One of the many trends in sports is after star athletes retire, many of them will write autobiographies about their life and career. Even if the book is not an autobiography, many of the athletes are closely involved in the writing process about books about themselves. Stories from top athletes can inspire the audience when the readers see the adversity and struggles these stars have overcome to be the best athletes in the respective sports.

Many sports biographies follow the two-step flow model because the athletes are opinion leaders and can influence the readers. For example, a biography about Michael Jordan mentions how he tried to make five hundred shots everyday. A young reader may see this and go shoot basketball until he makes five hundred shots because he wants to be the next Michael Jordan.

Athletes also use books to share their side of the story when it comes to a controversy or opposing opinions. They frame their story in a light that they feel is the truth, when some media outlets frame the controversy in a negative light. One example of is Tim Tebow and his two books. Tebow gives a very detailed look into his life and some of his personal beliefs and stories.

Nearly all books regarding the sports industry, especially books about athletes, are known as trade books. Even though most of print media is on the decline, books continue to survive because of technology. According to Vivian, there were 571 million paper books sold in the United States in 2015.  Jeff Bezos and Amazon have become the largest book supplier in the world with their online bookstore. A reader looking for a sports book about any athlete, team, event or sport can go to Amazon and there are thousands of books available to buy in seconds.

There have been thousands of sports books written throughout the history of print media in the sports industry. The Department of Public Instruction in Wisconsin and Men’s Journal have both created lists of the best sports books and biographies of all time.

Top Current Sports Biographies, according to Amazon:

• Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality: How I Play
• Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Racing to the Finish: My Story
• The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy
• Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
• Bobby Orr’s Bobby: My Story in Pictures

Just like many other industries merging together, the print industry and film industry has increasingly merged together. There have been many sports books and biographies that have later been turned into movies. Several examples of sports books becoming movies is:

• Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game turned into the movie Moneyball starring Brad Pitt
• G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team and a Dream turned into the ESPY Award-winning movie Friday Night Lights starring Billy Bob Thorton.
• Michael Lewis’ The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game turned into the movie The Blind Side

 

Sources:

Friday Night Lights

Men’s Journal

Moneyball

SheKnows

The Blind Side

Tim Tebow’s Shaken

Vivian

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

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.

According to AllYouCanRead.com, the top ten sports magazines are:

1. Sports Illustrated 
2. Runner’s World
3. Bicycling
4. Golf Digest
5. Golf Magazine
6. Tennis
7. ESPN The Magazine
8. The Hockey News
9. Flex
10. 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.

 

 

For Further Reading:

Sports Illustrated

ESPN The Magazine.

Magazine Covers

Athletic or Sexy? A Comparison of Female Athletes and Fashion Models in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues

Statistica

Sports Illustrated Information and History

Top Sports Magazines

In today’s society that is driven by technology, the print media is slowly fading into anonymity. However, newspapers still play a crucial role for sports fans. The main goal of all newspapers is to inform the public of events around the country, unlike social media and some aspects of television where the main goal is to entertain viewers.

Before the era of sports on television, newspapers were the main way citizens were able to see information on sport events around the country. Thanks to the creation of the penny papers in the early 1800s, newspapers quickly became the main mass media tool because people from all economic classes were able to see the current news, including sports. During the Industrial Revolution and the evolution of the printing press, the quality, quantity and the speed of production significantly increased for newspapers. Newspapers today continue to allow consumers to access information both local and national sports news.

There are several advantages of newspapers over other media platforms like television, radio, the Internet and social media. The first advantage is that newspaper allows citizens to have a physical copy to hold, instead of a quick video highlight of a game or a tweet regarding scores. Another advantage is the in-depth analysis and statistics that are included in newspapers. Sports writers and editors for newspapers give opinions and a thorough recap of the game or match.  A third advantage is that newspapers reach a different audience. According to John Vivian, the main consumers of sports and other information from newspapers are older, more educated and have a higher income compared to consumers of other platforms.

In the past fifteen years, the average newspaper circulation has dramatically dropped for both weekdays and on Sundays, according to the Pew Research Center:

• 55,185,000 on weekdays and 58,495,000 on Sundays in 2003.
• 34,657,199 on weekdays and 37,801,888 on Sundays in 2016.

With the decline of newspaper sales, consumers looking for the latest information on sports are turning to online versions of the newspaper, like the sports page in USA Today Sports and social media accounts like the New York Times Sports Twitter page. Another reason for the decline is that newspapers are not up-to-date. Once a newspaper is printed that day, they cannot change the information regarding new breaking news.

So, what is the future of sports in print media, specifically in newspapers? I believe that newspapers will be a main source for sports information among the older generation. However, with the development of technology, newspapers are already on the decline and sports fans can get statistics and live scoring on social media, apps, and the Internet.

For Further Reading:

Pew Research Center

USA Today Sports

Vivian, John. The Media of Mass Communication. 12th ed., Pearson Education Inc., 2017.