The National Football League is calling a new audible — a bunch of them, actually.
The NFL formed an exclusive multiyear podcast partnership with iHeartMedia, a deal that encompasses plans to coproduce and distribute two dozen new original shows.
Under the pact, iHeartMedia will distribute NFL Media’s seven existing podcasts — “Around the NFL,” “Move the Sticks,” “NFL Fantasy Football,” “Huddle and Flow,” “NFL Total Access: The Locker Room,” “Good Morning Football” and “NFL Legends.”
For the NFL’s new podcast slate, iHeartMedia will work with NFL Films to use “some of the best content from their archives” while also creating new podcasts focusing on NFL history and insider access to the league. The new slate of podcasts also will be distributed through the iHeartPodcast Network; the shows are expected to be in progress by this summer, ahead of the 2021 NFL season.
The deal with iHeart comes after the NFL last month clinched long-term TV and streaming contracts — estimated to be worth more than $100 billion through 2033 — with Fox, Disney/ABC, NBCU, ViacomCBS and Amazon.
“Podcasts are an increasingly important way to reach fans and a compelling way to tell NFL stories,” Kevin LaForce, the NFL’s SVP of media strategy and business development, said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with iHeartMedia to bring the NFL Podcast Network to life and deliver our podcast content seamlessly to fans on their platform and anywhere podcasts are consumed.”
“The NFL represents sports at its highest level — with the greatest athletes and the most heart-pounding games the world has seen,” commented Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. “These are legendary stories, and we can’t wait to roll out a slate of incredible new podcasts to capture it all — for iHeart’s huge audience and the NFL’s massive fanbase alike.”
iHeartMedia claims it reaches over 250 million people each month, including through its network of more than 860 broadcast radio stations across the U.S.
