Underdog Stories / Sports analysis & explainers
How to Start a Career in Sports Journalism
How to start a career in sports journalism: report real games, build clips, and look beyond shrinking papers for the editors who still need good work.
By Brett Hanson · Underdog Podcasts · November 11, 2026
At the New York Daily News in 2018, Andy Clayton watched a sports staff in the 40s fall to nine. When he joined in 2003, it had about 80 people. Clayton gave Seth Everett those numbers on Sports With Friends, in the episode “553. NY Daily News Deputy Sports Editor Andy Clayton.”
To start a career in sports journalism, cover games and news that need a reporter, even if the assignment looks small. Build clips that show you can find facts, interview people and meet a deadline. Then apply to newsrooms, broadcasters and digital publishers. Team and league outlets offer work too, though they answer to different bosses.
How to start a career in sports journalism?
Clayton said the old newspaper route had clear rungs. A young reporter covered high schools at a small paper, moved to a larger town, picked up college sports and, with luck, reached a pro beat. When the Daily News needed a beat writer early in his time there, he said, it could look to Chicago or Denver for someone ready to move up.
That route still exists in places. It is no longer a safe plan for everyone.
After the 2018 cuts, Clayton said the Daily News kept covering the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets and Knicks. It dropped regular NHL and college coverage. The Yankees beat writer was among those who lost a job, even though Clayton considered that beat central to the paper.
There is a lesson for a new reporter in that painful choice. Find out what an outlet covers before you pitch it. A good story about a team it has stopped covering may have no buyer there. A clear, well-reported follow-up on a beat it still runs has a better chance of reaching an editor.
The numbers make for a rough welcome. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 6 percent drop in jobs for news analysts, reporters and journalists from 2025 to 2035. It also projects about 3,400 openings a year, mainly as workers leave those jobs. There are doors. Fewer lead through the newsroom Clayton entered.
How do you get a job in sports journalism now?
Start where you can get a real assignment and a real edit. A student paper needs someone to cover a Tuesday game when everyone else has gone home. A local outlet may need a person who knows the school district or can call a coach before practice. Neither job requires a famous byline.
Clayton’s own start was specific. At the University of Denver, he edited sports coverage for the Denver Clarion and covered hockey. As a junior, he took an internship at Denver’s Channel 9. Within a week, he said, he was asking Dan Issel a question at a Nuggets postgame press conference.
That is more useful evidence of ability than a page of predictions. Keep the story you filed. If you received an editor’s note, save it, along with a breaking-news piece that explains what changed, and make it easy for a hiring editor to see what you reported yourself.
Clayton said smaller budgets have changed whom papers can hire. He can no longer assume the Daily News can afford a reporter with 25 years of experience. A younger applicant with a few good years, he said, can now seek a job that once would have gone to a veteran from another city.
He was frank about his pitch. The Daily News name still gives a young writer a chance to do visible work, Clayton said, even if he cannot promise an easy workplace. He tells recruits to make good use of the opportunity, build a record and move on when it makes sense. It is an unusually honest job ad.
What qualifications do I need to be a sports journalist?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says reporters typically need a bachelor’s degree. It names journalism and communications among the usual fields, and says work at a college paper, radio station or television station can help. A degree may get an application read. Published reporting shows what you can do.
Clayton’s warning was about the work itself. He said interns sometimes receive a news assignment and turn in an opinion piece. They want to “hot take you to death,” he said, while the plain news story goes unwritten.
So practice the plain story. Ask what happened and who can confirm it. Get a name right. Give the person you are writing about a fair chance to answer a claim. If a record and an interview disagree, make another call before you file. Those habits sound dull right up to the moment a story depends on them.
“You have an opportunity to come here and do good work.”
The Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics code tells reporters to verify information before release and correct errors as a story develops. It says speed is no excuse for getting facts wrong. That applies to a two-minute video as much as a long feature.
Everett raised a worry about people publishing on their own, with no editor to stop a mistake. Clayton defended podcaster Pablo Torre’s reporting in the example Everett brought up, then returned to his concern about weak fundamentals. Their exchange is worth hearing because neither man pretended an old newsroom automatically made a reporter careful. Someone still has to make the calls.
How to start a career in sports broadcasting?
Try the work before deciding you belong on camera. Clayton’s Channel 9 internship put him around established Denver broadcasters and into a Nuggets press conference. It also taught him something he did not expect: he did not want a career in television. He could stay in sports media without choosing the role he first tried.
Everett told Clayton he had a different early opening in Denver. At a new radio station, Everett offered to cover the Broncos every day instead of letting the staff rotate through the assignment. His reason was practical. One regular reporter could get to know the players and build working relationships.
If broadcasting interests you, make a short sample built on reporting: record an interview in which you ask a useful follow-up, then write a script that puts the news first. Listen again. Find the question you forgot to ask. A loud voice cannot fix a missing fact.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics describes broadcast reporters as people who interview sources and write scripts for radio or television. It also says journalists need to know the tools used to edit and publish their work. There’s work off camera. An internship can help you learn both sides of a broadcast desk, including the part no audience sees.
Can you work for a team and still be a sports journalist?
Clayton said teams and leagues hire people to produce sports content. He also drew a sharp line between those jobs and independent reporting, calling team outlets “state-run media.” The phrase is pointed, but the difference matters: a team’s own publisher has the team as its employer.
That does not make the work fake. A WNBA digital publisher listing on the NBA’s careers site describes writing and publishing across the WNBA app and League Pass, including coverage during games. It asks for two to five years of relevant experience. Those are serious deadlines and real editorial skills.
The limit is whose questions the job is built to answer. A team outlet can give fans close access and useful information. An independent beat reporter must also be free to ask what the team would rather leave alone. Read the job description with that in mind, and make sure you know who approves the work.
For a young applicant, either setting can teach speed and precision. Clayton’s career shows how much digital work changed inside a newspaper: he said he arrived as the Daily News’s first full-time digital sports editor, when its website was an afterthought. He later helped move sports coverage into a round-the-clock newsroom. The job title mattered less than the work that kept appearing.
How much do sports journalists make a year?
There is no single sports-journalist salary. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $62,200 for news analysts, reporters and journalists in May 2025. That figure covers many subjects besides sports. At newspaper publishers, the median for the same occupation was $49,220.
A median is the midpoint, not a starting offer. Half the workers in that group earned less. The figures do not tell you what one Daily News hire makes, and they cannot tell a freelancer how many assignments an editor will buy next month.
Ask about the actual terms before taking a job. Does it include health insurance? How often will you work nights or weekends? If you freelance, find out the fee and when you will be paid. A celebrated name on a press pass will not settle the rent.
Clayton still sounds glad he took his own unlikely route from Denver to Manhattan. He told Everett it took him 10 years to stop turning around after he left the subway to look at the Empire State Building. The building, at least, never missed a deadline.
The full episode of Sports With Friends is on Underdog Podcasts, with the rest of the network's shows.
People also ask
Can I become a sports journalist without a journalism degree?+
A journalism degree is a common route, though the Bureau of Labor Statistics also names communications and related fields. Your strongest proof is work someone can read, watch or hear: reported stories, interviews and clear corrections when you make a mistake. A student outlet or local assignment can help you build that proof.
What should I put in a sports journalism portfolio?+
Include a few pieces that show different reporting jobs. A game story should explain what happened; a news piece should show whom you contacted and what you confirmed. Add a strong interview if you have one. For broadcast work, include a short clip with your own questions and a clear script.
Is sports broadcasting easier to get into than print journalism?+
Clayton’s experience suggests it is better to try both than guess. His Channel 9 internship gave him access to a Nuggets press conference, then helped him decide television was not his place. Broadcasting still calls for reporting and sound writing. It adds the work of recording, editing and delivering a story aloud.
Are team and league media jobs the same as reporting for a newspaper?+
They can use many of the same skills, including interviewing, writing and publishing under deadline. The employer is different. A team or league outlet produces work for its own organization; an independent newsroom can pursue stories the team may dislike. Before applying, ask what you would cover and who would make the final editorial call.