ESPN The Magazine

Editor In Chief	Alison Overholt
Categories	Sports
Frequency	Monthly
Total circulation (June 2018)	2,144,483[1]
First issue	November 3, 1998
Final issue	September 2019
Company	ESPN Inc. (The Walt Disney Company/Hearst Communications)
Country	United States
Based in	Bristol, Connecticut
Language	English
Website	http://insider.espn.com/insider/espn-the-magazine/
ISSN	1097-1998

ESPN The Magazine was an American monthly sportsmagazine published by theESPN sports network inBristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured Kobe Bryant of the NBA, MLB's Alex Rodriguez, Kordell Stewart of the NFL, and Eric Lindros of the NHL.^[2][3][4] Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year in early 2016, then became a monthly in its later days.

The main sports covered includeMajor League Baseball,National Basketball Association,National Football League,National Hockey League,college basketball, andcollege football. The magazine typically took a more lighthearted and humorous approach to sporting news compared with competitors such asSports Illustrated and, previously, theSporting News.

On April 30, 2019, ESPN announced that it would cease paper publishing in September of that year.^[5][6] A multiplatform monthly story calledESPN Cover Story was launched to continue the magazine's legacy featuring a digital poster-style cover and profile in cover story fashion, including the continuation ofNEXT Athlete proclamations andThe Body Issue, but these two features did not return.^[7]

Some of the regular departments, in their magazine order:

• Two Way:Stuart Scott answered questions from readers, giving his own opinions.
• The Biz: Peter Keating writes about the business side of sports and its effect on the sporting world.
• The Post: Looking back at the previous edition of the magazine with some of the readers' comments and updates on past stories.
• Zoom: One large "image of the week," occupying two pages.
• The Jump: A mix of different regular features, offering an alternative and usually humorous take on the current sporting scene.
• Outtakes: A transcript of an interview fromThe Dan Patrick Show with a sport star mostly talking about non sports issues.Kenny Mayne succeeded Patrick in this regular feature.
• The Life of Reilly: FormerSports Illustrated columnistRick Reilly gives his opinions on the sports world, and reports upon various "special interest" stories in sports.
• NEXT Athlete: Yearly award given out to young rising star athletes.
• Athlete X: a feature that ran in the late 2000s where an anonymous athlete from various sports (MLB, NFL, and NASCAR) offered an insider's perspective.

Most of these departments and features were dropped after a 2011 editorial change. By 2016, onlyZoom andThe Biz still appeared regularly. There is also a recurring column that focuses onSabermetrics, as well asThe Truth, a back-page editorial that focuses on controversial topics.The Big Ticket, similar toThe Jump, was introduced whenESPN The Magazine became a monthly in Fall 2018.

The annual "Body Issue", which debuted in 2009, was seen by some as a response to theSports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and featured naked and scantily-clad athletes.^[8] The "Body Issue" addressed the physical structure of the most popular athletes to show what parts of their body they saw as almost "perfect".^[8] Gary Belsky,ESPN The Magazine's editor in chief at the time, described the "Body Issue" in terms that suggested it was a celebration and exploration of the athletic form.^[9][10]

• ESPN Deportes La Revista, a Spanish-language magazine

• ESPN The Magazine
• ESPN The Magazine Video on ESPN Video Archive

• Monthly magazines published in the United States
• Defunct sports magazines published in the United States
• ESPN media outlets
• Magazines established in 1998
• Magazines disestablished in 2019
• Defunct magazines published in Connecticut

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025