015, they should be back there in short order with Skenes leading the way. —Will Laws

In 2023 the Red Bull driver had the most dominant season in F1 history, winning an astounding 19 of 22 races. This year Verstappen is positioned for a fourth straight drivers’ championship—a feat only accomplished by three others before him. —Zach Koons

Max Verstappen

RED BULL RACING F1 DRIVER

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Anthony Edwards

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES GUARD

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Any list of candidates to be the next face of the NBA has to include the Timberwolves guard, a top-tier talent with crossover appeal. On the court Edwards, 23, has drawn comparisons to Michael Jordan as a tenacious, uber-athletic two-way player with a polished midrange jumper and a flair for aerial acrobatics. Last season, Ant claimed his second All-Star nod, made his first All-NBA team and led Minnesota to the conference finals for the first time in two decades. Off the court, he has acted in a major movie (the Adam Sandler hoops drama Hustle) and released his own signature shoe. He doesn’t lack confidence, either. In July, when asked about fitting in on a star-studded Olympic roster, Edwards declared, “They got to fit in and play around me.” —C.M.

Underestimating this six-time All-Star has proven to be a dangerous game. After finishing third in voting for MVP last year, the Aces center promptly stormed through the postseason on her way to a second WNBA title and was named Finals MVP. The 28-year-old is the best pro women’s basketball player in the world right now, having won everything there is to win—twice. Wilson’s haul includes two Olympic gold medals, two WNBA championships, two MVP awards and two Defensive Player of the Year distinctions. And now she can add a signature shoe with Nike—arriving in 2025—to her growing list of accomplishments. That’s a feat that feels long overdue. —C.B.

A'ja Wilson

LAS VEGAS ACES CENTER

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Caitlin Clark

INDIANA FEVER GUARD

enerational talent is a term often thrown around in sports, but only occasionally does an athlete emerge who truly lives up to that billing. The Fever rookie is one of those lightning-in-a-bottle figures. A phenomenon as much as she is a basketball player, Clark illustrates what happens when unparalleled skill meets the right moment. The former Iowa star’s explosion into the mainstream is fueled by her stratospheric shooting ability, launching logo three after logo three to lead

Angel Reese

CHICAGO SKY FORWARD

TAYLOR BALLANTYNE/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Since being drafted No. 7 by the Sky in April, Reese has gone from Bayou Barbie to WNBA All-Star, making a strong case for Rookie of the Year along the way. The 6' 3" forward has already turned in a historic season. She set a league record for most consecutive double doubles (15), became the first WNBA rookie to record back-to-back 20-rebound games (a feat not seen at the pro level since fellow LSU alum Shaquille O’Neal did it in April 1993 as an NBA rookie). The 22-year-old and SI October issue cover star has long parlayed her on-court success into savvy business opportunities; she recently paired up for a fitting candy partnership with Reese’s, released a collection with Reebok and has confirmed that she has a signature shoe on the way. —Kristen Nelson

The 29-year-old QB, in addition to trying to lead the Chiefs to a third straight Super Bowl title this season, keeps busy as an entrepreneur. Mahomes holds ownership stakes in the Royals, Kansas City’s MLS and NWSL clubs, and F1 team Alpine. —M.V.

Patrick Mahomes

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QB

Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports

ATHLETES

Carlos Alcaraz

ATP TENNIS PLAYER

nly a couple months into his 21st year, Carlos Alcaraz won yet another big title, at Wimbledon 2024, and solidified himself as the sport’s future. In the game of “keeping up with the tennis Joneses” that will accompany him his entire career, he also joined Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic as the only men since Björn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year.

JuJu Watkins

USC TROJANS GUARD

John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated

The L.A. native has long been on track for basketball stardom: the USC sophomore signed with Nike before she committed to a college. Last season, the former SI SportsKid of the Year revived the previously storied program and positioned herself as a standard-bearer for the game. —E.B.

This summer in Paris, Ledecky became the most decorated female Olympian in U.S. history, winning the 800-meter freestyle on Aug. 3 for her 14th medal and ninth gold. Time to take a break and let her body rest? Nah. On Aug. 6, she posted a picture on Instagram of herself in the gym working out. “Made it three days” was the caption. This drive has carried her through four Olympics and will power her pursuit of a fifth. Others have caught up to her in shorter races like the 400, but Ledecky is still the queen of distance swimming, owning the world records and most recent golds in the two longest freestyle events, the 800 and 1,500. She has made no secret of wanting to compete in a domestic Olympics for the first time, in Los Angeles in 2028, even at what would be an ancient 31 in a grueling sport that caters to youth. —P.F.

Katie Ledecky

U.S. SWIMMER

ERICK W. RASCO/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

LSU Tigers Talent

COLLEGE ATHLETES TURNED STARS

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Few colleges have produced as many elite athletes in the last few years as LSU. In the NFL, there are stars like the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson (above), Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase and his quarterback, Joe Burrow. Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jayden Daniels is now leading the Commanders, while rookie receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. are looking to make their names with the Giants and Jaguars, respectively. Outside of football, there’s Paul Skenes in Pittsburgh; junior Flau’jae Johnson is one college basketball’s biggest stars. At the Paris Games, Sha’Carri Richardson won silver in the 100 meters and anchored the U.S. team that won gold in the women’s 4x100 relay. Her former LSU classmate and pole vaulter Armand Duplantis won gold for Sweden, proving that the LSU effect extends well beyond the U.S. —M.V.

After tearing up the Bundesliga, where he won player of the year honors with Borussia Dortmund and became the youngest player to score 50 league goals, the Haaland made a high-profile move to Man City in 2022. In his Premier League debut, he broke the single-season scoring record with 36 goals in 35 games in a trophy-laden year for his club. He followed that up with a second straight Golden Boot and a Premier League title last season. So what does the 24-year-old need to do to reach the heights of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? On an individual level, that means the Ballon d’Or. On the international stage, he must elevate his country like he has his club, which would be an impressive feat: Norway has not reached the World Cup or the European Championship during his lifetime. —A.G.

Erling Haaland

MANCHESTER CITY FORWARD

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REAL MADRID MIDFIELDER

Boris Streubel/UEFA/UEFA/Getty Images

After a $110 million move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, the midfielder was named La Liga Player of the Season in his debut year. The 21-year-old took that momentum to the Euros, where he fueled England’s second straight run to the final. —A.G.

House v. NCAA Lawyers

Jeffrey Kessler and Stephen Berman

ERICK W. RASCO / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Who drove the final nail in the coffin of NCAA amateurism? It’s these two antitrust lawyers who brought the House v. NCAA lawsuit that forced a $2.8 billion damages settlement (plus a 10-year agreement for future payments) and allows revenue sharing directly with college athletes. In 2025, major athletic departments can offer up to roughly $22 million a year to their players, in addition to an increased number of full scholarships. How exactly that is distributed is the universities’ problem; Berman and Kessler were simply in charge of backing the NCAA into the corner and forcing it to share the wealth with its athletes. For their efforts, the pair is getting an ample slice of the pie—total attorney fees, for back damages and future payments, could be in the range of $650 million. —P.F.

After launching renegade start-up league LIV Golf in 2021, the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund has been instrumental in the PIF’s other sports deals, which include stakes in a Premier League club, a F1 team and a MMA promotion, with cricket possibly on the horizon. —J.R.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan

SAUDI PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND GOVERNOR

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Cathy Engelbert

WNBA COMMISSIONER

Melanie Fidler/NBAE/Getty Images

In her five years in office, the WNBA commissioner has guided the league through arguably the most eventful period of its 28 seasons. Engelbert’s tenure has included navigating the pandemic, a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement, a major capital raise and the skyrocketing growth of the last few months. The players’ experience has changed—finally, no more commercial air travel—as the league has tapped into a new kind of cultural power. And the next few years may be its most important yet. The WNBA will expand for the first time since 2008 (Golden State will start next season, Toronto will join in 2026) as it tries to ensure that its current growth is steady and sustainable, rather than a temporary blip. —E.B.

Since purchasing the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, the former Microsoft CEO has continued to spend. Last season he ponied up a whopping $142.4 million in luxury tax penalties while sinking millions more in expanding L.A.’s front office. In August, Ballmer, who’s reportedly worth $120 billion, opened the Intuit Dome, a $2 billion, privately funded arena in Inglewood, Calif. The most eye-popping feature of the Clippers’ new home is the Halo Board, a circular, double-sided video screen hanging from the rafters and spanning almost an acre. The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has curbed owners’ abilities to buy titles. Ballmer, though, will never stop trying. —C.M.

Steve Ballmer

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS OWNER

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Sheila Ford Hamp

DETROIT LIONS PRINCIPAL OWNER

Junfu Han/USA TODAY NETWORK

It wasn’t long ago that the Ford family was inundated with persistent calls from Lions fans to sell the team. The loud chants at Ford Field helped the faithful endure a 66-season championship drought. Those protests have quieted over the last few seasons. The reason for that shift in tune? Hamp. The 72-year-old great-granddaughter of Henry Ford, took over club ownership from her mother, Martha Firestone Ford, in June 2020. In her four years at the helm, Hamp has helped transform the Lions from a mockery into a Super Bowl contender. One of her first orders of business was hiring general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell, who led the Lions to their first NFC championship game since 1991 last season. Hamp has converted Detroit into a football town brimming with promise. —C.B.

As commissioner of the world’s wealthiest league, Goodell has seen the average NFL team quintuple in value since taking over in 2006. Next step: world domination. He continues to expand the NFL’s international schedule in hopes of having a full-fledged foreign franchise. —K.N.

Roger Goodell

COMMISSIONER OF THE NFL

SIMON BRUTY/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Tony Petitti

BIG TEN COMMISSIONER

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Last year the former MLB executive took control of the Big Ten, one of the most powerful brands in college sports, and as commissioner, he will have a significant hand in shaping the future of a rapidly changing landscape. With the NCAA’s power waning, Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey have the leverage as leaders of the newfound “Power 2” to spearhead talks on revenue sharing, athlete employment, postseason expansion and conference realignment, especially as the futures of Clemson and Florida State in the ACC remain unclear. So far, Petitti has worked far more in step with Sankey than his predecessor Kevin Warren did. That partnership has already produced wins as media distributions from the new CFP agreement are significantly slanted to favor Petitti and Sankey’s leagues. —K.S.

In the tradition of bringing in celebrity-level soccer stars like David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, the club president lured Kylian Mbappé this summer. In addition to the $1 billion plus in renovations to the Santiago Bernabéu, the construction magnate also knows how to build a dynasty: Pérez has accumulated 35 trophies during his tenure, including a record 15th Champions League title in June. —A.G.

Florentino Pérez

REAL MADRID PRESIDENT

Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images

ANGEL CITY FC OWNERSHIP

KARA NORTMAN, NATALIE PORTMAN AND JULIE UHRMAN

Los Angeles-based Angel City FC will soon become the most valuable professional women’s sports team ever, just four years after its launch. Among the group of cofounders: Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman; venture capitalist Kara Nortman, now founder and managing partner of Monarch Collective; and Julie Uhrman, a former executive in the entertainment (Lionsgate), virtual reality content (Jaunt) and gaming console (OUYA, Inc.) industries. Reddit cofounder

Mark Walter

LOS ANGELES DODGERS CHAIRMAN

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Everyday life is likely not slow for those with an estimated net worth of $6 billion, but that has been especially true for the Dodgers’ owner in the past year or so. Walter, who took over the franchise in 2012, scored another prize last December when he signed Shohei Ohtani to a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract. Walter already had a background in women’s sports as part owner of the Los Angeles Sparks and both Chelsea FC and its women’s club, and last year he established the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Others had tried and failed at this before, but the PWHL’s first season was a resounding success, setting women’s hockey attendance records. With deep-pocketed owners and a solid business structure, women’s pro hockey has its best chance yet to succeed. —K.N.

Never mind his coterie of athlete friends or his legendary parties. How successful is Rubin? He divested his stakes in teams including the 76ers and Devils in order to avoid conflicts of interest and focus on Fanatics, the online retailer of which he is founder and CEO. A simple concept of dominating the licensed sports merchandise and attire sector has ballooned into a $31 billion business. Well-positioned in sports gambling and iGaming as well, Fanatics is poised to continue growing aggressively. Rubin once described it as “the Amazon of sports.” But might it eventually become an omnibus retailer? And might he compete head-to-head with Jeff Bezos? —J.W.

Michael Rubin

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

EXECUTIVES AND DEALMAKERS

FANATICS FOUNDER AND CEO

Adam Silver

NBA COMMISSIONER

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Since becoming commissioner more than a decade ago, Silver has spearheaded the NBA’s global reach, overseen the league’s full embrace of legalized sports gambling, and, most recently, finalized an 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal (a sharp increase from the previous nine-year, $24 billion contract). Throw in a collective bargaining agreement with players that ensures greater parity (six different teams have won the last six Larry O’Brien trophies), and you get a commissioner at the top of his powers. His predecessor, David Stern, was always going to be a tough act to follow, but Silver has proven to be the visionary and steady hand the Association may not have fully realized it had waiting in the wings prior to his promotion in 2014. —L.A.

The way fans are viewing live sports has changed in recent years. The Chargers-Chiefs matchup last September was the first Thursday Night Football game streamed live on Amazon. An estimated audience of 13 million watched, and the median viewer age of 46 was seven years younger than the NFL’s average fan on a network broadcast. Leading this charge: Marine, the company’s head of global sports. After assuming the role of NBC Sports president in 2023, Cordella helped NBC figured prominently in the new NBA media rights package, agreeing to commit $2.5 billion—more than the $2 billion it spends on Sunday Night Football—to broadcast games. Cordella also oversees NBC Olympics, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Digital and sports programming on Peacock. —J.W.

TV Deal Negotiators

Rick Cordella and Jay Marine

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Ilona Maher

U.S. WOMEN'S RUGBY PLAYER

SIMON BRUTY/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

The rugby center emerged from the Tokyo Olympics a social media star, thanks to her viral TikToks. Since then, she has melded being an athlete with being an influencer, mixing her quirky humor with messages of body positivity. In Paris, she leveled up in both roles. Before 2024, U.S. women had never won an Olympic medal in rugby sevens, making their bronze medal performance all the more sweet for the new fans that Maher had brought to the sport. She stayed in Paris through the closing ceremony, giving viewers a look at life in the Olympic Village, or the “Olympic Villa” as she referred to it for her fellow Love Island fans. Her social following ballooned by more than 1.2 million on TikTok (to two million plus) and by more than three million on Instagram (to 3.7 million) as the Games ended. —K.N.

When a college or prep athlete has news to break, be it a commitment announcement or a transfer portal entrance, it often comes in the form of a graphic generated by this duo, who work for recruiting news site On3. Tipton and Fawcett have more than 500,000 followers on Instagram and 300,000 on X, where they field requests from rising stars across the country. —K.S.

ON3 INSIDERS

Joe Tipton and Hayes Fawcett

COURTESY OF TIMPTON AND FAWCETT

ESPN Studio Team

Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Women’s basketball shot into the stratosphere in the spring of 2024 thanks to a groundbreaking March Madness tournament. It was a whirlwind ascent for the sport, and luckily, ESPN’s studio hosts were there to meet the moment—while grounding the soaring hype. The group’s chemistry jumps off the screen, with each member of the triad filling a specific role. Duncan operates as the conductor, seamlessly ushering segments along, while Carter provides game analysis, rattling off stats with an almost hypnotic rhythm. Bringing seven seasons of WNBA experience to the desk, Ogwumike breaks down X’s and O’s in a way that only a seasoned hooper can. Duncan, Carter and Ogwumike present the sport in a stylish, entertaining and authentic package, helping to enthrall both new and seasoned viewers alike. —C.B.

Her rapping landed her on America’s Got Talent. Her hooping got her a national title at LSU in 2023. Now entering her junior season, the 20-year-old has a major-label record deal, a slew of commercials and a deserving reputation as an electric guard on the court. —E.B.

Flau'jae Johnson

LSU TIGERS GUARD

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Lewis Hamilton

MERCEDES F1 DRIVER

Formula 1/Getty Images

It would be difficult to find a better talent for a Formula One car than the seven-time world champion, who seismically changed the pecking order of the sport by announcing a move to Ferrari in 2025 after a historic 12-year run at Mercedes. But what the 39-year-old has done off the track has grabbed even more attention. Hamilton has long used his platform for advocacy work, calling out injustice and inequality—including in F1’s own backyard. He has criticized human rights records in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and called out anti-LGBTQ policies in Florida and Hungary. He champions diversity through his own charity Mission 44, which helped fund the Hamilton Commission to address the under-representation of Black drivers, engineers and other areas of motor sports in the U.K. —Z.K.

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who logs more miles during football season than Herbstreit. Long the voice of college football on the ESPN family of networks, the former Ohio State quarterback picked up color commentary duties for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video in 2022, creating one of the most grueling schedules in broadcasting. He does all this with an unusual partner in crime: his Golden Retriever, Ben, a certified emotional support animal who tags along on private flights from game to game and sometimes even has his own media credential (as well as his own line of fans). Herbstreit’s near 30-year rise up the broadcasting ranks has made him one of the most successful former players ever to pivot to media, and in the process he’s become one of the defining football voices of his generation. —K.S.

Kirk and Ben Herbstreit

FOOTBALL ANALYST AND HIS GOLDEN RETRIEVER

Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

Virat Kohli

CRICKET PLAYER

or readers looking for a new glamour couple to follow after the demise of Bennifer, let us offer a humble suggestion: Virushka. The ushka comes from Anushka Sharma, one of Bollywood’s leading actresses. The Vir is for Virat Kohli, who, in addition to being one of the world’s top cricket players, also happens to be the most followed person on Instagram on the world’s largest continent. His 271 million followers are more than any athlete except Lionel Messi and Cristiano

Player Podcasts

ATHLETES BEHIND THE MIC

ROOMMATES SHOW

The concept of athletes venturing into the media space isn’t new, but player podcasts have been particularly potent in the last year. Led by Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights, the shows have granted unprecedented access to some of the biggest story lines in sports. NBA players have been the longtime front-runners in this space, with Paul George dissecting his decision to join the 76ers on Podcast P, Draymond Green apologizing for a string of on-court incidents on his self-titled podcast and Knicks teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart delighting on their Roommates Show. The Women’s Game, hosted by Sam Mewis, and The RE—Cap Show, from former USWNT teammates Tobin Heath and Christen Press, have brought insight to a sport that traditionally only gets in-depth coverage during events like the World Cup. —Z.K.

The outspoken ESPN personality and podcast host might become more of a presence than he already is. Now working on a new deal with ESPN, he publicly declared in March that he’d be interested in succeeding ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel, whose contract is up in 2026. —C.M.

Stephen A. Smith

Taylor Hill/WireImage

INFLUENCERS

ESPN ON-AIR PERSONALITY