Magazine Profile: ESPN The Magazine

It hasn’t even reached its teen years yet, but ESPN The Magazine doesn’t let its age deter it from hanging out with the big boys.

The magazine is a biweekly publication that covers all of the nation’s major sports and is published by…you guessed it, the much heralded ESPN sports network itself. Going on a little more than nine years, the magazine published its first issue on March 11, 1998.

The magazine sets itself apart from its competitors, most notably Sporting News (started in 1886) and Sports Illustrated (started in 1954), by having a much wittier, comical writing style that also incorporates celebrities and other quirky, oddball events that go on in the media.

ESPN The Magazine also prides itself on placing a bigger emphasis on photographs and in-depth profiles of players. There are not only more photographs in the publication, but they are also a lot bigger, which is only fitting because the magazine is abnormally larger than most magazines out there. Furthermore, as opposed to doing just regular profiles, most of them feature players or coaches that have faced some form of adversity, such as overcoming a devastating illness, or having to play numerous years in the minor leagues in order to finally earn a spot on their team’s roster.

Not only is the magazine an extension of the network, but it’s also a brilliant way to direct the readers to watch the actual channel, by acting as sort of an actual advertisement in itself.

The magazine has a few small inserts that advise the readers to check out the many shows that ESPN has to offer, ranging from Outside the Lines, a show that provides in-depth profiles on today’s biggest players, and SportsCenter, which recaps all of the days’ highlights.

Moreover, some of the writers of the publication take part in a few of the shows on ESPN as well, where there’s more of directing the reader back to the channel.

Dan Patrick, host of The Dan Patrick Show, where he conducts one-on-one interviews with players, has a section in the magazine named “Outtakes,” which takes the transcripts of his interviews and posts them for the reader. “Two-Way,” Stuart Scott’s column where he answers questions from the readers, hosts both SportsCenter and Monday Night Countdown, a football show profiling up-to-date football news as it counts down to the Monday night football game.

What ESPN is doing with their magazine is not only interesting, but it’s also putting itself in a league of its own. It’s probably one of the few, if not the only network to provide its audience with some form of a magazine. I couldn’t imagine any other network coming out with their own periodical and making it as successful as ESPN’s, which has quickly rose to a status as one of the top sports magazines out there.

I guess for now, its competition better up their game, because ESPN The Magazine is only getting better.