Magazines have always been popular among sports fans, because they are a source of entertainment and information for consumers. Sports magazines can be found in the aisles of stores, being sold be venders on the streets and online. Most of the target audience for sports magazines are middle-aged, male sports fans. Over the course of history of sports magazines, Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine have been the two most popular magazines for all news regarding sports.
The Top Sports Magazines
According to AllYouCanRead.com, the top ten sports magazines are:
- Sports Illustrated
- Runner’s World
- Bicycling
- Golf Digest
- Golf Magazine
- Tennis
- ESPN The Magazine
- The Hockey News
- Flex
- Slam
Sports Illustrated was first published on August 16, 1954. This magazine has become the most well-known sports magazines in the country, being read by approximately 23 million people each week. Sports Illustrated has over 3 million subscribers. Just like most of the trends of print media, Sports Illustrated is now mostly being consumed online.
The cover of each Sports Illustrated is a big deal for those who read the magazine. Being on the cover of this historic magazine is a true honor. The first cover of Sports Illustrated in 1954 was of Eddie Matthews of the Milwaukee Braves and New York Giants’ catcher Wes Westrum during a baseball game in Milwaukee. The most recent cover of Sports Illustrated is a team photo of the Boston Red Sox celebrating after they won World Series. Over the past sixty years, athletes on the covers have included Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, and Muhammed Ali.
One of the biggest attractions to Sports Illustrated is the Swimsuit Issue. The first edition was produced on January 20, 1964. This special edition produced yearly has been controversial because of the female models posing very provocatively in very small bikinis. Many women see this annual edition of Sports Illustrated as demeaning for women, while other women see the edition as empowering for women.
In the scholarly article Athletic or Sexy? A Comparison of Female Athletes and Fashion Models in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues, Kayoung Kim and Michael Sagas studied the history of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and its impact on the perception of women. The authors concluded that women must present a body and appearance that conforms to the social norms perceived by heterosexual men. They also concluded that this edition is consistently one of Sports Illustrated, because of the notion that “sex sells.”
ESPN The Magazine is the official magazine of the world-wide leader in sports, ESPN. According to Statista, ESPN The Magazine had a reach of 100.26 million people in 2015. This magazine has been produced for over twenty years. The first ESPN The Magazine was produced on March 11, 1998 with Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez being on the cover. Just like Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine focuses on stories and statistics from all the major sports.
One of the most popular aspects of ESPN The Magazine is the Body Issue, the first being published on October 19, 2009. The Body Issue was ESPN’s response to the Swimsuit Edition of Sports Illustrated, however, ESPN The Magazine uses popular athletes’ bodies to show off instead of models. There has been less controversy over this yearly edition because the athletes are the main subjects instead of models.
Media and Sports 
I enjoyed reading this post a lot. It is super interesting to see the transition from print to online. It shows how important of a role magazines play in sports media. Even with print slowly transitioning to online, we still see Sports Illustrated magazine and others surviving in the hard copy print industry because of it’s importance and popularity. My family is still subscribed!
LikeLike
This is a very interesting post bout athletics in magazines! I was surprised to learn about how many subscribers some of these magazines have. I was intrigued about the issue of athletics vs. models and body displaying on the covers of some magazines and I wish you would have talked more about that. The issue seems to have gone on for a long time without seeming to have changed much, and I would love to see if it has or not! Also your URL’s may be easier to read if you Just put a word or phrase instead of a citation.
LikeLike
I have always found it interesting that sports magazines were so popular, especially in this day and age. Despite the development of social media, magazines have remained popular. I imagine this is similar to the argument that Vivian presented when she spoke on how books are not dead either despite growing technology. I was especially interested in your section about the bikini series and how, as time continued, controversy has grown. Now, the idea of a woman posing like these models do is almost dehumanizing and seems as if women are being used as a prop. I am especially interested to see how this specific magazines grows and develops over the years during the time of the feminist movement!
LikeLike