In case you didn’t have enough podcasts to listen to, Sports Illustrated plans to add more to your slate of potential listening options.
On Monday, Deadline reported that SI had agreed to a deal with iHeartMedia to create new original podcasts. Eight new shows are reportedly planned, and SI’s current shows will also join iHeart’s podcast network.
The deal will see the companies co-produce eight new audio series and will also see Sports Illustrated’s existing podcasts run through the iHeartPodcast Network.
Sports Illustrated will produce editorial and sports analysis podcasts, while Sports Illustrated Studios, which is a joint venture between Yellowstone producer 101 Studios and Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group, will produce scripted podcasts, limited series and narrative shows.
The first from SI Studios is true crime series Lateral Damage, which tells the story of University of California, Berkeley college football player Mariet Ford, who was an instrumental part of “The Play,” one of the most electrifying plays in sports history. He was later convicted of viciously murdering his young son and pregnant wife. Maintaining his innocence for almost 25 years, the podcast will explore the indelible effect the murder has had on the core group of people in Ford’s sphere. It will launch early next year.
Launching later this year is Sports Illustrated Weekly, which will feature the best of the brand’s journalism in audio form. The 45-minute episodes will feature the biggest news of the week.
SI originally dove into the true crime genre back in 2018 with the highly-regarded Fall of a Titan, which examined the death of Steve McNair. Lateral Damage, the series mentioned in that blurb by Deadline, was originally announced way back in November 2019, with a planned debut in January 2020. A nine minute preview was released when January came around, and we’ve heard nothing about the future of the series until now. The host of that series was initially supposed to be S.L. Price, who moved on from SI last August.
Provided that SI can get interesting new episodes of these shows created on a regular basis, they might be worth adding to your queues. The Sports Illustrated Studios brand, which will be in charge of the more narrative-based podcasts, already has a documentary series about the Ohio State athletics abuse scandal in the works.
[Deadline]
