A former award-winning sports reporter and communications coordinator for the Houston Texans, who also happens to be the niece of country superstar, Dierks Bentley. Brooke Bentley is familiar with the toxicity of sports culture. In her timely debut novel Sideline Confidential (summer 2023), Brooke explores the challenges and discrimination women face in the male-dominated world of professional sports. I hope you’ll consider Brooke for interview this fall. She can discuss her own experiences facing sexual harassment while working in sports and with the NFL -- from being forced to ride a separate bus to not being allowed to interview players in the locker room to having a consensual relationship with a high-profile figure weaponized against her. I'm sure you can imagine that Brooke is comfortable in the broadcast arena.

ABOUT THE BOOK

From former sports anchor and award-winning sports journalist Brooke Bentley comes Sideline Confidential – a behind-the-scenes peek at the obstacles and double standards facing women in the male-dominated space of sports journalism. 

When young sports journalist Blake Kirk lands her dream gig – working as a reporter for her hometown’s pro football team – she anticipates many of the challenges that accompany the gig – long hours in the office and on the field, many days of travel, immense pressure to succeed as a woman in sports journalism. What she doesn’t expect are the double standards and old-school entitlement that trip her up at every turn. From day one, Blake faces off with her boss who does everything in his power to make her job difficult—from forcing her to ride a separate bus to the games; to blocking her from interviewing players in the locker room; to pushing her to “network” with colleagues at a strip club. As suggestive notes appear on her desk and a consensual celebrity hookup is weaponized against her, Blake’s dream devolves into a nightmare, and she is forced to choose between her dignity and her career.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brooke Bentley is a former television anchor and award-winning sports reporter. After graduating with a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California, she spent two years working for the Houston Texans as a media personality and over a decade working in sports journalism. Brooke now devotes her time to championing local nonprofits, including Homemade Hope, where she served as the development director. She and her husband live in Houston and are raising two young boys. 

Sideline Confidential is Brooke’s debut novel, where she shares her firsthand knowledge of the challenges women professionals face in the male-dominated world of professional sports.