Today, 3.5 million Americans subscribe to Sports Illustrated magazine and 23 million adults reportedly read the magazine each week.  The magazine offers a wide range of news, stories and articles about anything and everything related to sports.

On this day, August 16th, in 1954, Sports Illustrated hit newsstands for the first time. When the magazine was first released, there was no sports magazine available in the country with a national audience. Sports Illustrated quickly changed the face of sports news with a long list of innovations including: color photographs, scouting reports, in-depth sports reporting, sports cards inserts and high school Player of the Month awards.

Sports Illustrated has continued to dominate the sports magazine market since its launch.  The Sports Illustrated name has led to other successful publications including Sports Illustrated for Kids and the famous annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.