I am a bit late to the party but Podcasts are one of my fav past times. A few ideas I have to throw out there.
1: You don't have to be just a pod cast and don't necessarily need all the "equipment" to start.
WrestlingINC for example is a podcast on wrestling, Uploads video on Youtube and audio on all your usual podcast apps. These guys are just using standard pc/gaming Headphones with a mic. You can always upgrade later if you have success. Also being on both is a no brainer for potential income from advertisement. Zoom is an option for hosting a video style pod, you can record it and everything here is a link on how
https://krisp.ai/blog/record-podcast-on-zoom/
Also if you have a youtube page, you can upload player highlight vids that have been up here each week. The more people who click a vid of Darren, means they may also look to see what else BHQ Cast is uploading and find the actual Podcast.
2: Keep it simple early on until the team who is involved gets some chemistry. Review the game from last week and talk about the next weeks match up. Do some player breakdowns, who had a good game, who is in form ect. Maybe highlight some of the opposing team. You have these conversations all the time, at the pub, at work, at the gym , at the kids footy training. low prep, not complex and can easily be adlib. Maybe once in a while talk about an ex player, a legend of the club. Do an origin special. You name it you can do it. Just don't talk about anything but footy, no Covid, No Qanon, No politics and no other bs. People use pods to hear people talk about things they are interested in, it's like sitting in on a conversation without having input. Like friends without the friends if you get my drift.
3: I think 3 people is a good number for hosts, you need one primary shot caller who keeps the convo moving, a guy who knows his shit and somebody who can bring a bit of spark/laughs without being annoying. Plan the format of the episode, the general outline but don't script it.
4: Always stick to the format promised, if you say it is a weekly, stick to it. People will not come back if you miss a week, they will find something else to listen to. Engage on youtube, this is very important, use the discussion panel, ask the people how long eps should be ect or if there is something they would like talked about ect.
A personal opinion on length is at least an hour for a sport pod, people like to listen on the way to work and on the way home, or while they work out ect.
5: Have fun with it, people like to listen to people who enjoy and know what they are talking about.
6: Potentially use the preseason as your own preseason and just upload some content here for some feed back, if we will not listen to you nobody will haha.
7: Doing the episode on a Tuesday after the teams are released is the go, upload on the Wednesday.
