Did you hear? ESPN named their senior writer and rising star Mina Kimes host of a new Monday through Friday morning podcast called “ESPN Daily,” starting October 21. The show will explore a single sports story in depth every weekday. Her weekly podcast, “The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny” will continue, and Kimes said she’ll continue appearing on ESPN TV shows including “Around the Horn” and “Highly Questionable” from time to time. 

A month earlier, The Athletic was the first to launch a daily sports news podcast called “The Lead” with co-hosts Kavitha Davidson (30) and Anders Kelto. They tackle topics as serious as concussions in football and as light as the 40th anniversary of Big League Chew bubblegum. It’s a highly polished Wondery studio production with original music and national sponsors.

Could these two well-resourced podcasts signal a bold new frontier opening up for female storytellers in the American sports media universe? One where women are not viewed as window dressing or fortunate guests in the boys’ club, but bona fide leaders of quality content? And could this format be the way women’s sports finally gain regular coverage and the chance to build larger audiences?

“Women continue to have more opportunities in sports communication and media, but several institutional barriers remain,” noted Dr. Michael Butterworth, Director of the Center for Sports Communication & Media at the University of Texas at Austin. Butterworth said Kimes’ expanding role at ESPN does illustrate the influence women are having in sports media. 

“She’s especially skilled at translating her skills across different platforms, and that’s not something that would have been possible in the same way a generation ago. Meanwhile, sports media have become increasingly attuned to political and social issues, and women have played a large role in spotlighting issues—sexual abuse in sports, pay inequities, et cetera— that may not have received as much attention in the past,” Butterworth said.

In the 15th year of podcasting’s existence, ESPN leads the pack in supporting professional women in sports with 10 podcasts that are either hosted by or regularly feature female contributors, and in some cases focus on women’s sports:

  • 30 for 30
  • ESPN on Ice
  • ESPN-W Around the Rim 
  • Fantasy Focus Football
  • The Jump
  • Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy
  • The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny
  • Sorry in Advance, the Golic Family Podcast
  • Sports? with Katie Nolan
  • That’s What She Said with Sarah Spain

While these ten make up a small percentage of the overall number of sports podcasts in production, the format’s ease of starting a new show appears to be slowly attracting more independent female podcasters in the sports category. Butterworth says he is hearing more students talk about podcasting as a way of consuming sports content, and as a professional interest.

“I’m not sure that it is seen as a way to sustain a career by itself, but podcasting provides access to new audiences and allows talent to cultivate a marketable persona,” he said. 

However, Butterworth points out the old complaints about women in sports broadcasting are alive and kicking on social media platforms like Twitter, where podcast hosts Kimes, Katie Nolan and Sarah Spain preside over hundreds of thousands of followers.  

“Each of them are routinely criticized by (usually) men for lacking sufficient knowledge to comment on the specifics of a sport (often football). This speaks to the idea that game analysis and sports-specific terminology is the purview of men in sports media, whereas human interest stories and personal reflections might be more suited to women. This is not a new stereotype, and there are plenty of examples over the years from legacy media to demonstrate this,” Butterworth said. 

But it’s not all negative. When the women go out on a limb and call out bad behavior as Spain did on ESPN regarding the Patriot’s handling of Antonio Brown, fans lined up on Twitter to applaud her critique.

Denver, Colorado is one of those sports cities that offers something for all types of men’s sports fans, with teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and NLL. The majority of local media members covering these teams are men, with a few dedicated women in the mix. 

From 2005 until last year when management opted to not renew her contract, Julie Browman was part of a regional sports television network presenting the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets games. She wrote and hosted pre-game shows and worked as a sideline reporter for both teams.

After 25 years working in sports media in Denver and San Diego, Browman started looking into podcasting while working as a fill-in sports anchor at the radio station where she began her career producing a sports talk show in 1993. While she enjoys working in radio, Browman started researching podcasting, bought her own equipment and began reaching out to friends.

In July, Browman launched an insider sports talk podcast with the Colorado Rockies longtime TV play-by-play announcer, and called it “The Drew Goodman Podcast with Julie Browman.” Then in September she did the same with the “The Dave Logan Podcast” featuring the Denver Broncos TV play-by-play announcer and former NFL player. 

“I love that in podcasting I am my own boss. Now I have a chance to take everything I learned in the media and apply it without my boss telling me that was a terrible idea, or I went too long in the segment.” Browman said. “The fact that I get to say anything I want? That’s a media person’s dream.”

While both shows involve Browman interviewing Goodman or Logan about their views on the teams they know so well, it’s also a chance for them to talk about personal stories and surprising moments like the time Logan was fired from a job or mouthed off to a coach. It’s also a chance for listeners to better get to know Browman’s personality. 

But in the midst of her podcasting pursuits, Adams County Fire Rescue, an agency just north of Denver, made Browman an offer she could not refuse. As their new Public Information Officer, she now handles media relations, social media storytelling and has plans to develop a podcast. An exciting new challenge, plus a regular salary with benefits, has relegated Browman’s sports podcasting career to spare time status. There are only so many hours in the day.

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, Wisconsin the indie podcast “TECKnical Foul” is going strong two-years after its debut. The ensemble-style sports talk show features four friends whose initials make up the TECK in the podcast’s name. Tim, Eric, Camille and Ken pondered podcasting off and on for awhile before finally going for it with the help of Everyday Media, a local podcast production agency. They also work with The B.R.E.A.K.S. Media Network to expand their audience reach. 

“Milwaukee has a large African-American population but there isn’t much representation (outside of a few former athletes) when it comes to hosting or contributing to a sports show. We want to be able to give a voice to the voiceless. We want to shine a light on our culture and show that our voices carry weight, too,” said Camille Davis. 

As TECKnical Foul’s self-described point guard, Davis says the seamless give-and-take you hear today took awhile to develop. “As time went on and the four of us got closer, the show got looser and moved away from us trying to imitate other network’s sport shows into something completely organic. If you listen to our first episode compared to now, it feels like a completely different show. We feel like after two years of doing this, we’ve finally found our voice and hit our stride.”

Davis says the four contribute to a shared Google doc to decide on topics they’ll talk about each week, but don’t have time for rehearsal because they all have regular jobs. Some of the most poignant moments happen when the laughter dies down and the four react to a serious piece of sports news. “Our favorite conversations center around dissecting NBA, NFL, and wrestling (WWE/AEW) but we also discuss MLB, WNBA, and NHL during the playoffs, or if something topical comes up.”

After the 120th episode, they decided it was time to stop bleeping certain words you wouldn’t hear on network sports shows, and let everything they say in the course of a recording be heard. “If TECK Foul is anything, it’s real and genuine. So having no constraints on language is huge! We strive to have every episode feel like the listener is hanging out with a group of their friends at a barbecue or a bar. A key aspect of capturing that feeling is for the conversation to be real and unfiltered,” said Davis. 

As part of her intro each week, Davis says she is, “Holding it down for all the women who love sports.” She says there are a few reasons she believed she could hold her own talking sports with three male co-hosts. “I grew up in a household with my mother and three of my four uncles. We used sports as a way to bond and connect, so I learned from an early age how to formulate my thoughts and how to debate a point.” 

Social media further honed that skill, “I used Twitter as a platform to discuss and debate sports since joining the site in 2009. Also, I graduated with my MS in Sport Management in 2018 and that’s what sparked my interest in actually getting behind the mic and podcasting,” said Davis who credits former ESPN host, now staff writer for The Atlantic and host of the Spotify Original podcast “Jemele Hill is Unbothered.”

“Jemele Hill is the reason I even wanted to try my hand at podcasting,” Davis said. “The now defunct ‘His & Hers Podcast’ inspired me beyond belief.”

Collaborating on a weekly podcast is more than a passion project for Davis and her co-hosts. “The end goal here is to find a way to monetize this podcast so that it can be a full-time job or that it opens the door for us to make a career in this on someone’s network. I think that the TECKnical Foul product is unique and has a commercial appeal because of our authenticity, we just have to put in the work to turn more listeners into TECK Foul Fam.”

The challenge of creating good content and reaching a sizable audience is what Butterworth says will separate serious independent podcasters from the rest. “If students see podcasting simply as a tool for branding themselves, they will quickly find themselves limited—a podcast has to offer audiences something unique and interesting.”

Speaking of unique and interesting, female standup comics who love sports:

  • Sports Without Balls with Erin Foley
  • Three Swings with Rhea Butcher

At a local level, women talking about pro teams:

  • Marina’s Morning Skate (Boston Bruins news discussed by Marina Molnar)
  • Simply Soccer (L.A. Galaxy news discussed by Michelle Huitink)
  • The CHICK ’N’ NUGGETS Podcast with Jena Garcia (Denver Nuggets)

Independents:

  • Beginner’s Puck
  • Black Girls Talk Sports
  • Dani Cipolla Loves Baseball
  • Girlfriend’s Guide to Golf
  • No Crying in Baseball
  • Sports and Stilettos

More podcasts featuring women from the traditional sports media world:

  • Beyond the Headlines with Renee Washington
  • FORE-1-1 with Chantel McCabe
  • Tennis.com Podcast
  • WNBA Bandwagon

Outside the United States, women are getting into sports podcasting through the BBC and on their own, talking a lot of soccer (football), cricket and hockey, notably:

  • The Doosra
  • Fan Grrrls
  • Hockey Feels
  • Netballers
  • The Outer Sanctum
  • Stumped
  • Two Girls Talk Balls
  • Liquid Football

Butterworth sees another type of sports podcast emerging around feminist, cultural and political issues relating to sports, “I’m probably most impressed by “Burn It All Down,” which features Shireen Ahmed, Amira Rose Davis, Brenda Elsey, Lindsay Gibbs, and Jessica Luther. Full disclosure: Jessica is based in Austin and is also a fellow of the Center for Sports Communication & Media. But I really appreciate how smart and critically astute this podcast is on a consistent basis.”

Consistency is key, in podcasting and in life no? Let’s hope some of the talented women who lost their jobs at Sports Illustrated in the magazine’s recent layoffs find their way into podcasting and help innovate the sports offerings even further in 2020.

Photo credit: ESPN

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