After two years of pandemic delays, cancellations and common upheaval, sports activities—and its rabid fan bases—are lastly seeing a return to regular as we shut out 2022. With sky-high scores throughout all networks, increasing ladies’s sports activities leagues and the explosion of sports activities betting, this has been a game-changing yr within the house—with Adweek’s 2022 Most Highly effective Girls in Sports activities main the best way. From 95-year-old Maybelle Blair working to construct the Worldwide Girls’s Baseball Middle to 11-year-old broadcaster and reporter Pepper Persley breaking down obstacles to Dany Garcia relaunching the XFL, these ladies are redefining the sports activities panorama and elevating themselves, their groups, leagues, manufacturers and shoppers. We couldn’t be prouder to honor this yr’s group, which incorporates our cowl stars Sue Hen and Sylvia Fowles, who helped form the WNBA whereas altering the world alongside the best way. —Mollie Cahillane
Sue Hen and Sylvia Fowles
WNBA all-time leaders
Maybelle Blair
Former All-American Ladies Skilled Baseball League participant
Andrea Brimmer
CMO, Ally Monetary
Arielle Chambers
Founder, HighlightHER
Keia Clarke
CEO, New York Liberty
Cindy Parlow Cone
President, United States Soccer Federation (USSF)
Marissa Dishaw
Head of baseball advertising and marketing and shopper administration, Inventive Artists Company (CAA) Sports activities
Natalia Dorantes
Coordinator of soccer packages, Washington Commanders
Dany Garcia
Chairwoman, co-owner, XFL; chairwoman, founder and CEO, The Garcia Corporations; co-founder, Seven Bucks Productions
Eileen Gu
Olympic gold medalist, freestyle snowboarding
Andrea Hopelain
Svp, model, EA Sports activities and Racing, Digital Arts
Amy Howe
CEO, FanDuel Group
Kate Johnson
Director, international sports activities and leisure advertising and marketing, Google
Hilary Knight
Olympic and world champion
Jenna Kurath
Vp of startup partnerships and head of Comcast, NBCUniversal SportsTech
Sunisa ‘Suni’ Lee
Three-time Olympic medalist and entrepreneur
Cassidy Lichtman
Volleyball participant government committee chairwoman, Athletes Limitless
Sandra Douglass Morgan
President, Las Vegas Raiders
Heidi Noland
Svp of worldwide model and inventive, UFC
Pepper Persley
Reporter and broadcaster
Melissa Proctor
Evp and CMO, Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Enviornment
Megan Rapinoe
Soccer world champion, activist and writer
Nuria Tarré
Chief advertising and marketing officer, Metropolis Soccer Group
Mallory Weggemann
5-time Paralympic medalist, writer, co-founder and co-CEO, TFA Group
Venus and Serena Williams
Tennis gamers, entrepreneurs
