On Wednesday, Wondery announced four new sports podcasts launching this year. The slate of shows includes podcasts hosted by Michelle Beadle, Shea Serrano, and Trey Wingo.
The first show to debut will be Sports Explains the World from Meadowlark Media and Campside. Debuting on August 9 for Wondery+ subscribers and on August 23 on Amazon Music, Sam Dingman hosts a podcast “that aims to tell compelling stories about the world and society through a sports lens.” This series was announced last year by Meadowlark, and will include both podcasts and documentaries.
The three other shows announced on Wednesday currently do not have release dates.
Michelle Beadle hosts Beadle Royale. Wondery describes it as such.
A quick hitting, last-topic-standing audio “battle royale” of ballsy sports and pop culture takes. Hosted by Michelle Beadle, sports reporter and NBA announcer for the Spurs, who will take on sports and pop culture stories every week – from the NBA MVP race to The White Lotus finale – and pit them against each other in a topical “Royal Rumble”-style battle to determine who or what from the headlines won the week. She’ll start with two newsworthy stories, weigh out the contenders, and decide which story should stay and which should be thrown over the top rope and eliminated. Rinse and repeat until there is one story left standing at the end of the podcast.
Beadle had a nearly year-long stint hosting a podcast for The Athletic that ended in late-2022. She also started hosting a show called Run It Back on FanDuel TV last October.
Shea Serrano will host a currently untitled basketball podcast that “will cover everything basketball and pop culture related for his passionate following of hoops fans.” Serrano, a former writer at Grantland and The Ringer, had a sitcom called Primo ordered by IMDb TV in October 2021, which premiered on the rebranded Freevee earlier this year. Wondery and Freevee are both owned by Amazon.
To me, the most interesting podcast announced on Wednesday is one hosted by Trey Wingo. Titled Makin’ Waves, Wingo’s podcast focuses on alternate history in sports and features guests meaningful to the history-changing events featured. If that sounds confusing to you, check out Wondery’s description.
Hosted by former-ESPN anchor Trey Wingo, this weekly podcast will identify a different wave-making “what if?” moment in sports history, and unpack its far-reaching ripple effects. With the help of guests relevant to the moments in question, our host will dissect every possible alternate reverberation set in motion from the initial event. For example, did the vetoed trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers in 2001 open the door for a Spurs dynasty? Or, did George Steinbrenner’s vendetta against Dave Winfield help win the Yankees five World Series Championships?
Wingo left ESPN in 2020 and has done a variety of things since, most recently hosting an all-access show at the Open Championship on Peacock.
Sports alternate history is a topic I’ve always been interested in, and this feels like a podcast that could be quite good if executed well.
Wondery’s continued expansion into the sports world is encouraging, and we’re hoping they roll out more podcasts in the coming months.
