Best City for a Sports Journalist to Start (home, university)

[MUWarriorsFan]

Just wondering if anybody knew where the best place I could start after college was. Thanks for your input.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Maybe just post something on Monster.com and see what you get. St. Louis is a huge sports town (baseball especially), but I don't know that the Post would be looking for more sports people.

Are you looking to work for papers, radio, or TV (or a combination)?

[TheTruth08]

I'm thinking somewhere sports are really important to the average citizen, and the cost of living isnt high.

Try Pittsburgh

[DeaconJ]

It seems like you would want to be in a city with both bigtime professional and college sports, plenty of media opportunities, and major sporting events. Atlanta has...

1. all 4 professional teams plus a WNBA team, ISL pro soccer, Arena Football, and AAA Braves baseball

2. Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, and Georgia State University Division I athletics

3. CNN headquarters, Fox SportSouth headquarters, TBS headquarters, Cox Media headquarters, and plenty of local and national print media and local television sports media

4. sports organizations and companies...Atlanta Sports Council; Russell Athletics headquarters; USTA Southern headquarters; American Junior Golf Assoc. headquarters;

5. annual major sporting events like the SEC Football Championship, the Peach Bowl, the Atlanta 500 and other Atlanta Motor Speedway events, the Peachtree Road Race (largest in the U.S.), and the PGA Tour Championships and the Masters (in Augusta)

6. future major sporting events like the Super Bowl and NCAA Basketball Final Four

[Bo]

What kind of media are you looking to start out in?

MLB Advanced Media was hiring stringers in each of its markets a while back to report on individual teams for MLB.com. That could be a great entry-level gig.

This is a really terrible time to try to get into newspaper journalism in the US. Newspapers around the country are cutting newsroom staff. My local paper trimmed its newsroom staff by 75 people.

[ogre]

I'm going to guess that StLCB had a good idea with the suggestion to check monster.com, especially if you expand on that idea, and use all resources to find out what jobs are out there. I've never worked in a media-oriented field, but, judging from the histories of some famous people in the news business, it seems that you are likely to go through a number of years of proving yourself wherever you can find work in the field, before settling into a plum assignment. It's best to be flexible about where you are willing to live, and to take the best job of those available at the time you are ready to make your search. The best job also does not necessarily mean the one that pays the best, but the one that gives the best opportunity to gain good experience in the field, and to build a resume that shows your capabilities as a reporter.

[DailyJournalist]

Try Atlanta.

[jtur88]

A city that you are already familiar with, and know the local sports teams. Or, small market where you can quickly work your way up to the level at which you are doing the important stuff, and not just being a go-fer.

[JMT]

I agree with Atlanta.

Also check out Nashville. Two professional sports teams, AAA baseball, and 7 NCAA colleges in the Nashville media area as well as the University of Tennessee which is big all over the state.

Charlotte would be similar plus it's home to NASCAR.

[MUWarriorsFan]

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I am looking into magazine journalism, and if I get lucky T.V.