The viewing experience for sports fans is on the cusp of changing forever. Not because of a new play-by-play hire or former athlete in the booth, but because of the continued adaptation of artificial intelligence into the broadcast experience. NBA commissioner Adam Silver spent his All-Star Saturday press conference heralding the excitement about what adaptations could be coming to a sports telecast near you.
The options are seemingly limitless: games in any language, muting commentary, alternative commentary such as alt-casts, social media interactions, and more. The leagues are attempting to make the broadcast model more inclusive than the networks that pay to carry the games themselves. This presents a massive opportunity for sports radio.
Far too often, sports radio has lagged behind trends in how sports fans seek content in the digital landscape. However, if the NBA and other leagues are becoming more welcoming to additional partners or ideas for unique in-game content, the time is now for sports radio to plan its own alt-cast.
Depending on the market, the debate about what defines success for sports radio differs. In totality, it is a combination of ratings share, revenue, and digital reach and engagement. Some markets value one metric more than others, while some no longer consider traditional ratings share to hold significant value in 2026.
The other two metrics still apply heavily to every market: how to grow the audience on the digital frontier while applying sponsorship dollars to the effort. For decades, sports fans have sought content on their own timeline, and sports radio has adapted. However, in most cases, it has played from behind, lagging behind the rise of sports podcasts and their expansion into video distribution.
How sports radio adapts to AI is the next challenge facing the format. While some broadcast companies ensure a guaranteed human approach, others have attempted to apply AI models to what consumers have always trusted. Like anything in radio, the process has involved trial and error, with lessons to be learned.
When Adam Silver said the viewing experience could change forever, with limitless ways to watch NBA games, my sports radio antennas went up. If NBA fans will soon choose who they listen to during a broadcast, why shouldn’t sports radio hosts be ready to meet that demand?
Or will this be another opportunity that sports radio lets go to the voice of a local podcaster?
If what the research says is true — that sports radio hosts rank among the most trusted voices for consumers — why not lean completely into that notion? For example, if AI is going to allow me as an NBA viewer to watch the game while choosing who I want to hear commentate on it, why isn’t my sports radio host an option?
This past College Football Playoff National Championship game offered options where I could listen to the Indiana radio network or the Miami Hurricanes radio network while watching the game on ESPN Unlimited.
What’s to say that, with advancing technology, ESPN or the University of Indiana couldn’t reach an agreement with 93.5 and 107.5 The Fan that would allow me to access a second screen featuring Kevin Bowen, Jeff Rickard, and James Boyd providing a watch-along cast?
You could also turn it around and ask why the same couldn’t apply for Hurricanes fans with Joe Rose or Hochman, Crowder and Solana.
Am I wrong to think the NBA would be open to more content hubs providing real-time coverage of its product? Is it unreasonable to believe that a major professional sports league would welcome partnered radio broadcasters to add a localized feel that fans could select as a go-to option on their television broadcasts?
With AI, nothing seems impossible, and leagues are starting to take notice. Sports radio brands should as well.
We have already seen how the rise of alt-casts has provided more options for viewers to watch and enjoy games. Why wouldn’t networks and leagues work with local partners in their markets to create a more affordable way to expand their content distribution models?
If WWE can lean into the streaming watch-along community and showcase those reactions in montages, why wouldn’t professional sports take the next step? In the race to create content, leagues constantly search for innovative ways to engage with their fan bases anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
Rather than relying primarily on sports betting advertising revenue for survival, sports radio should prioritize being live during games. That strategy may represent its last clear opportunity to disrupt. It could prove critical before AI begins to challenge the trusted voice of the local host.
The blueprint is available. Next time you’re watching your local team, do a quick search on YouTube, Twitch, or Rumble. The watch-along demo reel is there, now it’s on sports radio to enhance and own it.
Instead of waiting to see how AI reshapes the sidelines, sports radio should sprint toward it. The next great competitive advantage will not be who hires the splashiest former athlete or who wins the next ratings book. It will be who embeds themselves into the live game experience in a way that feels indispensable.
If fans are being handed the remote — and soon the algorithm — to decide how they experience a game, sports radio faces a choice. It can remain a reactionary medium, recapping what already happened. Or it can become a selectable layer of the broadcast itself.
The technology is arriving whether radio participates or not. The leagues are exploring it. The networks are evaluating it. The fans are expecting it.
So the real question isn’t whether AI will change sports broadcasting.
It’s whether sports radio will be bold enough to change with it.
Because in a world where viewers can choose any voice, in any language, with any tone, the most valuable currency won’t be signal strength — it will be trust.
And if sports radio truly believes its hosts are the most trusted voices in the market, then the time has come to prove it. Not after the game, not the next morning, but live, in the moment, as part of the experience itself.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
