User:Enos733/NSPORT

This guideline is used to help determine whether a sports person or sports league/organization (amateur or professional) is s a valid subject for a separate Wikipedia article dedicated solely to the sports person, team, league, or organization based on their athletic achievements or major contributions to their sport.

Individuals athletes may be in some other way under the general notability guideline or one of the other subject-specific notability guidelines.

Decisions based on verifiable evidence

Main page: Wikipedia:Notability § Notability requires verifiable evidence

Wikipedia bases its decision about whether an sports person or sports league/organization is notable enough to justify a stand-alone article on the verifiable evidence that the sports person has attracted the notice of reliable sources unrelated to the league or organization the sports person is involved with. Notability requires only that these necessary sources have been published—even if these sources are not actually listed in the article yet (though in most cases it probably would improve the article to add them). Sports biographies must include at least one reference to a source providing significant coverage of the subject, excluding database sources.

No inherent notability

No sports person, team, league, season, organization, or stadium is considered inherently notable. "Notability" is not synonymous with "fame" or "importance." No matter how "important" editors may personally believe an sports person, team, league, season, organization, or stadium to be, it should not have a stand-alone article in Wikipedia unless reliable sources unrelated to the league or organization have given significant coverage to it. No sports person or coach gains notability with association with or participation on or with a notable team, league, or competition.

When evaluating the notability of sports person, team, league, season, organization, or stadium, please consider whether they have had any significant or demonstrable effects on their sport. More care should be taken to demonstrate the significant coverage for youth and amateur athletes than individuals participating professionally. More care should be taken to demonstrate the significant coverage for athletes playing in a second-division league than individuals participating in a top-tier professional league.

Individuals who medal in the Olympics or a top-tier national or international competition, set world records, win awards from professional leagues, or are honored in a national or international hall or fame, are likely to have more readily available verifiable information from reliable sources that provide evidence of notability.

General Considerations

Sourcing

Some sources must be used with particular care when establishing notability and should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Game play summaries, statistical results, or routine interviews are not sufficient sources, by themselves, to establish notability. Trivial coverage of a subject by secondary source(s) may be used to support content in an article, but not sufficient to establish notability. This includes listings in database sources with low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion, such as Sports Reference's college football and basketball databases. Primary source(s) may be used to support content in an article, but they do not contribute toward proving the notability of a subject.

Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable source(s). Team sites and governing sports bodies are not considered independent of their players. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves to establish notability. Listings of statistics must clearly satisfy the requirement for significant coverage.

Local sources must be independent of the subject and must provide reports beyond routine game coverage.

Prep athletes

High school and pre-high school athletes are notable only if they have received, as individuals, substantial and prolonged coverage that is: (1) independent of the subject; and (2) clearly goes beyond WP:ROUTINE coverage.

The first clause excludes all school papers and school websites that cover their sports teams and other teams they compete against. The second clause excludes the majority of local coverage in both news sources and sports specific publications. It especially excludes using game play summaries, statistical results, or routine interviews as sources to establish notability.

Winning regional or statewide competitions, honored as an all-star or all-state athlete, or reported as a rated prospect, is usually not sufficient to warrant a stand-alone article.

Winning an international junior championships may be sufficient to warrant a stand-alone article as described elsewhere in this guideline.

Athletic Entertainment

Any athletic entertainment event at which the results are at least partially predetermined or scripted is not covered by this page. For participants in such events (for example, professional wrestling), see WP:ENTERTAINER. At this time there is no consensus that esports participants are covered by the criteria of this guideline.

Sports people

The decision to determine whether a sports person is notable enough to justify a separate article on the verifiable evidence that the sports person has attracted the notice of reliable sources unrelated to the league or organization the sports person is involved with.

In this section, meeting any of enumerated criteria increases the likelihood that there exists readily available verifiable information from reliable sources that provide evidence of notability. This section should be treated more as typical outcomes for sports people than a presumption of notability. Individuals who played professional team sports in a top-tier league or competed in a top-tier event, such as the Olympics or World Championships, who do not qualify for a stand-alone article should be contained to a list of players or list of participants in an event.

Association Football

Significant coverage is likely to exist for footballers if they

1. Have been inducted into a national association football hall of fame.
2. Have won an award, or led the league in a major statistical category, in the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Women's World Cup, or a fully professional leagues kept by WikiProject Football.

Athletics/track & field and long-distance running

Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes who compete in the field of athletics by

1. Have been inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame or the Road Runners Club of America Hall of Fame.
2. Have at any time held a world or continental record (including world junior records, world youth bests, and masters age-group world records) ratified or noted by the relevant official body.
3. Finished top 3 in a competition at the highest level outside of the Olympic Games and world championships. Individual events in these championships must contain either several heats or extended fields (e.g., European Athletics Championships, Commonwealth Games, or any of the 6 World Major Marathons).
4. Finished top 3 in any other major senior-level international competition (this includes prestigious small field meets, e.g., IAAF Diamond League/IAAF Golden League meets, less-prestigious large-scale meets, e.g., Asian Games, and any IAAF Gold Label Road Race that is not explicitly mentioned above).
5. Winning an individual gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships, or Youth World Championships.

Badminton

Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes in badminton if they

1. Have had a podium finish at tournaments of the BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix (until 2017) or the BWF World Tour or Super 100 level (from 2018 onwards).

Baseball

Significant coverage is likely to exist for basketball figures if they

1. Were elected to a professional baseball hall of fame.
2. Have won an award, or led the league in a major statistical category, of the MLB or NPB.
3. Thrown a perfect game in the MLB or NPB.

Basketball

Significant coverage is likely to exist for basketball figures if they

1. Were elected to a professional basketball Hall of Fame
2. Were selected in the first two rounds of the NBA draft.
3. Have won an award, or led the league in a major statistical category, of the Continental Basketball Association, EuroLeague, National Basketball Association, NBA G League, or Women's National Basketball Association.

Boxing

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a boxer if they

1. Have been ranked in the world top ten of any weight class by the IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO, or The Ring magazine.

Cricket

Further information: WP:CRIN

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a cricket figure if they

• Were selected to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
• (for umpires) Have been a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires

Cue sports (snooker, pool, billiards)

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Cue sports/Notability, which covers players and other persons, as well as governing bodies, manufacturers, periodicals, tournaments, rulesets, equipment, and venues. It is a WP:PROJPAGE, explaining how WP:Notability applies to the topic area and outlining what is likely/unlikely to be found notable, rather than setting rules or attempting to establish any variances from WP:NBASIC and NSPORT in general.

Curling

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a curler if they

1. Are member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame or the WCF Hall of Fame.
2. Have won a World Curling Tour event or a Grand Slam of Curling event.
3. Have won a medal at one of the following World Curling Federation sanctioned events: the World Junior Curling Championships, World Senior Curling Championships, European Curling Championships, World Mixed Curling Championship, or Pacific-Asia Curling Championships.
4. Have won a medal at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships.
5. Have won the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, Canadian Senior Curling Championship, or Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.

Cycling

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a cyclist if they

1. Won a UCI World Tour (men);
2. Won (a stage, or an overall individual classification) a Grand Tour or finished on the podium of a Monument;
3. Won the UCI World Championships or UCI World Cup;
4. Won Gold at an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship);
5. Won a UCI category race (minimum classification 1.1 / 2.1, including Continental and National Championships).

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a team if it

1. Is a men's road team in the 1st (UCI WorldTeam), 2nd (UCI ProContinental), or 3rd (UCI Continental) tier;
2. Is a UCI team (including UCI women's team, UCI track team, UCI mountain bike team, UCI cyclo-cross team, etc.).

Equestrian sport

This section does not encompass notability issues for individuals in rodeo, which is addressed at WP:NRODEO, or horse racing, which is covered at WP:NHORSERACING.

Equestrians competing at the highest level of international competition are not always "professionals", some earn money and some do not, but most have sponsors or receive money to support their activities. Both professionals and non-professionals have been put in the professional sports category for convenience.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for individual people and horses who are involved in equestrian sport

1. Have medaled at the Pan American Games as a rider, driver, or official team coach
2. Have medaled at the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) as a rider, driver, or official team coach
3. If prior to a competition becoming part of the combined WEG, medaled individually or were on a team that won gold, silver, or bronze at the Eventing World Championship, Show Jumping World Championships, or Dressage World Championship, Combined Driving World Championships, Endurance World Championships or World Vaulting Championships
4. Have won a FEI World Cup competition.

Figure skating

Significant coverage is likely to exist for figure skating figures if they

1. Are members of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, or a major national figure skating hall of fame, such as the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
2. Have won a medal at an international senior-level event or the World Junior Figure Skating Championships
3. Won their country's senior national championships, with the exception of those countries that do not regularly send multiple skaters to the Olympic Games (consult this Olympic athlete tally to check whether the country qualifies).

Football (American football)

Significant coverage is likely to exist for American footballers if they

1. Have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame or Canadian Football Hall of Fame
2. Have won an award, or led the league in a major statistical category, in the National Football League or Canadian Football League.
3. Was selected in the first rount of the NFL Draft.

Golf

Significant coverage is likely to exist for golf figures if they

1. Are enshrined in one of golf's recognized Halls of Fame (example: World Golf Hall of Fame)
2. Have won at least one professional golf tournament (examples: PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour Champions)
3. Have won at least one recognized amateur golf tournament at the national or international level (examples: U.S. Amateur, British Amateur)
4. Have made the cut in one of the four Men's major golf championships, one of the Women's major golf championships (past or present), or one of the Senior major golf championships (past or present).

Gymnastics

Significant coverage is likely to exist for artistic gymnasts if they

1. Have been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
2. Won a senior individual medal at an elite international competition*
3. Won their country's senior all-around or individual event finals national championship while competing for a country that qualified a full team into the most recent Olympics or senior World Championships
4. Won an individual medal at the senior national championships for any country that medaled in the team competition at the most recent Olympics or World Championships

Significant coverage is likely to exist for junior gymnasts if they meet any of the criteria below

1. Won an individual gold medal at the junior national championships for any of the following countries: USA, Russia, China, Romania (females only)
2. Won an individual gold medal, in the junior division, at an elite international competition*
3. Won an individual medal at the Youth Olympic Games or Junior World Championships

Horse racing

• Notability for people involved in sport horse disciplines other than horse racing are covered at WP:NEQUESTRIAN or WP:NRODEO

For notability essay for all horse racing-related subjects, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Horse racing/Notability.

Not all participants in horse racing are athletic "professionals", particularly owners and breeders, but due to purse money and profit motive throughout the sport they are put in the professional sports category for convenience.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for Horse racing figures, including horses and/or their human "connections" (horse trainers, jockeys, or horse owners and horse breeders) if they

1. Are members of a national Racing Hall of Fame.
2. Individuals who win a US Grade I/Group I graded stakes race or the equivalent level in their respective nations. (Horses, due to their relatively short careers, at least once; humans best to have done so more than once)
3. Individuals who have won multiple significant US Grade/Group 2 or 3 graded stakes races or the equivalent level in their respective nations.
4. Individuals who have won year-end championship titles, such as an Eclipse Award.

Significant coverage is also likely to exist for horses or persons associated with horse racing who were not competitors or do not meet the criteria above, if they meet any of the following:

1. Individual humans who were significant for new advancements or trailblazing achievements. (examples: Andrew Beyer, Florence Nagle, Diane Crump)
2. Horses that may not have raced to any significant degree (usually due to injury), but had multiple significant progeny, such as Tapit.
3. Horses who are ranked the leading sire or broodmare for a given year in their respective nations (again, see Tapit)
4. Breeding farms or farm owners that do not race many horses themselves, but have produced or currently stand horses who became notable winners. (i.e., Adena Springs)
5. Horses and individuals involved in highly publicized thefts or other crimes, e.g., Shergar, scandals, or other nefarious activities, such as substitution scams, e.g., Fine Cotton.

An individual person with a connection to a notable horse is not presumed notable for that reason only, see WP:BIO1E, though if the individual's role is a large one, a significant connection to a single notable horse might justify a spinoff article (e.g., Eddie Sweat, groom of Secretariat). Conversely, a horse is not presumed notable just because the owner is famous – of Jim Rome's racehorses, Shared Belief is notable, Gallatin's Run is probably not.

Ice hockey

Significant coverage is likely to exist for ice hockey players if they

1. Are enshrined in a national hall of fame.
2. Achieved preeminent honors (all-time top-10 career scorer, first-team all-star) in the Mestis, Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Slovak Extraliga, HockeyAllsvenskan, National League, or American Hockey League;
3. Achieved preeminent honors (all-time top-10 career scorer or first-team all-star) in the Eishockey Liga, Belarusian Extraleague, DEL2, GET-ligaen, ECHL, Elite Ice Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Western Hockey League, Elite.A, or Beneliga;
4. Achieved preeminent honors (all-time top-10 career scorer or first- or second-team All-American) in the men's play versions of the Atlantic Hockey, Big Ten Conference, Central Collegiate Hockey Association, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, or NCAA Division I independent; or
5. Are a first-round draft pick of the NHL Entry Draft.

For participants in defunct leagues who satisfy any of these achievement standards, please see the ice hockey league assessment maintained by the Ice Hockey WikiProject. For leagues still in existence, only those listed above satisfy the specified criteria.

Kickboxing

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a kickboxing athlete if they

1. Have been ranked in the world top-10 by a major, preferably two, independent publication that meets the definition of a reliable source, or
2. Have been a Lumpinee or Rajadamnern champion.

Mixed martial arts

Significant coverage is likely to exist for mixed martial artists figures if they

1. Have been ranked in the world top 10 in their division by either Sherdog (sherdog.com) or Fight Matrix (fightmatrix.com).

Motorsports

Significant coverage is likely to exist for motorsport figures if they

1. Are enshrined in any notable motorsports hall of fame.
2. A driver or rider who has finished on the overall podium of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Bathurst 1000 Kilometres, or a pre-World Championship Grande Épreuve.
3. A driver, rider, or co-driver who has won any of the following events overall:

• A round of any primarily-professional series of significant national importance, such as the British Touring Car Championship, Stock Car Brasil, or Super GT.
• A high-profile international rally as a driver (such as the Dakar Rally, Coupe des Alpes, or non-world championship editions of the Monte Carlo or RAC rallies), or a round of the World Rally Championship as a co-driver.
• A non-championship national Grand Prix (including the Macau Grand Prix and the Gordon Bennett Cup) for cars or motorcycles.
• Various major road races, such as one of the high-profile inter-city races of the 1890s and 1900s, an Isle of Man TT event, the Targa Florio, or the Mille Miglia.

1. A driver or rider who has won the overall championship title of any series in the previous category without winning a race (a relatively common occurrence in series whose points-scoring systems favour consistent finishes over inconsistent victories) or a major championship in which a large number of the competitors are amateur "gentleman" drivers or privateers, such as the European Le Mans Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge, or European Rally Championship.
2. Any driver who does not meet the previous criteria who has received an FIA platinum driver categorisation. Significant coverage is likely to exist for Drivers who have received an FIA gold driver categorisation, although a minority of drivers in this group may not meet the general notability guideline.
3. A current or former holder of significant motorsports record, such as a land speed record.

Orienteering

Significant coverage is likely to exist for an athlete who competes in the field of orienteering if they meet any of the criteria below

1. Have finished top 3 in the World Orienteering Championships, the European Orienteering Championships, the overall Orienteering World Cup at the end of a season or the World Games.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for an orienteering club if it meets any of the criteria below

1. Has won a major relay (according to the criteria below, which mean presently Tiomila (both the Tiomila relay and the women’s relay, since 1970 when the number of team became so large that it could not anymore be organized from point A to point B) and the Jukola relay (both Jukola, from 1972, and Venla).
2. Has been represented by ten runners who fulfill the criteria above.

Rodeo

Significant coverage is likely to exist for individuals who participate in the sport of rodeo if they

1. Have been inducted into a national or international rodeo hall of fame such as the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, or Bull Riding Hall of Fame.

College rodeo athletes in NIRA competition will follow NCOLLATH and younger rodeo competitors will follow NHSPHSATH.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for named animals participating in rodeo, such as bucking horses and bucking bulls, if they have been named to a rodeo hall of fame such as those noted above.

Skiing and Snowboarding

Significant coverage is likely to exist for skiers, ski jumpers, and snowboarders if they

1. Won a world championship medal (individual or team)
2. Finished in the top three in a world cup race. (individual or team)

Sumo

Significant coverage is likely to exist for sumo wrestlers if they

1. Have been ranked in either the top (makuuchi) division or second-highest (juryo) division.

Significant coverage is not likely to exist for wrestlers who have only appeared in lower divisions, as they have not reached fully professional status.

Tennis

Significant coverage is likely to exist for tennis figures if they

1. Are a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, either in the contributor or player category.
2. Have won at least one title in any of the ATP Challenger tournaments.
3. Have won at least one title in any of the ITF Women's $40,000–$100,000+ tournaments, or any of the WTA 125 tournaments. (From 1978–2007 it was $25,000 tournament, and 2008–2022 it was a $50,000 tournament, roughly based on the lowest payout for a men's challenger tournament in the same year).
4. Hold a tennis record recognized by the International Tennis Federation, ATP, or WTA.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for junior players if they have won at least a junior Grand Slam title, have been in the top-3 of the junior ITF world rankings, or can be shown to meet the wider requirements of WP:NBASIC.

This guideline applies equally to singles and doubles players.

Triathlon

Significant coverage is likely to exist for triathletes if they

1. Have had a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games.
2. Have had a top-ten finish in the final World Triathlon Series standings (or in the final World Triathlon Cup standings, prior to 2009).
3. Have had a top-ten finish in an World Triathlon sanctioned championship event.
4. Have an elite level podium finish at an World Triathlon Continental Championship.
5. Have had a professional division top-ten finish at the Ironman World Championship or at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
6. Have had a podium finish at the XTERRA Triathlon championships.
7. Have set a record for a standard distance event or leg.

College athletes

College athletes must gain national media attention as an individual, not just as a player for a notable team. The athletes are are notable only if they have received, as individuals, substantial and prolonged coverage that is independent of the subject beyond repeating of their statistics, mentions in game summaries, or other WP:ROUTINE coverage. Very rarely, a player may gain national media attention despite not being on a notable team, such as Lauren Hill.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for college athletes if they

1. Were inducted into the hall of fame in their sport (for example, the College Football Hall of Fame) but this does not extend to induction in a school-specific hall of fame or induction as a member of a team).
2. Have won a national award (such as those listed in Template:College football award navbox or the equivalent in another sport), or established a major NCAA Division I record.
3. Have won multiple NCAA Division I national championships as an individual in an individual sport.

Coaches, referees, and owners

To non-athletes associated with a sport (or athletes whose main claim to notability is non-athletic activity), significant coverage is likely to exist if they:

1. Are inductees to a major national or international hall of fame dedicated to sport.
2. Coaches, managers, or horse trainers who have coached many notable athletes in individual sports or are the official head coach of top-tier professional teams.
3. Have been the official head coach of an Olympic or World Championship team.
4. Served as a full-time (as opposed to interim) head coach for NCAA Division I/University Division football (since the establishment of divisions in 1957), men’s basketball (since 1957) or women’s basketball (since 1982).
5. Have introduced a notable technique or training method, and are widely credited as the originator.
6. Own a professional sports franchise in a top-tier league or are the head of a national and international sporting federation.
7. A current or former owner or team principal for a team in a major racing series (Formula One, the World Rally Championship, MotoGP, Formula E, Indycar, DTM, Super GT, the NASCAR Cup Series, V8 Supercars, CART, or top-level IMSA) for a full season or more. This includes Cup Series crew chiefs.

Organizations, races, and events

Athletics

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a road race if it meets any one of the following criteria

1. It has an international elite (as defined by the IAAF standards for that year) field of at least 5 different nationalities.
2. It receives broadcast or cable television coverage beyond the local market (if coverage is through the internet, the site must be independent of the sport, for example Universal Sports).
3. It is a directly competitive meeting between several notable performers (at least 5).

The following criteria may also be used to satisfy road race notability, but does not count towards the notability of athletes who compete in these races

1. It has been the site of exceptional performances or records (bests).
2. It regularly has more than 5,000 competitors.
3. It has been held over a unique course or distance consistently over a period of 25 years.

Cycling

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a race if it

1. Is ranked with the UCI (WT, 1.Pro, 1.1, 1.2, 2.Pro, 2.1, 2.2, CDM, JO, CM, GT, CC, CN, .HC);
2. Is part of an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship);
3. Holds significant recognition (for example, Parel van de Veluwe and the People's Choice Classic).

Olympic and Paralympic Games

• Significant coverage is likely to exist for Athletes from any sport if they have won a medal at the modern Olympic Games, including the Summer Olympics (since 1896) or the Winter Olympics (since 1924), e.g., Ian Thorpe, or have won a medal at the Paralympic Games, e.g. Laurentia Tan. However, winning a medal in a competition with fewer than four competitors or teams (i.e., when all participants receive a medal) is not an indicator of presumed notability, and other exceptions may be listed at sport specific guidelines.
• Significant coverage is likely to exist for Nations participating at an individual Summer or Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games, e.g., United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics or Great Britain at the 2002 Winter Paralympics
• Significant coverage is likely to exist for Sports at individual Summer or Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games, e.g., Archery at the 2004 Summer Olympics or Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics
• Significant coverage is likely to exist for Events at individual Summer or Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games, e.g., Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race or Skeleton at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Women's

For details on suggested content for the above article types see Wikipedia:WikiProject Olympics/Manual of Style.

Orientieering

Significant coverage is likely to exist for an event it meet all the following criteria

1. It has an international elite field.
2. It regularly has more than 5,000 competitors.
3. It has been held over a period of 25 years.

Presently that means O-Ringen, Tiomila, and the Jukola relay. In addition, an event is also likely to receive significant coverage if it is a competition for developing elite athletes; this includes the Junior World Orienteering Championships, the World University Orienteering Championships and the European Youth Orienteering Championships.

Gaelic games

Significant coverage is likely to exist for GAA figures if that figure is or has been a:

1. Gaelic footballer who has played in the National League or at senior inter-county level in the Championship
2. Gaelic handballer who has won at senior inter-county level
3. Hurler who has played in the National Hurling League or at senior inter-county level in the Championship

Teams, clubs, games, seasons, and rivalries

This guideline does not provide any general criteria for the presumed notability of sports teams and clubs. Some sports have specific criteria. Otherwise, teams and clubs are expected to demonstrate notability by the general notability guideline.

Since notability is not inherited, the notability of an athlete does not imply the notability of a team or club, or vice versa.

Individual seasons

Individual season articles for top-level professional teams are highly likely to meet Wikipedia notability requirements. If the article is not for a top level professional team (such as for a college team) weigh both the season itself and the sport (for example, if a US college or university's football and fencing teams enjoy the same level of success, the football team is likely to receive a significantly greater amount of coverage):

• A national championship season at the top collegiate level is generally notable.
• A national championship season at a lower collegiate level might be notable
• A season including a post-season appearance (or, if there is no post-season competition, a high final ranking) in the top collegiate level is often notable.
• For programs considered elite in a sport (for example, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, in men's basketball; Tennessee and UConn in women's basketball; Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama, USC in football, etc.) many or all seasons might be notable regardless of the outcome (the amount written by reliable sources on a weekly basis for some of these programs is enough that almost anything or anyone having any relation to them is likely to meet the General Notability Guideline).
• In cases in which the individual season notability is insufficient for an article, multiple seasons may be grouped together in a single article. This grouping might be based on head coaches, conference affiliation, or any other reasonable standard that results in sufficient coverage for the period to warrant an article.

Individual games or series

Further information: Wikipedia:Notability (events)

Regular season games in professional and college leagues are not presumed notable. To be notable, games should be extraordinary and have a lasting impact on the sport; news coverage should be extensive (e.g., outside of the week of its occurrence and in non-local newspapers).

Some games or series are likely or almost certain to be considered notable, including but not limited to the following:

• The final series (or single game when there is not a series) determining the champion of a top league, e.g., 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, or 2009 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, or Super Bowl XLIII, or 2006 UEFA Champions League final
• College bowl games (not limited to BCS or College Football Playoff bowl games, e.g. see 2009–10 NCAA football bowl games).
• All-star or similar exhibition games, e.g., 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
• A game that is widely considered by independent reliable sources to be notable, outside routine coverage of each game, especially if the game received front page coverage outside of the local areas involved (e.g., The Malice at the Palace, 2009 Republic of Ireland v France football matches, or the Blood in the Water match)

Articles about notable games should have well-sourced prose, not merely a list of stats.

For a game or series that is already covered as a subtopic in another article, consider developing the topic in the existing article first until it becomes clear that a standalone article is warranted. Although a game or series may be notable, it may sometimes be better to present the topic in an existing article on a broader topic instead of creating a new standalone page.

Rivalries

Sports rivalries are not presumed notable. Articles on sports rivalries, such as Yankees–Red Sox rivalry, should satisfy the general notability guideline.

Arenas, stadia and other athletic venues

As with teams and clubs (see WP:NTEAM), sporting arenas, stadia and other venues do not have presumed notability, and are expected to demonstrate notability through meeting the general notability guideline. Since notability is not inherited, neither the notability of a sports team nor of competitions played there imply the notability of a venue.

Research links

See also: Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives

The following are some potential places to look for sources to establish sports notability:

• Chronicling America Library of Congress, historic newspapers from 1836–1922 (free)
• Google news search (mostly free)
• LA84 Foundation Digital archive of the LA84 Foundation research library; digitized books, periodicals, and magazines on sports (free)
• Newspaper archive Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)
• NewsLibrary Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)
• Newspapers.com Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)