This Is What Makes Women’s Sports ‘Special,’ According to Megan Rapinoe

The former professional soccer player discussed the changing women’s sports landscape during her SI Swimsuit photo shoot in Hollywood, Fla.

Megan Rapinoe was photographed by Yu Tsai in Hollywood, Fla. Suit by Alice + Olivia. Jewelry by Melinda Maria and Charlie Lapson. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Megan Rapinoe may have retired from professional soccer in 2023, but the former U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) star certainly hasn’t stepped out of the spotlight.

After over a decade of professional play, she was ready to hang up her jersey and cleats. But she had no intention of relinquishing the impressive campaigns that she had embarked on. Namely, she had no intention to give up her ongoing fight for greater equity in women’s sports.

Freshly retired, Rapinoe has thrown herself into a new venture, a production company co-founded by Rapinoe and Sue Bird focused on highlighting the stories of “revolutionaries.” Alongside the production branch, the pair have started a podcast with the same name, with the intention of digging into their own experiences as professional athletes and headlines in the women’s sports world.

There’s no doubt Rapinoe “loved” her playing career. She said it herself on the set of the 60th anniversary Legends photo shoot in Hollywood, Fla.: “I can’t even believe I got to live that life.” But retirement and these new ventures were calling her name, “I’m excited to figure out this next chapter,” she explained. “I’m just so passionate about women’s sports and where it’s going. Women’s sports is special because it intersects with every single part of life, every single part of progress and equality, making our world a better place. I think women’s sports has an amazing opportunity to do something very special in the next five to 10 years, and beyond that.”

Part of that mission to make the women’s sports landscape better and brighter lies in empowerment—and empowerment lies at the heart of her and Bird’s production company venture. According to Rapinoe, “As women, we have so many restrictions, guardrails and opinions—ways that we’re meant to be that really have nothing to do with who we are; it’s more about other people,” she explained. “For me, being empowered is showing up exactly how I want and the way I want, and being able to bring my full self, no matter what, no matter where I am.”

She feels most empowered when she shows up exactly as she is. And she wants other women to feel the same. By telling the (largely untold) stories of women athletes—by detailing their triumphs and hard work—Rapinoe is on the way to doing just that. For that reason, we’re thrilled to call her a brand legend.

Megan Rapinoe was photographed by Yu Tsai in Hollywood, Fla. Suit by Alice + Olivia. Jewelry by Melinda Maria and Charlie Lapson. / Yu Tsai /Sports Illustrated