Chargers Coaches Wear ‘Everyone Watches Women’s Sports’ Shirts, Trolls Photoshop Them

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh and members of his coaching staff showed up to training camp wearing Nike t-shirts reading “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” during the team’s Women in Sports Day, a gesture that drew both praise and a viral bit of online trolling. Defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel joined Harbaugh in wearing the shirts, according to seed facts from the coverage of the event.

The display came during the Chargers’ Women in Sports Day, held at The Bolt, the team’s $250 million, 150,000-square-foot headquarters and practice facility in El Segundo, according to New York Post. The facility, which opened in July 2024 on 14 acres about seven miles from SoFi Stadium, features three full-length natural grass practice fields, according to NBC Sports. Public attendance at training camp practices there is free but capped at 2,000 fans per session through an advance online ticket system, per Time Out.

The shirts themselves trace back to a slogan created in December 2023 by TOGETHXR, a media and commerce company focused on women’s sports, lifestyle, and culture that was co-founded by Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Simone Manuel, and Chloe Kim specifically to counter viral online comments claiming that no one watches women’s sports. The apparel line generated $6 million in merchandise revenue in 2024, including 20,000 units sold in a three-day span during the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, and Nike formally partnered with TOGETHXR in March 2025 to co-produce the collection, later expanding it into a 16-club National Women’s Soccer League capsule line in April 2026.

Trolls Photoshop McDaniel’s Shirt

Not everyone embraced the display warmly. According to the New York Post’s coverage, an X user photoshopped McDaniel’s shirt to instead read “Nobody Watches Women’s Sports,” and the doctored image reportedly drew more than 1.5 million views. The stunt underscored the exact kind of online skepticism the original TOGETHXR slogan was designed to push back against.

The Chargers’ event went well beyond the coaching staff’s wardrobe choice. The team collaborated with TOGETHXR, UCLA, the Los Angeles Sparks, and Angel City F.C. for programming that included player interactions with girls’ youth flag football players and a women’s flag football coaching clinic. Fans attending Sunday’s practice were given posters, stickers, and friendship bracelets tied to the day’s theme.

A Youth Flag Football Boom in California

The flag football components of the event landed squarely within a rapidly growing local sport. Participation in California high school girls’ flag football jumped from 10,832 student-athletes in 2023 to 19,921 in 2024, representing roughly 29% of all high school girls’ flag football players nationwide, according to High School Football America. The California Interscholastic Federation officially sanctioned girls’ flag football as a varsity sport starting in the 2023–24 school year, and the CIF Southern Section has scheduled this year’s official contest period to run from August 8 through October 14, followed by a postseason ending November 7, per the section’s own bulletin.

That growth didn’t happen in a vacuum. The Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams co-created a pilot high school league back in 2021, supplying uniforms, coaching stipends, and equipment to build up Southern California girls’ flag football ahead of its statewide sanctioning, according to the Associated Press. NFL teams have generally championed the sport’s growth ahead of its planned inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Future Is Female Panel

Women in Sports Day programming has also included “The Future Is Female,” a panel hosted by ESPN analyst Mina Kimes featuring Olympic medalists and sports industry executives discussing career development, media investment, and mentorship for young female athletes, according to the Los Angeles Chargers.

The training camp backdrop carries its own stakes for the franchise. Harbaugh took over as Chargers head coach in early 2024 after leaving the University of Michigan, which was later hit with a three-year NCAA probation over recruiting and coaching violations, as Hoodline reported at the time. Now the Chargers are entering an important 2026 campaign built around quarterback Justin Herbert, who has yet to secure a postseason win in his career. Mike McDaniel, who previously served as offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, is part of a coaching staff looking to build on last season as the Chargers prepare to face the 49ers in their second preseason game on Thursday.