The first podcast festival in America devoted solely to sports content is coming to Raleigh, North Carolina on August 24, 2024. Produced by September Creative, The Sports Podcast Festival Presented by Breeze Thru will feature three shows.

Popular national shows The Shutdown Fullcast and Hand in the Dirt will join one of North Carolina’s fastest-growing shows, Ovies & Giglio, live on stage to celebrate a new college football season.

“Shows like the three that will be on our stage are why sports fans flock to podcasts,” said September Creative founder Demetri Ravanos. “They deserve their own party and we’re going to throw it! What we did was look for shows that had significant audience crossover with one another. I truly don’t think we could have asked for a better lineup in year one.”

The Sports Podcast Festival will take place at the recently refurbished Rialto Theater.

“Working with Demetri to bring The Sports Podcast Festival here is perfectly in line with our vision,” said Rialto Theater owner Hayes Permar. “We can’t wait to build and grow this into an incredible annual event. But most importantly, we have a bunch of really cool people from the sports world coming and also Joe Ovies.”

Joe Ovies is one half of Ovies & Giglio, which will open The Sports Podcast Festival. He and partner Joe Giglio left Raleigh radio last year and launched their podcast which has already reached nearly 2 million people. 

Next in the lineup for The Sports Podcast Festival is Hand in the Dirt. The hosts, Michael Felder, Michael Surber, and Stephen Hartzell, describe their show as a “gardening podcast about football,” which mixes talk about being a dad and owning a home with serious college football conversation. 

Headlining The Sports Podcast Festival is The Shutdown Fullcast. Billing itself as “the internet’s only college football podcast,” the show, hosted by Holly Anderson, Spencer Hall, Jason Kirk, and Ryan Nanni, garners millions of downloads each year.

Tickets for The Sports Podcast Festival go on sale on Saturday, May 25 via eTix. For more information, including announcements about other events surrounding the festival, follow @SportsPodFest on Instagram and X.

With all of the coverage that will take place of the NFL Draft, Yahoo Sports has added a new wrinkle for iOS users through their app. Fans with iPhones will be able to react in real-time with emojis to each draft pick.

A promotional video for the feature says, “…If you’re an iPhone user and you’re watching the draft, open up the Yahoo Sports app where you will find a brand-new feature that lets you react, right away, to every pick as it happens.

“Do you love it? Are you cringe worthy? Are you curious? You can let the world know and even better you can see how the world is reacting. Why wait until the day after to hear the grades and hear the reactions when you can do it right then, real-time with us at Yahoo Sports.”

Yesterday, Yahoo Sports announced former Alabama and NFL running back Damien Harris was joining their draft coverage team. Harris will team up with Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson, Matt Harmon, and Adam Gorney on the show which will air on the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel during the first three rounds of the draft.

Yahoo Sports has announced Damien Harris is joining their team as an NFL Draft analyst.

The former NFL running back will contribute to “Yahoo Sports Draft Live,” a show that will air on the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel during the first three rounds of the NFL Draft. The show premieres Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.

Harris will team up with Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson, Matt Harmon, and Adam Gorney on the show.

Harris, who played for both Nick Saban and Bill Belichick, played five seasons in the NFL prior to retiring from the league last month. In stints with the Patriots and Bills, he rushed for 2,188 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was a third-round draft pick by the Patriots out of Alabama, where he won two national championships.