''Inside Sports'' magazine was a major general interest sports magazine in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Launched in 1979 by

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

, it was designed as an edgier, monthly alternative to the longer-running ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' and '' SPORT Magazine'' brands. In addition to 12 issues a year, it featured a "Swimsuit Spectacular" (''IS answer to the famous

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue The ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American magazine ''Sports Illustrated'' and features female fashion models, celebrities and athletes wearing swimwear in various locales around the world. The highly coveted ...

). In 1982, Inside Sports was acquired by

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

-based Century Publishing (later renamed Lakeside Publishing). The magazine was resurrected by Editor-in-Chief Michael K. Herbert and ran successfully under the Century banner for nearly 20 years. Los Angeles Times columnist

Mike Downey Mike Downey may refer to: * Mike Downey (columnist) (1951–2024), American newspaper columnist * Mike Downey (producer) (fl. 1980s–2020s), Irish-British film producer See also * Mike Downie (fl. 1990s–2020s), Canadian documentary filmm ...

wrote a monthly humor feature, "The Good Doctor." Later editors were Vince Aversano, Larry Burke and Ken Leiker. In June 1998, ''Inside Sports'' was sold by Century to Petersen Publishing Company, owner of longtime rival ''SPORT'', and merged the two magazines under the ''SPORT'' title. In the two years that followed, ''SPORT'' was bought by emap plc and continued to struggle in the market, especially when ''

ESPN the Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue, with the cover line "NEXT.," was published on March 11, 1998 (cover date March 23, 1998), and featured K ...

'' began filling ''Inside Sports old niche in 1998. In August 2000, after appearing every month for 54 years, ''SPORT'' magazine ceased publication, thus ending the lineage of ''Inside Sports''.

References

Monthly magazines published in the United States Sports magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1979 Magazines disestablished in 1998 Magazines published in Illinois {{sport-mag-stub