Sports Blogging: the Intriguing Career that Anybody Can do

From coffee shops to an office cubicle, nearly everyone can sit down and go to their favorite sports blog space and read up on all they missed from the night prior, but nobody really thinks as to who these bloggers are and how they stumbled upon such a career. Sports blogging is a dull name for a career that encompasses such a vast variety of subcategories and mysterious writers who seemingly come out of nowhere. It is regarded as the third most popular category of blogs on the internet with names like ESPN and Barstool Sports known throughout households in the United States. It causes some to wonder how sports bloggers got to where they are or how they even got started causing more site traffic and even more revenue. With a new and exciting job that has the potential, it is bound to be criticized somewhere along the line, and sports bloggers have no shortage of critics, the majority of them being traditional sports journalists. The career path of sports blogging is new but it’s growing fast and filled with opportunities for startups, good pay, and the ability to work from home.

Many sports blog spaces start very small with people that simply enjoy writing, such as Barstool Sports, a company who started in Boston publishing blogs and is now worth millions of dollars. Barstool started as a small paper company that got recognition by handing out their articles at public bus and train stations to commuters (Spargo 2016). In ten years, Dave Portnoy took it from sports articles with comedical pokes to such vast content that they even have blogs specifically geared towards satirical pizza reviews (Spargo 2016). Portnoy, like many others in the same career as him, hated his job and wanted to pursue something he truly loved to do, and thus began Barstool Sports. In 2007, a man approached him and asked to build him a website, the company was valued around $10-15 million and grew by word of mouth, eleven years later, the value has boosted exponentially with an estimated value of $100 million (Shontell, Lebowitz 2018). A study from the University of Michigan in 2011 stated that in their findings all eight of the sports bloggers they interviewed had left their previous occupation mainly due to boredom, among other reasons stated throughout the study. The story of Barstool Sports is truly one of an underdog and will strongly support the topic and all of the facts of the next paragraph.

Merely a decade ago, if somebody said their new career was in the sports blogging market, they would be laughed at, now, they would be praised and asked their annual salary. Sports bloggers bring in an average salary of $51,000 dollars a year, those with more experience may even bring in six figures a year (Sports Management Degrees, “Salary”). Although, entry level bloggers may only bring in $19,000, but those who bring in that little are likely just starting or most likely doing it as a side job. The website “Sports Management Degrees” had this to say on the subject, “Get involved on social media to distribute your sports content across multiple sources, thus building a follower base. Making a living won’t come quickly, but make use of advertising on your blog to help your consistent posts pay off,” (Sports Management Degrees, “Getting Started”). Complaints about a sports blogger’s yearly salary must come few and far between, as most who succeed in the profession don’t get a degree in anything, and those who pursued a degree more often than not dropped out of postsecondary schooling when they stumbled upon their job (Sports Management Degrees, “Degree and Education Requirements”). In a study from the University of Michigan in 2011, of the eight bloggers they interviewed, nearly all of them reported making more money than their peers they had graduated with from highly accredited institutions with professional degrees. This fact also contrasts with studies done on traditional sports journalists in the past where the majority of journalists questioned stated that they were not happy with their annual salaries, unlike those who blog on the internet (Kian, Burden, & Shaw, “Discussion and Conclusion”). The same people who criticized sports bloggers for going into their current occupation will be equally as critical about the main topic of the next paragraph.

Another great perk of being a sports blogger is the ability to work from home and being able to write about games or news you see on TV. Research done by the University of Michigan for a peer reviewed study. Has shown that being able to work from home. Is the third highest reason for bloggers who decided to make it their full time vocation (Kian, Burden, & Shaw, “Home is Where the Blogger is”). Seven of the eight full time bloggers report. That the majority of their content is created at home. And four of the eight even said that all of their work is done at home (Kian, Burden, & Shaw, “Home is Where the Blogger is”). The majority of interviewees blogged. Through an independent website rather than a mainstream site, potentially skewing results as to who works from where. In Tim Arango’s article on the topic, “Tension Over Sports Blogging.” He states that the Texas Rangers. A team in Major League Baseball. Have even gone so far as to hire a very popular sports blogger who had previously blogged about the team. When describing the way he and his partner set up their website. And company, co-founder of Bleacher Report, David Nemetz. Had this to say, “the fan-bloggers with the best reputation ranking get better visibility on the site. As well as perks such as athlete interviews and game tickets arranged by Bleacher Report.” (Kho, pg. 24+). This type of model on a blogging site allows anybody to become a blogger. With no workload requirements while also allowing growth through production and quality of work. Ultimately putting their name out there to make money and take on a full time position.

In conclusion, the sports blogging business is booming and growing exponentially even as a very new occupation. In most cases it requires very little postsecondary schooling if any at all and this may turn some away and cause judgement but the numbers speak volumes, it is among very few other professions that anybody can do and make a living wage off of. The opportunities for promotions are vast and seemingly endless, making it a very easy job to take up on the side and eventually make it their only job. Along with that, web domains are free nowadays so anyone could start their own blog space and with the huge influence of social media promoting and advertising would be easy. All of these things paired with the fact that people could even work from home in their pajamas makes it a wonder that even more people haven’t picked up sports blogging on the side at the very least. At the end of the day, the career path of sports blogging is new but it’s growing fast and filled with opportunities for startups, good pay, and the ability to work from home.

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