The Sporting News was first published as a weekly newspaper on March 17, 1886. ... The paper's first issue was 17-by-22-inches in size. In the century that followed, ...

The Sporting News' coverage of Jackie Robinson's debut on April 15, 1947, had multiple stories across multiple pages, befitting an event the likes of which MLB and TSN, est. 1886, had never seen.

The Sporting News was then owned by newspaper companies Times Mirror (1977-81) and Tribune Co. (1981-2000), then by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. (2000-2006), and then by Advance Media (2006-2013).