 | |
| Categories | Sports |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Weekly (1886–2008) Fortnightly (2008–2011) Monthly (2011–2012) |
| First issue | 1886 |
| Final issue | 2012 (print) |
| Company | Sporting News Holdings |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 1041-2859 |
| OCLC | 18708903 |
The Sporting News is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a print magazine. It became the dominant American publication coveringbaseball, acquiring the nickname "The Bible of Baseball".[1]
From 2002 to February 2022, it was known simply asSporting News. In December 2012,The Sporting News ended print publication and shifted to a digital-only publication. It currently has editions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan.
The Sporting News (TSN) published its first edition on March 17, 1886, in St. Louis. Founded byAlfred H. Spink, a director of theSt. Louis Browns baseball team, the weekly newspaper sold for five cents and focused primarily on baseball, horse racing, and professional wrestling. At the time, other prominent sporting weeklies such asClipper andSporting Life operated out of New York and Philadelphia. By World War I, however,TSN had emerged as the only national newspaper devoted to baseball.[2]
In 1901, the American League began play as a rival to the National League, andTSN became an outspoken supporter of the new league and its founder,Ban Johnson. Both advocated reforms intended to improve the sport’s integrity, including efforts to eliminate gambling, curb liquor sales at ballparks, and discourage assaults on umpires. In 1903,TSN editor Arthur Flanner helped draft the National Agreement, which established peace between the two leagues and laid the foundation for the modernWorld Series. The publication’s cultural influence continued to grow in 1904, when New York photographerCharles Conlon began taking portraits of major league players as they passed through the city’s three ballparks: the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium, and Ebbets Field. Many of his photographs were featured inTSN and later became enduring visual records of baseball’s early history.
Leadership of the publication remained within the founding family when Alfred Spink’s son,J. G. Taylor Spink, assumed control of the paper in 1914. Under his tenure,TSN further solidified its central role in baseball culture. In 1936, the publication introduced the first major leagueSporting News Player of the Year Award, honoring New York Giants pitcherCarl Hubbell. The award became the oldest major individual honor in Major League Baseball and remains notable for being voted on by MLB players. Although long closely associated with baseball, the publication gradually broadened its coverage. In 1942, it began providing in-season football coverage, and in 1946 it launched an eight-page football-focused tabloid titledThe Quarterback, later renamedAll-Sports News as coverage expanded to include professional and college basketball and hockey.
Following J. G. Taylor Spink’s death in 1962, leadership passed to his son, C. C. Johnson Spink. That same year, theBaseball Writers' Association of America established theJ. G. Taylor Spink Award in his honor, naming Spink himself as the first recipient. The publication continued to modernize during this period, publishing its first full-color photograph in 1967—a cover image featuring Baltimore Orioles starFrank Robinson.
Ownership of the publication changed hands several times beginning in the late 20th century. The Spink family soldTSN toTimes Mirror in 1977.[3] In 1981, C. C. Johnson Spink sold the publication to theTribune Company. In 1991,The Sporting News transitioned from a newspaper format into a glossy, full-color all-sports magazine. The brand expanded into digital media in 1996 by serving as a sports content provider for AOL, followed by the launch of sportingnews.com in 1997.
In 2000, Tribune sold the company to Vulcan Inc., led byPaul Allen. The following year, Vulcan acquired the One on One Sports radio network and rebranded it asSporting News Radio. In 2002, the magazine dropped the definite article from its title and became simplySporting News (SN), a change reflected on subsequent covers. Vulcan sold the publication to Advance Media in 2006, which placed it under the supervision ofAmerican City Business Journals. Beginning in 2007, the organization initiated a relocation from its longtime home in St. Louis to ACBJ’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The move was completed in 2008, the same year the publication transitioned to a bi-weekly schedule.
In 2011,Sporting News announced a deal to take over editorial control ofAOL's sports websiteFanHouse.[4] In December 2012, after 126 years,Sporting News published its final issue as a print publication, and shifted to becoming a digital-only publication.[5]
The following March, ACBJ contributedSporting News into a joint venture with the U.S. assets of sports data companyPerform Group, known as Perform Sporting News Limited and doing business as Sporting News Media. Perform owned 65% of Sporting News Media.Sporting News would join Perform Group's other domestic properties, such as its video syndication unit ePlayer and its soccer websiteGoal.com.[6] The deal excluded the magazine'sSporting News Yearbooks unit andNASCAR Illustrated.[7] Almost immediately after the venture was established,Sporting News laid off 13 staff writers.[8] Perform Group acquired the remainder of Sporting News Media in 2015.[6]
Under Perform's ownership,Sporting News shifted to a moretabloid-like editorial direction.[6] The site introduced a new logo and website design in 2016.[9] Following Perform's acquisition of ACBJ's remaining stake, it began to align itself more closely with the company's other units, including replacingAssociated Press articles with Perform's own Omnisport wire service for articles and video content (which began to constitute a sizable portion of the site's overall content).[6]Sporting News also began to introduce new localized versions in other markets, with a focus on countries where it had launched its sports streaming serviceDAZN. These sites are, in turn, used to promote the DAZN service.[6] Perform Media president Juan Delgado explained that the company was trying to preserve the heritage of theSporting News brand by still publishing original content, while also publishing content oriented towardssocial media to appeal to younger users.[6]
In September 2018, Perform Group spun out its consumer properties, includingSporting News and DAZN, into a new company known as DAZN Group. The remaining sports data business became Perform Content, and was sold in 2019 toVista Equity Partners and merged withSTATS LLC.[10][11]
In the summer of 2020,Lindenwood University ofSt. Charles, Missouri, acquired the archives collection ofThe Sporting News from ACBJ.[12] The collection was described as consisting of "10,000+ books on baseball, football, hockey, basketball, NCAA, and other sports."[12]
In December 2020, DAZN Group sold Sporting News to a private investment consortium, which became Sporting News Holdings.[13]
From 1968 to 2007, the magazine selected one or more individuals asSportsman of the Year. On four occasions, the award was shared by two recipients. Twice, in 1993 and 2000, the award went to a pair of sportsmen within the same organization. In 1999, the honor was given to a whole team. No winner was chosen in 1987.
On December 18, 2007, the magazine announcedNew England PatriotsquarterbackTom Brady as 2007 Sportsman of the Year, making Brady the first to repeat as a recipient of individual honors.Mark McGwire of theSt. Louis Cardinals was also honored twice, but shared his second award withSammy Sosa of theChicago Cubs.
In 2008, the award was replaced by two awards: "Pro Athlete of the Year" and "College Athlete of the Year". These in turn were replaced by a singular "Athlete of the Year" award starting in 2011.[14]
Beginning in 2011, the awards were merged back into a singular selection,Athlete of the Year.[14]
TSN sponsors its own annual Team,Player,Pitcher,Rookie,Reliever,Comeback Player,Manager, andExecutive of the Year awards. Many fans once held the newspaper's baseball awards at equal or higher esteem than those of theBaseball Writers' Association of America.[24] Prior to 2005, theSN Comeback Player Award was generally recognized as the principal award of its type, as MLB did not give such an award until that year.
Also, between 1975 and 2005, Sporting News conducted an annual poll and named a national champion for Division I-A (now Division I FBS). It is regarded as a "major selector" in NCAA official records books.[27]
