Barrett Media
Author (when available): BSM Staff
The iHeartPodcast Awards were handed out last night at the Moody Theater as SXSW is once again taking hold of Austin, TX. This annual event celebrates excellence in podcasting, and among the honorees was Sarah Spain, host of the Good Game podcast. She received the prestigious Social Impact Award for her compelling coverage of women’s sports, highlighting stories about equal pay for female athletes and more.
While emphasizing the thrilling rise in attention on women’s sports, Spain accepted the 2025 Social Impact Award with a lighthearted remark, joking that she expected to win because they had told her ahead of time that she would be the honoree.
“An Icon Award usually goes to someone that’s kind of old, but I won’t take offense to that,” joked Spain. “I have been at the women’s sports game for quite some time. And while it took a couple extra years—a couple extra decades, actually—than most of us were hoping for, it’s still really thrilling to see the interest in women’s sports explode.”
Spain, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist, teamed up with iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports & Entertainment to produce the Good Game podcast. This show is a key part of iHeartMedia’s Women’s Sports Audio Network, which houses several podcasts on the iHeartRadio app and produces women’s sports updates aired on iHeartRadio stations nationwide.
During her acceptance speech, Spain expressed gratitude for the platform she has been given. “I’m so glad that iHeart trusted my veteran voice in this space to host the first and only daily women’s sports podcast on any major platform,” she noted. “I want to thank iHeart for diving into the women’s sports space with more than just my show, Good Game with Sarah Spain, but also with an entire iHeart Women’s Sports Audio Network, and by putting my thrice-daily women’s sports updates on every single one of their 500 radio stations nationwide. Because ‘sports, weather, and traffic’ means women’s sports, too.”
Since the inception of her podcast, Spain has expressed hope that it would create a space where women’s sports fans feel welcomed and included in the broader sports community. Historically, sports conversations have largely centered around men’s competitions. In reflecting on the award, she encouraged even more people to embrace and engage with women’s sports.
“I promise, once you dive in and you learn the stars, states, stats, and stories of women’s sports just like we know them in men’s sports, you are going to be hooked,” said Spain. “We will just tell you to hop on the bandwagon now and become an orange slice—which is part of our community—and join us. Because even though we’ve been here for a long time, I’m pretty sure we’re still just getting started.”
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