The world of sports is big and busy. It is hard to cover everything as it happens. The AM Sports Rundown summarizes and analyzes the week’s biggest stories that the Sports Desk couldn’t cover. Written by a rotation of talented student sports journalists, a new AM Sports Rundown is published every Friday afternoon on the Annenberg Media website and the Annenberg Media Sports social media accounts.
Sydney Sweeney Novig ads
Sydney Sweeney may be the face of Novig’s “Just Sports” campaign, but female athletes have made themselves the voice of the controversy surrounding it. Since the advertisement debuted on Sept. 9, its revealing images have sparked a larger debate over whether women’s bodies are still being used to sell sports while their athletic accomplishments struggle to receive the same attention.
In the ad, Sweeney appears with little to no clothing while using footballs and other sports equipment to cover parts of her body. Novig intended to promote its sports prediction marketing with the ad, according to ABC News. Yet, much of the discussion has focused on whether the campaign sexualizes women and undermines female athletes.
Several prominent female athletes have publicly criticized the advertisement.
Four-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ariarne Titmus described it as “a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft.” U.S. gymnast Gracie Kramer posted images and videos of women training under the caption, “What a woman in sports looks like.”
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky defended the company’s decision, claiming Sweeney “was driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging.”
In addition, he explained that the campaign was not intended to represent female sports because Sweeney is an actress rather than an athlete. Sweeney, who is now an equity holder in Novig, described the campaign as “confident, humorous and a playful attempt to ‘cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports.’”
Consumer data suggests that the controversy has produced both positive and negative outcomes for Novig. In a survey of 200 online gamblers provided by Zappi, “73.4% of men said the ad made them more likely to choose Novig, compared with 42.0% of women.”
Arch Manning’s publicly reacts to AI videos of Texas football head coach and Holly Rowe interaction
Last Saturday, the now No. 1 Texas Longhorns completed a historic 20-point fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the then-No. 1 (currently No. 6) Ohio State Buckeyes 24–23. It was the most-watched regular-season college football game in a decade, according to ESPN.
The Longhorns’ victory was overshadowed by a comment senior quarterback Arch Manning made during a press conference on the following day. When asked whether he had seen any viral content from the win, Manning referenced an AI-generated video that falsely depicted Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian slapping longtime ESPN reporter Holly Rowe.
“I’ve seen a few AI edits, that’s about it. I saw an AI edit of Sark’s interview,” Manning said. “Y’all seen that one? That’s a good one... of him slapping Holly Rowe. It’s hilarious.”
His remark was followed by laughter from several men in the room, prompting criticism from women across sports media who questioned why a fabricated video depicting violence against a female reporter had been treated as a joke.
Manning issued an apology on Instagram Tuesday afternoon. Later that day, Rowe publicly accepted Manning’s apology on Instagram and X.
Rowe has spent more than two decades covering college football and basketball for ESPN. She has won a Sports Emmy for her reporting and received the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Electronic Media Award in 2023.
The AI-generated video originated from Sarkisian’s brief postgame interaction with Rowe. When she attempted to interview him following the victory, Sarkisian shouted, “Let’s go, Texas fight! Let’s go, Texas fight!” followed by “Hook ’em!” before walking away.
Earlier in the game, Sarkisian had appeared to bypass ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge’s customary halftime interview. Rutledge later explained during the broadcast that ESPN had experienced technical difficulties, which a Texas spokesperson said also contributed to the confusion surrounding Sarkisian’s postgame response.
What began as an awkward series of sideline interactions quickly became something much larger. The fabricated video transformed Rowe from a reporter doing her job into the subject of a violent joke, while Manning’s reaction gave the content an even larger audience.
Protect College Sports Act
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz spoke on ESPN’s “College Gameday” last Saturday to promote the Protect College Sports Act, which he co-sponsors with Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell. The bill would set federal rules and regulations around college athletics, including revenue sharing, name, image and likeness (NIL) and transferring schools. The Senate voted 74-24 to move the bill through cloture on Tuesday, closing the door on debate and amendments.
Despite potentially reshaping the landscape of college sports, language in the bill asserts that “[it] is neutral on, and does nothing to alter, employee or non-employee status for student athletes.” Critics assert that the bill unevenly protects student-athletes, who are unable to collectively bargain with any conference or the NCAA, as they have not organized a union.
Professional men’s leagues and unions ask regulators to ban threatening bettors
The NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, NHL and their respective labor unions sent a letter to 35 states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, requesting rulemakers create mechanisms to bar anyone who threatens or harasses athletes, their families and staff from participating in sports gambling. While little data has been collected on bettors threatening athletes, anecdotal evidence suggests that such behavior has increased since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018 in Murphy v. NCAA. Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers and New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson are just two professional athletes who have spoken publicly about receiving threats, some graphic in nature.
As much as they may benefit from betting by attracting younger fans, the NBA and MLB both have players or coaches under investigation for gambling-related misconduct. The Gambling Trust Index reports that the U.S. gambling industry spent nearly $4 billion on marketing alone. The Washington Post reported that, after analyzing 50 hours of sports broadcasts with AI, one in four minutes of sports broadcasts contains some form of gambling advertisement. While banning bad actors who harass the people they bet on is a step in the right direction, it is hard to ignore how aggressively these leagues have tried to integrate sports betting into the fan experience.
Edited by Sydnie McClain