ESPN made a major announcement on Thursday. A release from the network said the company plans to air its popular podcast series on weekday afternoons on ESPN2.
There will be a quick turnaround here. The release indicates that the podcasts will begin airing on ESPN this Monday, January 29.
“ESPN today announced a new, seasonal content initiative that will expand the reach of its ESPN podcast offerings. Beginning on Monday, January 29, ESPN2 will televise an ESPN video podcast every weekday from 2-3 p.m. ET,” the network wrote in the release.
This initial run will showcase five podcast offerings: First Draft, The Elle Duncan Show, The Hoop Collective, The Lowe Post, and The Mina Kimes Show. First Draft, hosted by ESPN NFL Draft analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates, will debut on Monday. Then, on Tuesday, The Hoop Collective featuring Brian Windhorst and other ESPN NBA insiders will air.
Come Wednesday will be The Lowe Post, hosted by ESPN NBA writer Zach Lowe. The popular Mina Kimes Show Featuring Lenny will air on Thursday. Finally, on Friday, ESPN2 will air The Elle Duncan Show hosted by ESPN anchors Elle Duncan and Gary Striewski.
Kimes chimed in with a playful message on the news.
“They said a football podcast co-hosted by a woman and a dog could never be on ESPN2. They were wrong,” she posted.
They said a football podcast co-hosted by a woman and a dog could never be on ESPN2. They were wrong. https://t.co/mABOZKcVjK
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 25, 2024
Surely, this will be an interesting step forward for the network and their podcast series. One has to wonder: With DTC coming soon for ESPN, could this be a dry-run of things to come? Perhaps, perhaps not.
[ESPN PR]
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022