After Mike Golic Sr. was tweeting regularly about playing DraftKings with his pals, the sports-betting company reached out to the former ESPN host and commentator — and offered him a deal for his own podcast.
Golic will host a one-hour weekly video podcast alongside Meadowlark Media personality Jessica Smetana for DraftKings. The show will cover the intersection of sports news and culture and is slated to feature interviews with special guests. The as-yet-untitled podcast is expected to debut this spring across major audio platforms.
“I’m excited to do a podcast with DraftKings,” Golic said in an interview. “DraftKings is one of the top players in this game… I think about where gambling is going to be in the next few years, and I think it’s great that DraftKings is growing its content.”
“Jess is a bit younger than me,” said Golic, who is 59. “She is very talented. We both love sports, we both love Notre Dame, and with the generational gap we’ll have a good time doing it.”
DraftKings will produce the weekly show. Golic said the deal for the show runs multiple years: “We’re going to do this for a bit!”
According to Golic, he and his friend play DraftKings on Sundays, and the company approached him after seeing his Twitter updates. “We want to get more people to jump on DraftKings… and get my fanbase over to the platform,” Golic said.
Golic played nine seasons in the NFL as defensive lineman, then spent 25 years working for ESPN as an analyst and talk-show host, most notably for ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” and “Golic and Wingo” alongside Trey Wingo. “I loved my time at ESPN!” he said. “They felt my time was up there.”
Meanwhile, Golic’s son Mike Golic Jr. also recently left ESPN. “He’s a grown-ass man, he will tell everyone what’s going on with him,” said Golic Sr. The whole family gets together to record the occasional episode of “Sorry in Advance: The Golic Family Podcast.”
DraftKings’ deal with Golic and Smetana for their new weekly show is separate from the multiyear pact the sports-wagering company inked last year with Meadowlark, the media firm co-founded by ex-ESPN boss John Skipper and Dan Le Batard. As part of that deal, DraftKings secured distribution rights to “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” and “Le Batard & Friends Network.”
