Magazines are periodical publications that are printed or published electronically. The online version of magazine is called online magazine. Generally, magazines are published on a regular schedule and contain a variety of content. Sports magazines are generally financed by advertising, purchase price and prepaid subscriptions. Thus the sports magazines prove themselves as some of the largest mass media in history alongside its huge popularity. The earliest magazine was first published in 1663 in Germany and was called Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen. It was actually a literature based magazine and since then, the world have seen a huge diversification in the magazine industry.
Starting from the fashion industry to the customer marker, all are covered and featured in various magazines with different names. Sports is not far from them as in 1886, the first sport magazine was published in USA. In recent time, there are vast number of sports magazines publishing throughout the world in which some are globally based and some are regionally based.
List of Top 10 Best Sports Magazines of All time:
For the sports fan, it is always an attraction to have a good copy of a widely popular sports magazine in order to cherish their passion for sports. Sporty Ghost bring to you the list of top 10 Sports Magazines of All time in history of sports.
Just keep asking yourself, which one is the best sport magazine of all time? Scroll down and enjoy.
10. SLAM
SLAM is the first issue of American basketball oriented sports magazine. It was first published in 1994 as a blend of hardcore sports with hip hop American culture. SLAM is currently owned by Source Interlinked Media which headquartered in New York City, United States. The magazine publishes 10 issues each year. Dennis Page from the Harris Publications stepped first to publish The Slam and the magazine was first purchased by Peterson Publishing in 1988. Source Interlinked Media finally owned the magazine in 2007 and since then they have become the sole publisher of this widely popular basketball magazine.
The Slam has already published a total of 179 issues featuring numerous basketball stars as its covers. But, “A Basketball on Fire” was its first issue which was published in February 2012, without a basketball player on its cover. Besides the printed version, the online version of Slam is also available in the internet. We have selected SLAM as the No. 10 in our list of top 10 sports magazines of all time. Hope, you would agree.
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9. Golf Magazine
It was April, 1959 when the first issue of Global Golf oriented magazine ‘Golf’ was first published. Eventually, the magazine has become the first golf magazine in history to reach more than one million circulations. Golf magazine is currently owned by Time Inc. and has more than 1.4 million subscribers throughout the world. It was founded by Universal Publishing in 1959 and later purchased by the Times Mirror in 1972. Finally in 2000, Time Inc. acquired the right of the Golf magazine. Since then, the magazine has been publishing under Time Inc.’s banner.
The magazine is widely popular for honoring recent Golfers with their ‘Golfer of the Year’ award. It covers various events and aspects of golf. Beside this, Golf magazine also conducts a yearly survey with their experts to determine the best golf courses in United States and enlists the top 100 Best Golf Courses in the world. Golf magazine is holding No. 9 spot in our list of top 10 sports magazines of all time.
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8. Baseball Digest
Baseball Digest is America’s first issue of baseball magazine which was first published in August 1942. The magazine has its headquarters in Illinois, United States and it publishes 6 issues per year under the Grandstand Publishing agency. When Sporting News stopped the publication of printed copies, it was the Baseball Digest who became the oldest and longest-running baseball based magazine still active in the world. The idea of Baseball Digest initially came by a young sports journalist of Chicago Daily Times named Herbert F. Simons and he was the chief editor of this magazine till 1963. Since May 2012, Bob Kuenster has been conducting the act as Editor-In-Chief of Baseball Digest.
The magazine is famous for publishing various important baseball events like Major League Baseball. Besides, the magazine also publishes accurate statistics of pitching, batting and fielding of baseball stars. It also has “fans speak out” letters section for the baseball fans. Baseball Digest makes its way at No. 8 in our list of top 10 Sports Magazines of all time.
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7. Tennis
The first edition of Tennis magazine was published in August 16, 1954. Currently the magazine publishes 8 issues per year and covers various tennis events worldwide. The magazine was first purchased by the New York Times Company in 1967 and till 1997, they were responsible for its publications. Currently, the Tennis magazine is owned by The Miller Publishing agency since 1997 and James Martin is current Chief Editor of this magazine. Throughout the world, tennis magazine has a huge circulation of 603,069 copies per month which was first started ten years ago. The Tennis also has a digital online version besides the printed. The digital version was debuted ten years ago considering the worldwide vast subscribers.
The magazine not only publishes various tennis events, it also publishes the WTA and ATP rankings of the tennis players and schedules the upcoming tennis championships. The former tennis legend, Pete Sampras is one of the owners of Tennis magazine and currently acting as a special consultant. Tennis magazine is indeed one of the best sports magazines in our list grabbing the No. 7 position.
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6. Sporting News
The former American sports magazine, Sporting News was first published in 1886 and the final printed issue was published in 2012 from USA. Now Sports News has only the digital monthly version which is available on the official Sporting News website. Nevertheless, they didn’t stop publishing the printed copies of the Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball Yearbooks. It is one of the ancient sports magazines. In early 1900s, as a weekly magazine, it became one of the dominant American Publications covering various basketball events.
The magazine was so popular that time for which it was nicknamed as “The Bible of Baseball”. Sporting News was owned by Sporting News media and Garry D. Howard is currently serving the job of chief editor of the magazine. The magazine is famous for honoring the sportsmen with various awards such as Athlete of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, Pro-athlete of the Year etc. The eminent Sporting News stays at No. 6 in our list of top 10 Sports magazines of all time.
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5. Inside Sport
Inside sport is a sports magazine of Australian origin. The first issue was published in 1991. The magazine now mainly covers sporting contents and sports photography by freelance journalists. Besides covering sports, the magazine also concentrates on celebrity models and their stylish photo shoots which include famous Australian models like Imogen Bailey, Jennifer Hawkins, Nicky Whelan and Nikki Visser. Inside Sports is currently owned by Horwitz in Sydney and organizes The inside Sport Model Search each year.
In November 2012, it was reported that the circulation of this magazine had increased as much as 27% after several renovation and redesign in the near past. It was awarded ‘The Magazine of the Year’ in 2000 and 2004. Inside Sports also won the Walkey Award for its impressive sports coverage worldwide. We put the sports magazine at 5th spot in our list of top 10 sports magazines of all time.
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4. Outside
Another American outdoor sports activities magazine ‘Outside’ first published in September 1977. The current publishing team says about the mission of this magazine,
” Outside Magazine aims to inspire participation in the world outside through award-winning coverage of different sports, people, places, adventures, discoveries, environmental issues, health and fitness.”
The magazine initiated under the supervision of William Randolph, Jann Wenner, and Jack Ford and then took over by Lawrence J. Burke in 1979 who still owns the Outside magazine. Christopher Keyes is currently acting as the editorial chief of this magazine from the house of Mariah Media. The Outside has a huge monthly circulation of 686,623. The Outside magazine always inspires the novice writers.
Famous travel and adventure writers like Sebastian Junger and Jon Krakauer must feel grateful to this sports magazine. Outside remains at No. 4 in our list of top 10 sports magazines of all time.
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3. Runner’s World
The first issue of Runner’s world was published in 1966 by Bob Anderson. Initially, the magazine had named ‘Distance Running News’ and in 1969 it gained its name as ‘Runner’s World’. Currently, the magazine is solely published by Rodale Press, which has their headquarter in Pennsylvania, United States. David Willey is conducting his role of editorial chief for Runner’s world. The sports magazine went global with the collaboration of the Hearst Corporation in early 1990s and currently the magazine is publishing 14 international editions besides US edition which mainly covers fitness, health, running and Marathons.
With an amazing monthly circulation of 710,618 worldwide, Runner’s World is one of the popular sports magazines in the world. It was nominated for National Magazine Awards three times globally admired for having the ‘Creative Team of the Year’. Runner’s world ranks in 3rd position of our list of top 10 sports magazines of all time.
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2. ESPN The Magazine
ESPN, the magazine is a American based sports magazine. The first issue of ESPN, The magazine was published on 11 March, 1998 and currently the magazine publishes biweekly by the ESPN Sports network in Bristol, USA. The magazine is better known for providing much more humorous and light-hearted approach to the major sports news than any other sports magazines like Sports Illustrated magazine. ESPN is currently running under the supervision of Chad Milman as Cheif editor and the magazine has more than 2.1 million bi-weekly circulations all over the world. ESPN mainly covers major sports events like NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB.
The famous annual issue of this magazine is called The Body issue which was first published in 2008. The Body issue is widely compared with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition as both of them features nude, semi-nude and scantily-clad athletes. The magazine also honors rising young athletes with NEXT Athlete Award every year. We have considered ESPN, The magazine for No. 2 place in our list of top 10 sports magazines of all time.
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1. Sports Illustrated magazine
Sports Illustrated is an American sports magazine which published their first issue on 16 August 1954. It has become the first sports magazine in the history with more than one million circulations worldwide. Sports Illustrated magazine is currently owned by Time Inc. and has gathered more than 3.5 million subscribers all over the world. It is a very popular sports magazine that is read by almost 23 million each week out of which 18 million are men. Sports Illustrated has established themselves as the only sports magazine which won the National Magazine Award twice.
The kids’ version of Sports Illustrated also won the Distinguished Achievement for Excellence in Educational Publishing Award a record 11 times. The most alluring side of this magazine is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. The Swimsuit issue was first published in 1964. The edition currently has its own annual publishing event, calendar, video channel and television shows. Sports Illustrated magazine is the No. 1 sport magazine in our list.
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There are many other sports magazines which are mainly fairness-based such as Men’s health, Men’s fitness and Yoga. These sports magazines also cover various aspects of sports worldwide, while many fashion magazines like GQ and FHM also feature numerous athletes on their covers. Sports Weekly, FourFourTwo, World Soccer, and The Skateboard Mag etc. are eminent sports magazines beside these top 10.
Magazines depends on variety of content and are the way to increase knowledge of peoples on various events. one of my favorite sports magazine is Runner’s World.
Hi,
If you go to this link first….https://www.google.ca/?ws_rd=ssl#q=freddy+fuller+canadian+boxing+champion
You will see I was three times champion of Canada in Boxing….I had 300 plus fights and only lost 21, before I shattered my elbow at the empire games in Jamaica.
ANYWAY I also got a three page write-up in the ring magazine in the June, 1966
Then, that year was ALSO at the fight between Ali and Chuvalo….as it was here in Vancouver that year and I was able to go back stage with my Magazine and get it signed by both Ali and Chuvalo.
……and they both told me how lucky I was as they had NEVER signed on anything jointly together before as they where never at the same places at the same time.
I got at least 20 pictures autographed by Chuvalo which I still have and at least 6 autographed by Ali and again ONLY because I was there and because my DAD used to be the President of the Boxing Association and allowed me to go backstage.
I also have many others signed and still even have the shipping enveloped they have sent me stuff in over the years.
NOW here is my question…..do you have any idea of what the ONLY Ring Magazine in existence that has been signed by both Ali AND Chuvalo AND that I am in is worth as it is the ONLY ONE out there.
If you go here you will see I am not just full of it and I am wondering if you can tell me in any way what this may be worth……..most important for me…….. if you have ever seen ANYTHING ever signed by both of them and if you have,,,,,could you please send me a link…to it.
Thanks
God Bless
Freddy