Barney Carleton

As of January 2023, here are my current podcast recommendations along with a summary of the subject matter covered and why I find the content valuable.

Daily Podcasts

• The Leadoff
  • Available Monday through Friday
  • 5 minute summary of the top sports business items of the day. Quick listen that keeps me informed on current topics.
• SBJ Morning Buzzcast
  • Available Monday through Friday
  • 5 minute summary of the top sports business items of the day. Mondays episode recapping the weekend is longer. More in depth than The Leadoff and often includes key hirings and additional data points such as TV ratings when available
• Bloomberg Business of Sports
  • Available Monday, Wednesday and Thursday
  • Quality of this podcast has fallen off since Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy Williams left to start Sporticast (up next!). No longer a must listen, but they do occasionally have some interesting interviews. I do not listen to every episode and opt to listen when there is an intriguing guest. Typical episode duration is in the 10-20 minute range.
• Sporticast
  • Available on Tuesday and Thursday
  • Scott and Eben usually summarize and provide their opinion on the hot topics of the week. The real value in this podcast is that they get high quality guests and their relationship with the guests lead to entertaining casual conversation which is refreshing and important. Episodes are typically between 30-40 minutes long which is perfect for my commute. Scott and Eben are also easy to engage with on Twitter for follow-up or additional conversation on any of the topics.
• The Press Box
  • Available 2-3x a week
  • The Press Box speaks with announcers, journalists and others in the media space. This podcast is very informative and sheds an inside light on how the perspective of the media and how individuals cover different assignments. I do not listen to every episode as they are typically about 40-60 minutes long. Since they are guest driven episodic content, I choose to listen after reviewing the guest and the summary of the episode

Weekly Podcast – To Be Updated

• SportsBusiness Finance Weekly
  • This podcast has been published weekly for almost 2 years but with Eric Fisher leaving SportBusiness, it will be interesting to see if it is able to continue
  • Format with Eric had been two co-hosts conducting a weekly interview with interesting subjects in the Sports Finance space that are not as common on the traditional sports business circuit. Highly recommend going back and listening to old episodes for unique insights and perspective.
• SportsPro StreamTime Podcast
  • This podcast profiles the people, business and technologies driving the sports streaming revolution. The interviews are generally very informative and episodes average about 1 hour in length.
• SportsPro Podcast
  • SportsPro writers and guests comment on the hot topics in the global sports industry. The average episode length is approximately 45 minutes long. Due to this podcast having a global perspective, there is definitely some interesting European perspective. The average episode duration is about 45 minutes.
• The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast
  • Andrew Marchand and John Ourand do a great job on this weekly podcast that occasionally includes high profile interview subjects such as Marie Donoghue of Amazon. The co-hosts do a great job of sharing facts of current events taking place throughout the industry typically speaking about 5 topics and talking about who is “up or down”. This format is refreshing and flows very well with each episode averaging about 1 hour.
• Sports Media with Richard Deitsch
  • Richard’s podcast is conceptually similar to the Sports Illustrated Media podcast (which he used to host) with a weekly guest but how he conducts interviews is very different. Ricahrd does a monthly “sports media roundtable” with an assortment of writers usually including a few of the following, Chad Finn, Austin Karp, John Ourand, or Jim Miller. Episodes average about 45 minutes to an hour.
  • Richard has expanded his base and does a better job of covering the media industry overall. His relocation to Canada and admittance that he is less in touch with domestic US sports leagues is very refreshing.
• The Joe Pomp Show
  • Joe does a great job of balancing informative episodes (such as his recent podcasts about David Beckham’s compensation for coming to MLS and Formula1 logistics) with high-powered, well connected interviews with the likes of Paul Rabil, Lance Armstrong and Francis Ngannou. Highly recommend listening as The Joe Pomp show has high production value and teaches a lot about underappreciated topics in sport.
• The Unofficial Partner Podcast
  • This is the latest podcast that I have added to my listening rotation. Guests are primarily international sports industry talking about the biggest issues on a global scale. Most episodes are about 45 minutes to one hour. These podcasts have introduced me to a lot of concepts and business arrangements that I was previously unaware of.a
• The Vergecast
  • The Vergecast is affiliated with The Verge and focuses on software and gadgets. I listen to this podcast to get a better understanding of consumer electronics, what is occurring in big tech (Google, Microsoft, etc.) and to ensure that I’m aware of what is happening outside of the sports industry.
  • The Vergecast publishes two times per week and they typically are over an hour in length. The podcast format is conversational and some episodes can be difficult to follow when they get very in the weeds but overall I enjoy this podcast more than any other tech podcast that I have previously sampled.
• Recode Media
  • Peter Kafka is one of the most acclaimed reporters working for Recode which is tied in to media, entertainment and technology. Peter provides episodes that are 30-45 minutes long and serve as a great prelude to digging deeper on items in tech. Occasionally he does have a guest on with sports experience as well and that is fantastic to see the crossover between sports and entertainment. Similar to the Vergecast, this provides me with a different perspective and information outside of the Sports industry
• FUTRSPRT
  • This podcast is similar to the next one (Sports Tech Feed) but publishes more often. This podcast is focused on interviewing leaders in sports and tech focusing on content creation, connecting with fans and the sports experience from branding. I find that they publish a good amount of episodes with executives from start-ups and that these episodes help me to become aware and familiar with an assortment of different sports technology vendors. Interviews are about 45 minutes long.
• Sports Tech Feed
  • Interviews are conducted with leaders in Global Sports Technology. I typically only cherry-pick which episodes I will watch based on the organization that the interview subject represents. It would be great if they could publish more content, but the episodes are generally evergreen and don’t necessarily need to be consumed in a timely manner due to the technical nature of some of the conversations. Interviews are about 1 hour long.
• The Work In Sports Podcast
  • This podcast is definitely targeted towards recent graduates and those that are looking for jobs in sports. They provide great tips as it relates to what it is like to work in sports and first-hand advice on how to land those interviews. In addition to helping job seekers, I find that the interviews they conduct with industry professionals are very informative. The average episode is about 30 minutes.
• Navigating Sports Business
  • Interview driven podcasts with special guests from professional and collegiate sports. The format of these podcasts is unique in that some publish as full length interviews (approximately 30 minutes) while others publish as highlights (about 5 minutes).
• Sports Illustrated Media Podcast
  • Podcast is now hosted by Jimmy Traina. Much more personality driven by Traina featuring weekly segment with his friend “Cousin Sal”. Jimmy does get high profile guests from Sports Media such as Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, Greg Olsen, etc. Most episodes are about 1 hour in length.
  • My favorite episodes are when Jimmy gets Richard Deitsch, John Ourand or other Sports Media insiders although Jimmy does show good rapport with all guests and so most interviews are generally entertaining.