New Podcast From Sports Illustrated And iHeartMedia Launches Today

John Gonzalez was part of a generation of future sports news journalists who grew up reading Sports Illustrated voraciously, cover-to-cover, every week. Waiting for each issue’s arrival in the mailbox. Consuming every edition’s content so diligently, and so thoroughly enjoying the storytelling therein, that, later on, it inspired him to pursue a career in sports media. One that’s taken him everywhere from The Ringer to now, yes, Sports Illustrated itself — where he’s a senior writer and the host of a new weekly podcast that the sports media company is launching today.

Sports Illustrated Weekly is the first of what will eventually be a slate of eight podcast co-productions born out of a deal announced last year between Sports Illustrated and iHeartMedia. Built around three segments each episode, this new weekly production led by Gonzalez will repurpose the best of Sports Illustrated’s writing, with audio — but there will also be wholly original reporting at times, completely original to the podcast.

All of which is to say, this is easily a full-circle career moment for Gonzalez, who in many respects is the perfect choice for heading up the new show.

“When they approached me about it, I was still at The Ringer,” Gonzalez told me. “We were talking, because I’ve always loved SI. It was part of the reason I wanted to get into sports media and magazine writing.

“We started talking about how you could deliver that same magazine experience in podcast form, and that led to more discussions. And then we decided — hey, you know, this is a really good way for us to give that same experience that I loved about SI, that a lot of us loved about SI. Getting the magazine in your mailbox every week. Well, now you get that same experience every week from us in audio form.”

Where and when

This free show will be available every Wednesday, on all the major podcast platforms. Episode one kicks off with sportswriter Howard Beck, who chats with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Steve Kerr, and Bob Myers about how the Golden State Warriors could be said to be in both “win now” and “rebuild” modes, simultaneously. Also, Tom Brady sits down for a 1-on-1 interview with sportswriter Jon Wertheim about how he’s changed over 20 seasons of football, as well as what his future holds.

And then there’s a segment that Gonzalez said will be a regular part of the show: “Where Were They Then?” The idea is to have a conversation with athletes about the first time they were featured in the pages of Sports Illustrated. Turning the “Where are they now?” concept inside out, as it were (“Which leads into all sorts of interesting interview directions,” Gonzalez pointed out).

That first “Where Were They Then?” segment features NFL offensive lineman Joe Thomas. And this is also a good place to point out — the podcast, distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network, will cover the breadth of sports, not just big names and big games from leagues like the NBA and NFL. Segments will also touch on everything from the upcoming Olympics to Premier League soccer.

Gonzalez will also dive into unforgettable moments in sports as well as take listeners behind the scenes of college football’s “coaching carousel” — and even share the story of a soccer hooligan turned crime kingpin.

Sports Illustrated + iHeartMedia

According to the details of the audio content partnership that Sports Illustrated and iHeartMedia announced in the summer, Sports Illustrated Weekly will actually be the first of eight original titles. And the iHeartPodcast Network — home to more than 750 original podcasts, with over 250 million monthly downloads — is distributing all of the new shows as well as Sports Illustrated’s existing podcasts across iHeartRadio and everywhere podcasts are heard.

Other projects to come from this partnership include Lateral Damage, a podcast developed by the Sports Illustrated Studios production company that launched in 2020. From the same announcement last year, this soon-to-come podcast “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.”