Sarah Spain To Host Daily Podcast Covering Women’s Sports

Podcasting is the latest bright spot in the ongoing battle for more media coverage of women’s sports. In a first for women’s sports, long-time sports radio personality, Sarah Spain will host a daily women’s sports podcast on a major radio network, called Good Game with Sarah Spain. Fans will now have a centralized place where they can listen to interviews and talk show analyses of their favorite women’s sports players and teams — no matter their favorite sport.

iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports & Entertainment are teaming up to produce the podcast as part of the newly formed Women’s Sports Audio Network, with the hope that through their partnership with Spain, they’ll be able to provide women’s sports fans with the community and coverage they’re looking for.

Spain’s vision for the show is to be a daily one-stop shop for the biggest stories in women’s sports. Along with breaking news and interviews, Spain will be regularly joined by a roster of guests from the women’s sports world like athletes, coaches, reporters, celebrities, and fans to discuss everything from “the play on the court to the drama off it.”

“We’re going to be the place that hopefully gives you all those stakes, stars, stories and stats that make you want to watch more games,” said Spain. “The goal of the show is to make a community for people who love women’s sports (or want to love women’s sports) by giving them interviews, conversations, debates and content that both informs and entertains them.”

A Different Kind Of Sports Show

In addition to giving women’s sports fans the “stakes, stars, stories and stats”, Spain also hopes to create a place where women’s sports fans feel welcomed and invited in the sports community, since the men’s sports world hasn’t historically been known to be the most inclusive space.

“I just want people to feel like it’s a half an hour of their day, everyday, that they are dropping into a community. It’s not just something that they listen to – it’s something that they’re part of. They listen, they laugh, they learn; they feel like they are welcomed and understood.” Spain went on to say, “I’ve been in the sports industry for almost 20 years, and when I started I was constantly battling stereotypes about women who love sports. In order to fit in, I had to be ‘one of the guys.’ I wasn’t faking it, I was just being selective about which parts of myself came to the conversation and they were the parts of me that fit into the stereotypical idea of sports fans.”

A reguarly, dedicated women’s sports show is something that Spain has been advocating for for years, recently revealing that the idea had been rejected by other networks, despite Spain’s efforts to recruit sponsors to financially support the programming.

Good Game with Sarah Spain is just one of the many shows that will launch in the coming weeks as part of the Women’s Sports Audio Network. In addition to Spain, the Women’s Sports Audio Network will also feature shows from hockey stars Madison Packer and Anya Packer, tennis Grand Slam winner Rennae Stubbs, WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes, golf media personality Tisha Alyn, as well as shows from leaders in women’s sports like WNBA insider Khristina Williams. Every show will also have corresponding social content along with news and original programming that will be distributed across iHeart’s broadcast, digital and podcast platforms.

The Women’s Sports Media Business Opportunity

The launch of the audio network comes at a time where women’s sports fandom and the business growth of women’s sports is reaching new heights. Per Deloitte, professional women’s sports are currently expected to become a $1 billion industry in 2024. However, despite seeing significant growth in recent years, women’s sports still only receive a fraction of sports media coverage when compared to men’s sports. The aim of the Women’s Sports Audio Network is to create more dedicated women’s sports media, and ultimately bring more investment into the space.

“Women’s sports aren’t just having a moment, it is the moment. And yet women’s sports content continues to be difficult to find and difficult to buy,” said Laura Correnti, Founder and CEO, Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment in the press release about the launch of the new women’s sports audio programming. “The Women’s Sports Audio Network aims to change that.”

“What’s really been the issue has been inventory,” said Sarah Spain. “You look at the updated statistics around viewership and media coverage and forever we used to say only 4% of media coverage was devoted to women’s sports. The number is now 15% which is an improvement, but the way to get that number up is inventory.”

Capital One, e.l.f Cosmetics and e.l.f SKIN have been announced as founding partners of the Women’s Sports Audio Network’s dedicated women’s sports programming.