Five Reasons Sports podcasting has been a staple in the world of insider info for South Florida sports since 2018, and that is thanks to CEO Ethan Skolnick. His career as a journalist helped him transform a mere idea into a successful company in just five years.
Five Reasons Sports is made up of different podcasts about the area’s five main sport teams: the Heat, the Dolphins, Inter Miami CF, the Marlins and the Florida Panthers.
“Five on the Floor, ” a Heat podcast, recently made it to the top eight basketball podcasts in the United States, and became the number one local team podcast on the Apple Podcast app.
As the Heat training camp opened Tuesday in Boca Raton, “Five on the Floor” began working on overdrive to provide fans from around the world with content and information.
“They’re reliable, which is very helpful now-a-days because people are always posting news without [sources],” said Angelo Hevia, a longtime follower of Five Reasons. “And they report very fast as well.”
Skolnick never imagined that this small idea would turn into the biggest career change of his life.
His past work with several newspapers, including the Palm Beach Post, the Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald, helped him garner a big social media following. And that helped him promote his newly created network “Five Reason Sports.”
He is a believer in the term “fanalyst.” That is mixing the views of a fan and analyst.
“The readership, listenership, the viewership, they appreciate it when you care as much as they do,” Skolnick said. “People say we are a little too ‘homerish.’ I think we are of the perspective of the fan, where we are going to criticize the team when they don’t do what we think they should do.”
That helps Skolnick and the team at Five Reasons connect with their audience when reporting on the Heat.
National media tend not to consistently focus in depth on South Florida teams, and that’s where “Five on the Floor” comes in. The podcast includes a variety of hosts including Skolnick, report in detail on the Heat.
“The national media do not serve the local audiences,” Skolnick said. “Most of the national media is based out of Boston, New York or Los Angeles. So they are going to naturally favor those teams in the amount they are covered, and the way they are covered.”
That’s how “Five on the Floor” differs from shows like “First Take” on ESPN, he says.
Giancarlos Navas, host of another South Florida-based Miami Heat podcast, MiamiHeatBeat, had his podcast under the Five Reasons Sports wing for a couple years before leaving the company.
“They have daily content,” Navas said. “I think if you’re a Heat fan, especially in Miami traffic, you’re going to need a couple hours of material to listen to.”
Skolnick is confident in his work, “I feel fairly knowledgeable when I talk about something with the Heat, or I can tell you when I don’t know about something,” Skolnick said.
Skolnick hopes to grow Five Reason Sports.
“I always recommend to all the Heat fans I know to go follow Five Reasons Sports because they have been on top of the game for years now,” listener Hevia said.
The Miami Heat did not return two calls seeking comment about Skolnick and Five Reasons Sports.
