Abstract: Sports journalism is an interdiscipline of Journalism and Sport. In recent years, it has been marginalized, and is in an awkward academic status. As a result, it has been tagged as "toy department", "fig leaf" and "leaking craft". The present paper revisited through logical analysis the fundamental characteristics of sports journalism studies from the perspectives of sports journalistic professionalism, celebrity protectionism, new media and development of converged media, concluding that journalistic professionalism is an important characteristic of sports journalism research; celebrity protectionism is the focus of sports journalism research; and new media and development of converged media are the the core characteristic of sports journalism studies in the future. The paper proposed the opportunities and challenges facing sports journalism development under the new circumstances.

Key words: sports journalism, disciplinary features, journalistic professionalism, new media, converged media