The 2018 ESPYs Will Make One Thing Clear: The Future Is Definitely Female

The 2018 ESPY Awards will do what it does best when the program broadcasts live from Los Angeles on Wednesday night: celebrate the biggest moments in sports, honor superstar athletes, and elicit tears from emotional tales of courage and perseverance.

But there's something profoundly different about this year's ceremony, given the cultural conversation. From the trial against USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar to the three coaches killed shielding students from gunfire at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the team behind the ESPYs are gearing up for the most relevant—and perhaps most challenging—show they've put together in years.

And, for the first time in 25 years, a woman will host the awards show when retired NASCAR driver Danica Patrick takes the stage—a long overdue milestone that speaks volumes about how women are driving the culture forward.

"This is my twenty-third ESPYs, and I think everyone would say this is the largest undertaking logistically from an [importance] standpoint that we've ever done," Maura Mandt, the show's executive producer, tells Glamour. "It's the biggest thing I've ever been involved in."

The "it" that Mandt speaks of isn't just the show itself, but the moment when the Arthur Ashe Courage Award will be presented to hundreds of sexual assault survivors who spoke out against Nassar.

Nassar was sentenced up to 175 years in prison earlier this year after being found guilty of criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography in Michigan. And just last month Nassar was charged with six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child in Texas.

"I want people to be moved, whether it's moved to tears, moved to action, or moved to understanding," Mandt says. The segment, which has been in the works for the last seven months, is perhaps the most important story the ESPN team has ever aired.

"We are the vessels for their story," Mandt says. "We want to make sure we tell it right and do it with care."

"We're going to be asking these women to relive a moment and an extended period of time in their lives that's very painful and difficult," Alison Overholt, vice president and editor-in-chief of ESPN the Magazine, espnW, and lead executive on the ESPYs, explains. "Yes, we're honoring them, but that's a really difficult thing to say, 'Hey, will you go back to that moment and spend more time in that emotional place?' We're just very grateful for them trusting us."

When the moment airs—featuring USA Gymnastics gold medalist Aly Raisman among others—Overholt wants viewers to realize that aside from the 100 women standing onstage, "there are even more women who will be watching their sisters from home.”

“The ladies onstage represent a much larger whole, and I hope people think about that very, very deeply,” Overholt said. “It's very important for people to [realize that] it took something like what happened this year for all of us in the culture to hear them. When women come forward and speak in the future, we [as a society must] hear them the first time."

Patrick, this year’s ESPYs host, says seeing these women onstage will add an “extra layer of raw truth, vulnerability, and compassion.” Patrick will meet the women for the first time prior to the show, but says that viewers at home will feel that same empathy once they tune in. “You know what they’ve dealt with and you’re going to see them,” she says. “It’s always different when you can put a face to a name or a face to a story.”

Patrick says that while women have been speaking up against many types of injustice for years—herself included—there’s a profound difference since the #MeToo movement started. “Sometimes we need a group, so it’s good that [#MeToo and Time’s Up] has done that. It definitely makes men more aware of the true and utter boundaries of being a respectable human, and that’s a good thing.”

As for responsibilities—and pressures—that come with being the first female host at such a critical time, Patrick says it’s a “major honor.” Still, why it took so long for a woman to get the honor is a question that perplexes even Patrick.

“I can’t believe they haven’t had a female host until now,” she says. “But what perfect timing. I just feel like it’s a new era of the woman, and we’re all becoming much more equal over time.” While the show definitely wants to celebrate its first female host, as well as incredible female athletes, Overholt says the ultimate goal is that viewers say, "Wow, those are great, incredible moments" regardless of gender.

"I hope that it doesn't even strike people as a particularly unique thing to showcase women, because it's as it should be," Patrick says.

Adds Mandt: "Ultimately years from now there will be no surprise that [a woman is executive-producing a sports show, or a female is hosting]. We all hope to feel that eventually."

In the meantime, Overholt just wants viewers to walk away feeling a "little bit different" after watching the show. And for the young girls tuning in, "I hope that they feel confident that when they raise their voice, they will be heard, [whatever field they go into]," she said.

"The most important thing is that they find their voice inside themselves, raise that voice, and have the confidence that when they do, they will be heard."

The ESPYs will air on ABC and live-stream online at abc.go.com this Wednesday, July 18, at 8:00 ET/7:00 CT.

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