Like actors and social media stars, athletes have embraced podcasts as a way to grow their personal brands and even get a little off their chests about the games they play. As a new season of podcasts debuts from the NFL as part of its partnership with iHeartMedia, those shows will be joined by several new series including the NFL’s first bilingual podcast targeted toward Hispanic football fans.
El Huddle is a new weekly football preview show hosted by Will Selva (Good Morning Football) and MJ Acosta-Ruiz (NFL Total Access). The podcast will primarily be in English, but iHeart says it will also have a “splash of Spanish” for the Latino fan base. El Huddle will focus on pop culture and the most relevant league stories from Latino voices and perspectives across the NFL. New episodes will drop every Thursday.
Also new to the lineup is a new weekly podcast hosted by one of the most connected analysts in the game. Peter Schrager of NFL Network and Fox Sports will host a show called The Season in which he will be joined by a deep guest list of decision makers, power brokers, NFL movers and shakers, as well as celebrities.
Former All-Pro Charles “Peanut” Tillman and former Pro-Bowler Roman Harper are also hosting a new podcast called NFL Players: Second Acts in which they break bread with NFL legends to share how they’ve taken the passion, drive and dedication that made them stars on the gridiron to achieve success in their post-playing careers. It’s set to debut Thursday (Oct. 20).
More is coming from the NFL Podcast Network which will launch new podcasts later this year from NFL greats Emmanuel Sanders and Nate Burleson.
“We are excited about the opportunity to expand the NFL’s Podcast Network and reach new audiences with the addition of compelling new shows to our strong existing lineup,” said NFL Vice President Meredith Battin. “Heading into this season, we held an intention to tap into the player community to help grow our podcast offerings as well as utilize the deep NFL media talent roster, and with this fall lineup and the continued partnership with iHeartMedia, we feel that we have greatly succeeded,” she said in a statement.
To celebrate the regular season kickoff last month, the NFL and iHeartMedia launched a series of new shows aimed at giving listeners more coverage than ever including NFL Now, where Andrew Siciliano breaks down the latest news from the league’s top reporters; NFL Total Access, a nightly show giving fans more access than ever to their favorite NFL teams; and “NFL GameDay View, with hosts Rachel Bonnetta, Cynthia Frelund, Gregg Rosenthal and Patrick Claybon providing analysis and predictions for each week’s slate of games. It also launched NFL Power Rankings with Dan Hanzus and Colleen Wolfe which gives an in-depth look at weekly rankings of all 32 teams.
Under a multiyear deal announced last year, all the shows from the NFL Podcast Network are distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network. In addition, podcasts from select teams are also available via the NFL Podcast Network.
“The football season is an exciting time for fans across the country and the world, and we’re thrilled to continue our exclusive podcast partnership with the NFL, debuting a new lineup of exciting programming that complements, highlights and analyzes all the action on and off the field,” said Will Pearson, President of iHeartPodcasts. “Our listeners can’t get enough of the NFL Podcast Network and we’re so excited for what’s to come over the next few years as our partnership continues to grow together.”
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