25 Publications that Pay for Writing About Sports and Athletics

Today, for our latest roundup of publishers, we have a list of 25 publications that pay for writing about sports, athletics, and overall fitness.

We’ve researched payment rates and found contact information for all of these publishers, to make it easy for you to connect with the right opportunity.

If you want to browse even more opportunities, be sure to check out our database of over 1,500 publishers that pay writers. It’s easily searchable, and includes thousands of listings just like the ones below.

If you’re new to freelancing, I also very much encourage you to take our course on pitching. You can get the details here.

So, without further ado, here’s today’s list…

1. Extra Points is “a newsletter about business, policy, and off-the-field stories in college sports.” They’re looking for freelance pitches. They’re interested in “reported stories, personal essays, and interviews in the ‘off-the-field stories in college sports’ umbrella.” According to a tweet by their founder, they pay a base rate of $350. They also give bonuses for driving new subscriptions. Send your pitches to matt@extrapointsmb.com. To learn more, refer to the post and their ‘about’ page.

2. Trail Runner Magazine is an off-road running magazine. They offer training advice, gear tips, nutrition information, and more. According to their guidelines, their rates start at $200 for digital pieces and for print pieces, rates start at $0.25/word. They are especially interested in hearing from diverse voices (women, BIPOC, LGBT+, etc.). For details, refer to this page.

3. Runner’s World is a magazine and website that publishes “stories about every aspect of running, from tips on how to get started to human interest pieces to training plans for competitive runners aiming for a new PR, and everything in between.” They accept story pitches from writers, including pitches for features, service (nutrition/health/training), news, and human interest/culture. Rates vary and depend on story length, required research/reporting, turnaround time, and more. According to an old tweet by their health and fitness director, they pay $350 to $5,000 per story. For more information, refer to their pitch guide.

4. When Saturday Comes is the UK’s leading football magazine. Their readers can be generalized as “football fans who, on the whole, like to attend matches and have an interest in the game at any level.” They welcome pitches for articles, and they do not pay for web-only articles. Most of their articles are around 750 words but there are some exceptions, for example, Match of the Month articles are around 1,500 to 1,800 words. According to their guidelines, they pay a standard fee of £75 for 750-word articles. They pay £50 for book reviews and up to £125 for longer articles e.g. Match of the Month. Pitches should be sent to editorial@wsc.co.uk. For more information, refer to this page.

5. Defector is a sports blog and media company. According to their freelancer policies, they pay at least $1,000 for longer essays and reported pieces, and at least $500 for shorter pieces. You can submit your pitches to pitches@defector.com. To learn more, refer to their pitch guide.

6. Triathlon Magazine Canada is a triathlon publication that covers training, nutrition, gear, events, and more. They are seeking “story submissions from writers, photographers, athletes, coaches and enthusiasts.” According to their guidelines, they pay $50 to $200 per story. For details, visit this page.

7. SimpliFaster is a blog dedicated to athletic speed development. They are looking for original articles for their blog. Topics for articles may include “training, skills (e.g. hurdles, long jump), coaching, recovery, sleep, athlete testing, team management, bio-mechanics, mental preparation, injury prevention and rehabilitation, weight training, physiotherapy, planning, periodization, equipment, and technology.” Their articles are generally 1,500 to 2,500 words long. According to their guidelines, they pay 7 cents per word. To learn more, visit this page.

8. Cross Country Skier Magazine is the journal of Nordic skiing. They publish 3 times a year. They want “researched, timely, original ideas with a strong Nordic skiing hook, from current events to prolific characters to unique destinations.” According to their guidelines, the standard rate for manuscripts is $0.25 a word. For details, read their submission guidelines.