Is magazine sportswriting dead? There are still magazines, and there is still such a thing as sports writing, but the days when sports fans became passionate supporters of star athletes through the pages of their favorite publication appear to be numbered. Most of the people who did it for a living have moved on to hosting podcasts, starring on television, writing books, or retirement.
Last week, former ESPN The Magazine writers Pablo Torre and Mina Kimes convened to discuss their craft and what made it, at times, miserable.
During an episode of the former’s Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, the pair analyzed the hit HBO show The Rehearsal through the lens of what it meant specifically from a storytelling standpoint. Both seasons of The Rehearsal aim to understand authenticity and truth, two subjects any reporter worth their salt is supposed to be searching for.
Before long, Torre and Kimes were hitting rewind and talking through the decline of modern long-form sportswriting. Both agreed that the main reason the discipline has suffered is that athletes and their representatives are far more withholding of access.
“Effectively begging for access is really depressing,” Torre said.
Kimes pinpointed the late 2010s as the inflection point. Around that time, the popularity of social media and self-produced content hit a point at which athletes (or any celebrity) could credibly argue they no longer needed mainstream media to tell their story.
“Before that, access profiles were everywhere. Part of being a famous athlete was a big capital-J journalist would come write about you and spend time with you,” Kimes said.
“And then around that time, I think some athletes thought, do I really need this? Because I have my own social media, I might have my own documentary company. I’m in charge of production. Why do I want to make myself vulnerable to this annoying kid from Harvard who’s talking about his Peabodys when I can just put out my own athlete-created thing?”
Before pivoting to become a panelist on NFL Live and the host of one of ESPN’s top NFL podcasts, Kimes profiled many star athletes for the company, including Aaron Rodgers, De’Andre Hopkins, and Luka Doncic.
She said one NFL player once stood her up in multiple states during the process of reporting one story.
“It’s humiliating,” she added.
The traditional press tour has moved from late-night television and magazines to YouTube shows like Hot Ones and Chicken Shop Date, or podcasts hosted by comedians.
Neither Torre nor Kimes faulted athletes for working around traditional media these days.
“When it comes to what athletes want, what they can use from … a profile writer, it does occur to me that the real estate on a publication really was a utility that they could monetize and benefit from,” Torre said. “Now, it’s all tiles on their Instagram page. So it’s hard for me to blame them for being less and less open to this stuff.”
In 2025, ESPN’s Wright Thompson is perhaps the only longform feature writer still churning out well-read, revealing portraits of the biggest stars in sports. Over the past year, he has profiled Caitlin Clark and Aaron Judge.
Kimes argued that, along the lines of the push among NBA fans to increase the level of storytelling around the league’s postseason, great writers still can generate a deeper connection between athletes and fans than a self-produced documentary or goofy podcast appearance can.
“I still think there’s a lot to be gained by letting someone else tell your story and present it in a deeply considered fashion,” she said.
However, the more revealing move by Kimes is that she has not penned a written piece in five years.