Fancy judging your favourite sports podcasrs? Shortlists are announced for The Sports Podcast Awards 2022

A whole host of top names in the sports podcasting world are set to go head-to-head as the shortlists are announced for the inaugural Sports Podcast Awards taking place in March 2022 with a virtual ceremony. The awards come after research shows that sports was by far the fastest growing podcasting category in 2021 with download growth of 89% compared to the previous year.[1]

The annual celebration, that honours the work of the very best that the global sports audio community has to offer, is brought to you by the company behind the prestigious Sports Industry Awards. After a rigorous judging process from an expert industry jury, a total of 128 podcasts from 13 countries and more than 50 different podcast networks all over the globe have made the short-list and will be in with a chance of picking up an award to honour their work.

Podcasts from global networks such as The Athletic, NBC, Sky Sports, The Ringer and iHeart Media will see their podcasts face-off to be crowned top of the tree for audio content. Categories include shows that cover well-known sports such as Football, Baseball and Golf, as well as others such as _Comba_t Sports, Urban & Adventure and Winter Sports, all of which are well represented.

There are also awards for other important topical subjects within the industry including Performance and Wellbeing, Sports Business and Equality and Social Impact, as well as the coveted Sports Podcast of the Year, which will be decided from the winners of each category by the awards advisory board.

Among those sports podcasts in the running for an award is Jake Humphrey’s, High Performance Podcast, which will contest the Performance and Wellbeing category and Big Hitters awards, for which it will go up against popular US podcast The Fantasy Footballers among others.

The Equality Social Impact category will be contested by eight shows each tackling important issues within sport, these include BBC’s LGBT Sports Podcast, climate change awareness show Emergency on Planet Sport and female football podcast Goal Diggers.

Other big names to be recognised at the shortlisting phase include The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher, The Socially Distant Sports Bar and the Joe Marler Show.

The Sports Podcast Awards were launched to unite the sports podcast community globally, from elite podcasters to grass roots and anything in between, in fact 61% of entrants to this year’s awards were independent podcasts. With recent data showing that over 20 million major sports fans in the US are tuning into podcasts at least once a week[2], sports podcasts are now among the most listened to in the world of audio content.

Speaking on the announcement, Dylan Pugh, Managing Director of Sports Industry Group said: “Announcing our shortlists for this year’s awards is the perfect way to kick off 2022, and we’re proud to have podcasts of all shapes and sizes included. Now, we want the wider podcasting community, including content creators and listeners, to engage by voting for their favourites. Joining the Sports Podcast Awards community is truly the best way to boost discoverability for your favourite podcasts and we’re very much looking forward to a fantastic virtual ceremony in March to crown our winners.”

With the shortlisted podcasts now in place, it’s the turn of the podcasters and listeners themselves to have their say on who deserves to be crowned the winner in each category. Both will have the power to decide, with a unique judging format that makes this a truly democratic process.

There is still time to sign up to become a judge and Sports Podcast Awards would encourage podcasters and listeners to get in touch if they want to be part of the community. Simply visit www.sportspodcastawards.com and register to become a judge.

Now judging has begun, participants will be able to follow along as the results are recorded and shown via an ever-changing live league table for each individual category on the SPA website. You can also win prizes for being the most active and accurate judge! The winner’s announcement will then take place at the end of March with the league tables going dark for the final week to build suspense for the ceremony itself.

The full short list of categories in The Sports Podcast Awards

Best American Football Podcast

• The Nat Coombs Show
• God Bless Football
• Just Getting Started with Rich Eisen
• The Fantasy Footballers
• The Rough Cut Sportscast
• Greg Bedard’s Patriots Podcast
• The Cleats Off Podcast
• Talkin’ Giants

Best Baseball Podcast

• Wrigleyville Nation Podcast
• Too Tall Sports Podcast
• GOATS: On the Bump By Ross Stripling
• Talkin’ Baseball
• Almostcooperstown.com
• Red Sox Beat
• The Chris Rose Rotation
• That 90s Baseball Pod

Best Basketball Podcast

• Forgotten Seasons
• Got ‘Em Coach
• Basketball History 101
• Titus & Tate
• Celtics Beat
• Showtime with Michael Cooper
• Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast
• Lakers Nation

Best College Sports Podcast:

• The Jboy Show
• Buckeye Talk
• ABCA Podcast
• Athletes Unfiltered
• I-80 Preview Podcast
• Orange Bowl Boys: A Miami Hurricanes Podcast
• The Sports Stove Podcast
• The Nolecast

Best Combat Sports Podcast:

• Morning Kombat
• Fight Night Boxing Podcast
• iFL TV
• Fight Disciples
• Adam Catterall presents Frank Warren’s Heavyweight Podcast
• The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani
• Talk is Jericho
• Boxing Life Stories

Best Cricket Podcast:

• The Last Wicket
• The Cricket Library
• Middle Please, Umpire
• Teluguone Cricket Podcast
• GIVING THE GAME AWAY
• Cricket Sirf Cricket
• Cricket Daily
• Cricket Unfiltered

Best Esports Podcast:

• Esports Network Podcast
• Esports Minute
• The Football Manager Show by The Athletic

Best Fitness Podcast:

• The Pinkbike Podcast
• RowAlong
• The Training For Ultra Podcast
• Meathead Test Kitchen
• MindPump: Raw Fitness Truth
• Fit Dad Fitness
• The Running For Real Podcast
• Well Far: The Running Podcast

Best Golf Podcast:

• Sky Sports Golf Podcast
• Those Weekend Golf Guys
• Next on the nee with Chris Mascaro
• Golf Smarter
• Power of the Game
• The Open Podcasts
• The Golf Psychology Podcast
• Fore The People

Best Motorsports Podcast:

• New Track Record
• WTF1 Podcast
• Sprint Race Show
• Positive Regression: A Motorsports Analytics Podcast
• Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 Stories
• The Race F1 Podcast
• The Final Lap Weekly

Best Olympic & Paralympic Podcast:

• Off The Podium
• My Defining Moments
• A Winning Mindset: Lessons from the Paralympics
• Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality
• Keep the Flame Alive
• My New Favorite Olympian
• Monday Mile with Aimee Fuller
• Destination Tokyo

Best Rugby Podcast:

• The Eagle-Eyed Rugby Podcast
• GrassRoots - Women’s Rugby from the Roots Up
• The Rugby Pod
• RugbyPass Offload
• The Rig Biz Pod
• Out Of Your League
• The Good, The Bad & The Rugby
• MaulOver Podcast

Best Soccer Podcast:

• The Big Interview with Graham Hunter
• Transfer Talk
• The Official Fantasy Premier League Podcast
• The Totally Football Show
• The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher
• GameDay
• The Players
• Football Stories

Best Tennis Podcast:

• The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
• Rock n Roll Tennis
• Ready Play Tennis Podcast
• Control the Controllables
• The Tennis Podcast
• What you talking about Willis?
• Tennis IQ Podcast
• Hold On to Your Racket

Best Urban & Adventure Podcast:

• Off Watch
• Factor Two
• Big Deep - An Ocean Podcast
• Riders Lounge Podcast
• Tough Girl Podcast
• HeadRightOut
• How to Be Superhuman
• The Joy of SUP - the Paddleboarding Sunshine Podcast

Best Winter Sports Podcast:

• Legends of the Brand
• Hockey Night In New York
• Bruins Beat
• Poke The Bear
• FNRad Snowboarding Podcast
• The Ski Podcast
• Monday Mile with Aimee Fuller
• Here In Puckberg

Best Equality & Social Impact Podcast:

• Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
• Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality
• Goal Diggers Podcast
• Ordineroli Speaking
• Emergency on Planet Sport
• TWS Sports Podcast
• Play It Forward: Presented by PeacePlayers
• The BBC’s LGBT Sports Podcast

Best News & Current Affairs Podcast:

• Football Social Daily
• b2b Sports
• 12 To 1 with Adrian Abraham
• Sport Unlocked
• The Sports Stove Podcast
• All Things Gymnastics
• The Matt Bernier Show
• GuysBeerSports

Best Performance and Wellbeing Podcast:

• Truth + Tribe
• Rise With Us
• Slice of PIE
• The High Performance Podcast
• Raising Your Game
• Charges with Rex Chapman
• The Running For Real Podcast
• The Everyday Adventure Podcast

Best Sports Business Podcast:

• Inside Sponsorship
• The Sports Entrepreneurs Podcast by Marcus Luer
• Sporticast
• The Business Called Cricket with Rica Roy
• The Business Case For Women’s Sports
• The Drive Phase Podcast
• Are You Not Entertained?
• SportsPro Podcast

Best Sports Comedy Podcast:

• The Socially Distant Sports Bar

• Sigma Sports Presents Matt Stephens Unplugged

• Row Z

• Football Clichés

• Joe Marler Show

• BENCHED with Toast, Roman & Scoop

• The Divide Live

• Unleashed

• Best Sports Documentary Podcast:

• Sporting Witness

• Truly the GOATs

• Football’s Cult Heroes

• The Sound of Football

• Inside The Tour

• TOGETHXR: Summer of Gold

• SC Reportajes Podcast

• Defiance

Best Team Podcast:

• Wrigleyville Nation Podcast
• When Football Was Football
• Two Woods Four Quarters: A Harlequins Podcast
• Talkin’ Yanks
• Bleeding Green Nation: for Philadelphia Eagles fans
• Patriots Beat
• Garden Report
• Utd Podcast

The Big Hitters Award:

• The Jboy Show
• The Tennis Podcast
• The High Performance Podcast
• The MMA hour with Ariel Helwani
• Talk is Jericho
• Just Getting Started with Rich Eisen
• The Fantasy Footballers
• Monday Mile with Aimee Fuller

Combined awards

• Sports Podcast of the Year (TBC)

About Sports Podcast Awards

The Sports Podcast Awards, brought to you by the company behind the world-leading Sport Industry Awards and Beyond Sport Global Awards, is a brand-new annual celebration of the very best that the global sports audio community has to offer – rewarding the best podcasters in the space, uniting the industry under one umbrella, and boosting discoverability for podcasters and listeners.

About Benchmark

Benchmark is a business investing in people and ideas that inspire and deliver experiences, connections, and impact. Benchmark is an open and inclusive environment. We embrace our talent’s personal and professional ambitions, we provide a launchpad for our people’s careers and work together to bring a fulfilling experience to our teams. We will only meet our goals if we are a place where people thrive, develop and lead. Just like the communities and networks we create, ‘Togetherness’ lies at the heart of the way we operate.

About Sports Industry Group

Sport Industry Group is the world’s largest commercial sports awards, bringing the sport industry together through a series of world-class events, leading editorial content, and by uniting a genuinely unparalleled network of influential figures from across the sporting landscape.