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Best podcasts · Updated

The 24 best sports podcasts in 2026.

As of Oct 28, 2026, Real Alpha’s ranking of 5 sports podcasts puts Stick to Football, Pablo Torre Finds Out, The High Performance Podcast, The Pivot Podcast and All the Smoke at the top, by the minutes worth watching cut from each. We follow 84 long-form podcasts and cut those minutes from their episodes. These are the shows we follow where athletes, coaches and the people who run sport talk about their own careers, rather than last night’s game. This list ranks the 5 we follow that fit it: the 2 we’ve cut 6 moments from, then 3 we haven’t cut yet. Then come 19 more we don’t follow, A to Z. It changes as we cut more.

How we rank: Each moment we’ve cut from a show earns a point, plus one when an AI builder is the one talking. Its episode’s points are multiplied by how many people watched it on YouTube: once at 100,000 views, half as much again for each tenfold more and half less for each tenfold fewer. A moment’s points halve every year after its episode came out. Each show is scored on its five best episodes by those points, so posting more often doesn’t lift it. Shows we follow but haven’t cut from yet come after, by the views their episodes usually get on YouTube.

The ranking

  1. No. 1. Stick to Football

    Stick to Football is a sports talk and interview show, hosted by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Jill Scott, with a new episode every week.

    Top guests: Sylvester Stallone

    Start with:Stallone designed Rocky around the flaws that held him back

  2. No. 2. Pablo Torre Finds Out

    Pablo Torre Finds Out is a sports talk and interview show, hosted by Pablo Torre, with a new episode a few times a week.

    Top guests: Kiera Butler, Brad Logan

    Start with:A payment vendor says LifeSurge workers solicited reviews

  3. No. 3. The High Performance Podcast

    The High Performance Podcast is a sports talk and interview show, hosted by Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes, with a new episode every day.

    Not cut yet. Its episodes usually get about 790,000 views on YouTube.

  4. No. 4. The Pivot Podcast

    The Pivot Podcast is a sports talk and interview show, hosted by Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder, with a new episode about twice a week.

    Not cut yet. Its episodes usually get about 410,000 views on YouTube.

  5. No. 5. All the Smoke

    All the Smoke is a sports talk and interview show, hosted by Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, with a new episode every day.

    Not cut yet.

19 more sports podcasts we don’t follow

We don’t follow these, so they aren’t ranked. Here they are A to Z, each linking to where you can listen.

The same shows, by what they cover

Best NFL podcasts

  1. 04The Pivot Podcast
  2. The Athletic Football Show
  3. Club Shay Shay
  4. The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny
  5. New Heights
  6. Pardon My Take
  7. The Pat McAfee Show
  8. The Ringer NFL Show

Best NBA and basketball podcasts

  1. 05All the Smoke
  2. The Draymond Green Show
  3. Mind the Game
  4. The Zach Lowe Show

Best football and soccer podcasts

  1. 01Stick to Football
  2. Football Weekly
  3. Men In Blazers
  4. The Rest Is Football
  5. Rio Ferdinand Presents
  6. The Totally Football Show

Best hockey podcasts

  1. 32 Thoughts: The Podcast
  2. Spittin Chiclets

Questions

What is the number one sports podcast?

Stick to Football is the number one sports podcast in Real Alpha’s ranking of 5, as of Oct 28, 2026. It has 3 moments cut from one episode.

What is the best daily sports podcast?

The High Performance Podcast, No. 3 of 5 in Real Alpha’s ranking, is the best-ranked one with a new episode every day.

How does Real Alpha rank sports podcasts?

Each moment we’ve cut from a show earns a point, plus one when an AI builder is the one talking. Its episode’s points are multiplied by how many people watched it on YouTube: once at 100,000 views, half as much again for each tenfold more and half less for each tenfold fewer. A moment’s points halve every year after its episode came out. Each show is scored on its five best episodes by those points, so posting more often doesn’t lift it. Shows we follow but haven’t cut from yet come after, by the views their episodes usually get on YouTube. Then come the shows we don’t follow, unranked, A to Z.

More lists, ranked the same way