

Sports Media with Richard Deitsch
Audacy
The Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch is a weekly show that features interviews with members of the sports media about their work, as well as roundtables with sports media reporters about television, digital, audio/radio, print, and other forms of media. You can read Richard’s work at The Athletic.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 26, 2025 • 5min
First Look: Mike Breen
Here’s a short clip from our upcoming interview with Mike Breen, the lead play by play caller ESPN/ABC’s NBA coverage. The full interview will be available on Tuesday. In this clip, Breen discusses calling Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals between the Knicks and Rockets as O.J. Simpson led Los Angeles police on a low-speed chase after a warrant for his arrest was issued in connection to the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 23, 2025 • 43min
Author James Andrew Miller on the end of ESPN's Around the Horn — and where PTI is in 2025
Episode 510 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features James Andrew Miller, the best-selling author of many books including on CAA, ESPN, Saturday Night Live, and HBO. In this podcast, Miller discusses the end of Around The Horn after a 23 year run and nearly 5,000 episodes; why the show was successful for so long; the show's true success as an incubator of young sports TV talent; praise for Tony Reali for being ego free as an on-air talent; whether Horn deserves criticism for being part of a sports TV culture of quick sports takes and thereby devaluing larger sports discourse; why ESPN would end a show that still draws more than 300,000 annually; the future of Pardon The Interruption from Jim's perspective and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
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May 19, 2025 • 47min
A roundtable with Donnovan Bennett and Jon Lewis on the 2025 NFL schedule and the WNBA season start
Episode 509 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features host and podcaster Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet (Canada) and Sports Media Watch founder and editor Jon Lewis. In this podcast we discuss the NFL schedule overall; what network schedule looks best; the Monday Night Football doubleheader issue; have the Chiefs passed the Cowboys as the NFL’s most popular viewership; why has schedule release day become so big; the WNBA’s opening weekend; the depth of major stars from A'ja Wilson and beyond; nationalizing games with Caitlin Clark; Bennett’s thought that the viewership comparison for Clark is Mike Tyson in his prime, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
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May 16, 2025 • 39min
Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s EVP for Media Distribution, on the 2025 NFL Schedule
Episode 508 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s EVP for Media Distribution. In this podcast, Schroeder discusses whether the NFL front-loaded its schedule and how the league thinks about the first two weeks of the season; Fox’s desire to have more AFC teams on its schedule this year; how the league parcels out the Chiefs and Cowboys knowing everyone wants them; the most request game; the NFL’s Christmas Day schedule and how should fans of other sports view the NFL playing on days associated with other sports; the Chiefs-Cowboys on Thanksgiving afternoon and the viewership potential for that game; where things stand on who will air the 2026 NFL Draft; what would it mean media-wise for NFL players to compete in the Olympics; the NFL’s global desires and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 15, 2025 • 47min
Front Office Sports women's sports reporter Annie Costabile previews the WNBA season and the growth of women's sports
Episode 507 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Annie Costabile, a women's sports reporter for Front Office Sports. In this podcast we discuss the WNBA's upcoming season; where the league is as far as media coverage; the importance of Caitlin Clark and the Fever to the product; the challenges of covering the league as a beat reporter; covering the WNBA as you would cover any other sport; why Costabile left the Chicago Sun-Times; the future of beat reporting at newspapers; expanding Front Office Sports's coverage of women’s sports; the the impact of social media on women's sports, both positively and negatively; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
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May 13, 2025 • 38min
S.L. Price, on his new book, The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse
Episode 506 of the Sports Media Podcast features S.L. Price, the longtime Sports Illustrated writer who has a new book out: "The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse." The book comes out May 20. In this podcast, Price discusses why he wrote the book; where the sport sits today in America; how the Duke rape case and the murder of Yeardley Love still resonates and reinforces the sport’s elite “laxbro” image; the tie between Wall Street and finance and lacrosse; where the growth of women's lacrosse sit as far the overall growth of the sport; lacrosse sixes will be one of five new sports set to feature at the L.A. 2028 Olympic Games; lacrosse as part of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy identity; the Haudenosaunee Confederacy attempts to compete in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics under their own flag and where it stands with them with the IOC; why people spoke to him, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 9, 2025 • 28min
Sports Media Watch's Jon Lewis
Episode 505 of the Sports Media Podcast features Jon Lewis, the founder and editor of Sports Media Watch. In this podcast we discuss ESPN unveiling its direct to consumer product; the impact of the move and potential pricing; NBA and NHL postseason viewership; NBC hiring of Carmelo Anthony as an NBA studio analyst; Comcast’s sports division using an AI-generated version of the late Jim Fagan’s voice for select title sequences, opens and game promos, and praise for Ahmed Fareed. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 7, 2025 • 32min
NBC Sports host Ahmed Fareed, on filling in for an ailing Mike Tirico on the Kentucky Derby broadcast
Episode 504 of the Sports Media Podcast features NBC Sports hostAhmed Fareed, who served as the main host for the Kentucky Derby coverage after Mike Tirico had an allergic reaction. Fareed has hostedthe Olympics, Paralympic Games, Premier League, Big Ten Football and Basketball, and other sports for NBC. In this podcast, Fareed discusseshow he was informed that he had to replace Tirico; what a sports broadcaster has to do in an emergency situation such as the one he faced; the value of over-research; how his bosses reacted to his performance; his interest in NBC's NBA coverage; Tirico contacting him afterward and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 5, 2025 • 38min
What happens to the NBA's popularity if LeBron James retires?
Episode 503 of the Sports Media Podcast features Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet (Canada). In this podcast we discuss whether LeBron James will return for his 23rd year; how seismic it would it be if LeBron left; what the league does in a post-LeBron era; the favourites for the NBA title; why F-1 managememt is so obsessed with cursing, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 1, 2025 • 48min
Peter King
Episode 502 of the Sports Media Podcast features Peter King, one of the iconic NFL writers and voices of his generation. He is currently writing a book about his 40 years of covering the NFL and changes in the league during his tenure. In this podcast, King discusses this year's NFL Draft and how he processed it; the uselessness of early Mock Drafts; how he saw Mel Kiper's commentary on Shedeur Sanders; whether the Draft is an entertainment product;UNC football coach Bill Belichick in his recent interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” to promote his new book and the disastrous fallout; why King calls the Belichick recent events as "embarrassing" and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices