As professional athletes seem to be getting younger, readers of sports-themed magazines seem to be getting older.

At least they think they are, says Neil Cohen, managing editor of Sports Illustrated for Kids, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary with a cover featuring NBA man-child LeBron James.

"When we started the magazine, 11-year-old readers had the sophistication of a 13-year-old," Mr. Cohen says. "Now the 11-year-old has the sophistication of a 15-year-old."

An explosion of sports information-from the Internet to increased TV and print coverage-has made young sports enthusiasts more knowledgeable. At the same time, the pros they're reading about increasingly are their peers in age. Freddy Adu, a 14-year-old soccer player from Maryland, has signed a four-year contract to play with Major League Soccer; golfer Michelle Wie, 14, recently made her debut on the men's PGA Tour; a half-dozen high school basketball players are expected to enter the National Basketball Association next season; and the National Football League is trying to sort out a judge's decision allowing high schoolers' eligibility for the NFL draft.

"It's a phenomenon that there are athletes the ages of our readers," says Mr. Cohen. "We see the trend as a great opportunity for us. We have been getting great access to these young athletes so that our readers can learn more about them."

Boys represent 75% of the readership of Sports Illustrated for Kids, a Time Inc. monthly with a circulation of 1 million. The publication's older readers-from 12 to 17-receive a demographic edition that includes a supplement called "Sports Illustrated Teen." It goes to 350,000 subscribers.

`getting-older-younger'

Peter S. Krieger, publisher of Sports Illustrated for Kids, says the "getting-older-younger" trend among tween and teen sports fans was a key factor in the decision to create the teen supplement. It also provides a targeted opportunity for advertisers to reach this group, and has generated 60 additional ad pages in the past year from such marketers as Progressive Insurance.

"The teen supplement allows us to pitch advertisers targeting the older teen audience," Mr. Krieger says, though he adds there are no plans to break out "Sports Illustrated Teen" as a freestanding publication.

To accommodate his readership's more sophisticated tastes, Mr. Cohen says the magazine has been taking a more realistic approach to sports. For example, a cover several years ago featured Karl Malone, then of the NBA's Utah Jazz, being reluctantly fed spinach by his mother. That kind of cover would no longer fly. Instead, the readers now prefer great action photographs, Mr. Cohen says.

Sports are a passion point for teenagers, says Michael Wood, VP at Teenage Research Unlimited. "Sixty-five percent of teenagers-those from 12 to 19-participate in sports every week," he says. "Sports are a big part of their lives. And being a part of a team is more important than ever before."

Advertisers are doing a good job of getting to that young audience, particularly a company like Nike that has sponsored grassroots 1-on-1 basketball competitions, which have the effect of enhancing its already popular brand with teens, Mr. Wood says.

Targeting tween and teen readers in sports-themed publications, however, is far from a slam-dunk, says Eric Blankfein, VP-director of planning for Horizon Media, New York. "Magazines don't necessarily do the best job of reaching that group based on media usage. We're pretty sure that TV is the best way to reach them, but it is by no means the only way to reach them."

Unlike magazines that target teen girls, which offer a broad mix of stories on relationships, fashion and entertainment, the titles that pursue boys are more narrowly focused on such subjects such as sports, music, videogames, cars or action sports. But no magazine has ever successfully incorporated all those elements under one roof.

"A sports-themed magazine will not meet the other interests that so many of the boys have," Mr. Blankfein says.

A narrow focus, however, is what seems to draw advertisers to SG, one of the newest titles at Primedia's Action Sports Group, says Don Meek, VP-group publisher. SG, which bills itself as "The girls' source for surf/snow/skate/lifestyle," had been an insert in sibling publication Surfing until it was relaunched in 2002 as a freestanding, eight-times-a-year title.

action sports advertisers

Action sports apparel and shoe advertisers such as Hurley, Billabong and Rocket Dog have found a home in the magazine where they can talk to a "group of strong, fit, active and engaged young women," Mr. Meek says. The average age of the predominantly female readership is 17, though SG has readers as young as 13. Circulation is 55,000.

James Kaufman, CEO of SchoolSports Inc., believes his Boston-based company's chain of regionalized publications is the surest route for an advertiser to reach 14-to-18-year-old high school athletes in the nation's 15 largest markets.

At the high school level, there's no one bigger on campus than an athlete, he says, noting, "They are important influencers. He is considered the cool kid, and if he happens to be wearing a certain brand of sneaker or drinking a particular drink, he's likely to have influence on the rest of the school."

ESPN the Magazine attracts one of the largest groups of young readers of sports information. But not by design, says Christopher Collins, VP-publisher of the 1.75 million circulation title. Mr. Collins says he was surprised to learn from a research study that 30% of the magazine's readers are under 21.

"We suspect that they are `aspiring up' to a publication like ours," Mr. Collins says. "From an advertising perspective, we can be considered a one-stop shop to reach a large amount of teens, but I'd caution those kind of advertisers that they will also have to buy our adult audience."

Gary Hoenig, editor in chief of the joint venture between Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Magazines, says he doesn't do anything intentional for tween and teen readers. "Our sweet spot is 21 to 24," he says. "To change our focus in any way would be a mistake."

And teens are probably fine with that, since many of them act like they're in their 20s anyway.