Going Deep with Donnovan Bennett

2024 is rapidly coming to an end, and to look back on a busy year in sports, Donnovan brings on Breakfast Television's Sid Seixeiro to put a few items in perspective. They take a spin around each major North American league, and debate who is currently the best QB in the NFL, the NBA seemingly suffering from a lack of compelling stars, the NHL marching towards best-on-best once again, and MLB handing out gargantuan contracts in the middle of their off-season. Plus, they chat about Canada Soccer and get into the many (many) college football bowl games. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

It's official, the first international WNBA franchise has a name: the Toronto Tempo! With the name and logo out in the world, Donnovan chats with Teresa Resch (2:01), Tempo President, on what went into the naming process, the colour scheme selection, the reaction to the name/logo being accidentally leaked, and the timelines behind what comes next. Afterwards, Donnovan takes a look at the wide world of Formula One racing, and chats with The Athletic's F1 senior writer Luke Smith (43:08) about the F1 season wrapping up - they discuss what was an unpredictable season in many ways, including Lewis Hamilton deciding to drive for Ferrari and General Motors announcing they will soon enter the grid as a new team. Toronto Tempo Website: https://tempo.wnba.com/ Bringing Home The W Podcast: https://bringing-home-the-w.simplecast.com/ Luke Smith's F1 Book 'On The Grid': https://linktr.ee/onthegridf1book The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Donnovan takes a trip back to his Scarborough roots, where the Giants of Africa Foundation hosted an all-girls basketball clinic in the neighbourhood of Malvern. He speaks to the Raptors' Masai Ujiri (1:20), the creator and founder of GoA, and the coaches of the two teams in Team Canada's Kia Nurse (8:56) and Tamara Tatham (15:49) - they discuss the many reasons why these events are important, the impact Giants of Africa is having in both Canada and abroad in Africa as well, and Tamara gets into her own Scarborough roots, having grown up not too far from where the clinic took place. Afterwards, Donnovan chats with Scarborough native and Paralympian Marissa Papaconstantinou (23:13), as the Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is raising funds to better serve the 25% of Toronto that live in the east end - they discuss her upbringing, including how she received her care at SHN while growing up with her disability in Scarborough. Donate to Giants of Africa: https://giantsofafrica.org/donate/ Donate to SHN: https://www.shnfoundation.ca/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

The PWHL returns for another year, complete with team names and logos, and as the teams hit the ice, Donnovan chats with the league's SVP of Hockey Operations and Hockey Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford (3:05) - they get into what went into the success of the league's inaugural season, what next steps look like, and how they continue to grow both the league and hockey at-large. Afterwards, Donnovan chats with Canadian composer Andrew Lockington (25:08), who is behind Amazon's Monday Night NHL theme song - they discuss what goes into making an iconic theme song, how he became a composer in the first place, and shares some love for his favourite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Plus, with American Thanksgiving giving viewers more NFL games than usual, Donnovan and Sho chat with Andrew Brandt (44:23), former NFL VP with the Packers and now host of the Business of Sports podcast - they get into the running back resurgence across the league (including monster years for Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs) and discuss the rise in international games over the years. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

With the calendar almost ready to flip over to 2025, Donnovan looks ahead at the coming year for Canadian soccer at all levels - to start, he's joined by former CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon (3:04), who has recently signed on to join the new Northern Super League as chair of its board of directors. What will the inaugural season look like in the spring and how do you manage a new group of team owners? Afterwards, Donnovan chats with Kristian Jack, Vice President of Media for the Canadian Premier League and broadcaster on OneSoccer (25:00) - they discuss the recently concluded CPL season, Jesse Marsch and the men's national team competing in the CONCACAF Nations League tournament, the recent Canada Soccer independent review, and their beloved Three Lions getting set to finally replace Gareth Southgate with Thomas Tuchel in the new year. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.