When walking into Barnes and Noble, the romance section is one of the largest. It ranges from mass market paperbacks to new special edition hardcovers. So while you’re looking around in a sea of bright colors, you may feel overwhelmed and start making your way over to the display tables. And you’re likely to bump into a table filled to the brim with B&N pyramid stacks of “sports romances“. Couples holding hockey sticks, wearing athletic jerseys, kissing on a field.
So what is it about sports romance? And why does it seem to be everywhere?
Author Susan Elizabeth Phillips is often cited as the “mother of sports romance”. In the 1990s, she wrote a series called The Chicago Stars, following the relationships of a fictional football team. (She is still publishing books in this series! The latest book, installment #11, was published in February of 2026). Many sports romance novels follow Phillips’s “series style”. For example, the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy follows a group of 4 hockey players who all play on the same team. The stories are often intertwined in these series, but the books feature one couple at a time.
Going into the 2000s and 2010s, authors like Rachel Reid and Tessa Bailey would go on to become prominent figures in sports romance leading. Now, sports romance is a giant subgenre of the already huge genre of romance.Â
Since 2024, Sports Romance novels seem to be gaining momentum. In an NPR interview, Rachel Kurzius says, “there becomes a contrast between the brutality of the sport and the softness that the romance brings out in the player or the coach or the hockey person. And that kind of gets at the fantasy that a lot of romance novels are telling us, which is that in the places you least expect it, you can find this thrilling connection.”Â
I think this is an interesting point! Fantasy-romances, also called Romantasy, have also seen an uptick thanks to BookTok. And I think these two subgenres in romance share a similar draw. They feature high-tension stakes (whether it be dragons or a Super Bowl game) while still guaranteeing a happily ever after.
Professional athletes are also notoriously wealthy. Authors can expect that readers will be attracted to a rich, hot athlete who has a heart of gold.Â
To dig a little deeper into the rise of sports romance, I reached out to my friendly campus romance book club, Redbirds Read Romance. RRR has read several sports romance books as their monthly reads. These include Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (hockey and ice skating), Only When It’s Us by Chlose Liese (soccer), Cross the Line (Formula 1 racing), and The Kennedy Rule (Olympic hockey).
Bookclub members say that they enjoy sports romance because it helps them learn about sports in a way that is easy for them to understand. Sports romance can act as a bridge, introducing readers to a sport. After Heated Rivarly came to HBO MAX, ice hockey saw an increase in viewership. The NHL saw a rise of 20% in mobile ticket purchasing after Heated Rivarly took the world by storm. Sports romance is helping make a world some readers may not feel as welcome in or simply don’t understand, more accessible.Â
Another club member brought up how sports romance often comes with “easy drama”. Since the main characters are already in a high-intensity situation, a reader can go into the book expecting higher stakes and more plot related to athletics. While some readers prefer a “cozy romance” that may not be as plot-driven, sports romance usually brings conflict and drama.Â
While sports romance is a growing genre, there are some things missing. Bookclub members mentioned the lack of women’s sports in the genre. Especially looking at mainstream or BookTok favorites, athletes are usually male. We’re currently seeing a rise in female sports. The WNBA has gotten a lot of press with standout players like Angel Reese and Caitlyin Clark. The US Women’s Soccer team is taking home gold at the Olympics. And a professional female baseball league, WPGL, was recently announced to be returning for the first time since the 1940s. As female athletics becomes a bigger part of pop culture conversations, it seems about time we see more women’s sports in sports romance!Â
RRR members said they find hockey to be the most prevalent sport in sports romances. This is likely because some of the most popular sports romances, like Heated Rivalry, Icebreaker, and Off Campus, all center around hockey. The popularity of hockey romances especially created a higher demand for hockey-centered books. Many romance authors may see this as an opportunity to get their story published. So the demand for more hockey books is filled. It creates a mini cycle.
With adaptations of sports romances becoming popular (and more seem to be on the way), I believe sports romances will continue to be on the rise. RRR readers agree that popular book adaptations are making the genre as a whole more well-known and mainstream. It’ll be interesting to see where sports romance ventures next!Â
Redbirds Reading Romance Recommendations:
- She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
- DC Stars series by Chelsea Curto
- Caught on Camera by Chelsea Curto
- Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy
- Heated Rivarly by Rachel Reid
- The Cheat Sheet by Sarah AdamsÂ