How To Become A Sports Copy Editor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sports copy editor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Catherine Wilbur

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sports copy editor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.72 an hour? That's $43,105 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a sports copy editor?

Catherine Wilbur

English Professor, Website

The best way to maximize salary earnings is to complete the highest level of education in your chosen field. The average salary for someone with a bachelor's degree in English is around $59,124 per year, while someone with a master's degree in English can expect to earn around $69,732 per year.

ScoreSports Copy EditorUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,105

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.27%

Asian 4.95%

Black or African American 3.77%

Hispanic or Latino 8.65%

Unknown 4.66%

White 77.70%

Gender

female 15.24%

male 84.76%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sports copy editor

Explore sports copy editor education requirements

Most common sports copy editor degrees

Bachelor's

91.8 %

Associate

4.2 %

Master's

2.9 %

Start to develop specific sports copy editor skills

Skills	Percentages
Adobe Indesign	12.16%
Game Coverage	11.78%
Edit Stories	10.03%
NFL	7.23%
NBA	5.91%

Complete relevant sports copy editor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sports copy editors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sports copy editor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sports copy editor resumes.

Research sports copy editor duties and responsibilities

Collaborate with managing editor and editor-in-chief to develop and post news coverage and multimedia projects.
Manage copy editing and proofreading responsibilities of weekly business newspaper and special supplements.
Publish special feature articles on the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR trends with tributes to drivers and legends of the racing world.
Collaborate with managing editor and editor-in-chief to develop and post news coverage and multimedia projects.

Prepare your sports copy editor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sports copy editor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sports copy editor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sports copy editor resume templates

Build a professional sports copy editor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sports copy editor resume.