100+ Best Markets to Publish Sports Writing

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Sports are a little bit exciting.

Whether it’s a one legged wrestler pinning his opponent to the ground, a sixteen year old girl making the perfect landing after ten years of training, or an Olympic swimmer winning gold at only a quarter second’s difference between lightning strikes — sports are quite extraordinary in their simplicity.

But we’re not here to talk about playing sports, watching sports, or reading about sports.

We’re here to talk about writing about sports.

Some people can take a sports story that would have put someone to sleep and tell it in such a way that readers get goosebumps and their breath can’t quite make it to their lungs because suddenly, they are there when Mallory Holtman carries an opposing player across the bases; they are there when Jordan makes his final shot and Manning throws his last pass; when Landon Donovan makes his all-or-nothing goal in the World cup; when a rookie team of American Hockey players make history so suddenly that it’s considered a miracle.

Some freelance sports writers just capture the magic of sports.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been much of a fan of reading about sports, not until I found some stories that could take an athletic idol and turn him into a human being with weaknesses, past loves, and regrets, and can turn the action of throwing a ball through a hoop into magic.

That takes talent, and if you’re reading this, I trust that you’ve got that spark and simply want to make sure that your story of blood, sweat, and tears gets the readership it deserves.

I’ve compiled a list of the top places for freelance sports writers to publish sports stories and articles, based on how often they have appeared in The Best American Sports Writing. The magazines and websites that got a story into the content of the book received three points, while the places with “notable mention” stories received one point.

This information was compiled completely for the benefit of those freelance sports writers looking for a place to get their sports article published. I only researched the previous five years (2011 – 2015) because they are recent enough to be useful, and this post will continue to be updated.

Happy reading and happy writing!

Best Markets for Freelance Sports Writing:

1. Sports Illustrated 50
 
2. ESPN.com 37
3. ESPN: The Magazine

The New Yorker

31
4. GQ 26
5.

Deadspin.com

Runner’s World

20
6. The New York Times 18
7. SBNation.com 16
8. Men’s Journal

New York Times Magazine

10
9. Outside

Rolling Stone

SportsOnEarth.com

Texas Monthly

ThePostGame.com

9
10. Los Angeles Times 8
11. Sport Literate

Washington Post

7
12. D Magazine

The Atlantic

6
13. Buzzfeed.com

Esquire

Playboy

Washingtonian

Washington Post Magazine

Yahoo.com

5
14. 5280

Basketball Times

Garden & Gun

Harper’s Magazine

Kansas City Star

Longform

Philadelphia

Sportsnet

The Daily Beast

The Philadelphia Daily News

Yahoo! Sports

4
15. ABCNews.com

Boston Magazine

Buffalo News

Fox Sports

Jacobin

n+1

Narrativemagazine.com

New Nowhere

Onlyagame.wbur.

SportsIllustrated.com

TheAwl.com

The Believer

The Boston Globe

The New Republic

USA Today

Wired.com

3
16. Bike

CBSSports.com

Foxsports.com

MLB.com

Riverfront Times

Sporting News

St. Petersburg Times

Stymie

The Alpinist

TheClassical.org

The Columbian

Wall Street Journal

Washington Times

2
17. Afar

Anchorage

Baltimore Sun

Bamboo Ridge Press

Beaumont Enterprise

Bicycling

BillandDavesCocktailHour.com

Columbus Republic

Creative Nonfiction

Detroit News

Edmonton Journal

ESPNW.com

Field & Stream

Fortune

Goldenseal

Golf World

Gulf Coast

Hana Hou!

Harrisburg Patriot News

Helena Independent Record

Mayborn

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency

Miami Herald

Miami New

Mother Jones

Muncie Star Press

New Letters

New Orleans Times Picayune

New York Daily News

Newsday

OC Weekly

Omaha World-Herald

Paris Review Daily

Peloton

Philadelphia Inquirer

Richmond

Roopstigo.com

Salon.com

San Francisco Chronicle

Scenedaily.com

Scuba Diving

Seattle Times

SF Weekly

Skiing

Slake

Slate.com

Southern Review

Southern Humanities Review

Speed

Sporting Journal

The American Fly Fisher

The East Bay Express

The Chicago Tribune

The Classical

The Greeley Tribune

The Howler

The Indianapolis Star

The Pitch

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Tyee

Time

Tulsa World

Vanity Fair

Westword

Wired

WV Living Magazine

1
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