Sports Reference 2026 Summer Internship

Job Summary

Sports Reference LLC plans to welcome six interns for summer 2026 as valued contributors to our Data, Engineering, and Marketing Departments. Sports Reference currently serves a still-growing 22m monthly users through our Reference sites and our SaaS business line at Sports-Reference.com/Stathead.

We currently serve 20 million (and growing) monthly users on our free, ad-supported Reference Sites (Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, FBref.com, etc.) and Stathead, our SaaS offering that provides powerful search and filtering capabilities for deeper exploration of our vast databases. In 2023, we acquired Immaculate Grid, the viral baseball trivia game, and have since launched ad-supported grid games for basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.

Sports Reference is a relatively small company of only 42 employees. As such, interns’ work will be highly visible and have a definite and immediate impact. In addition to the projects interns will complete as members of their respective teams, interns will also participate in skill-building, career development, and networking opportunities designed to help interns achieve their career goals. Former Sports Reference interns have gone on to a wide array of meaningful careers, including a number of front office positions.

To Apply

Please visit our jobs website at https://sports-reference-llc.breezy.hr/ to submit your resume for this position. In addition to a resume, you are required to submit your response to one general prompt and one additional prompt. More information on the prompts is included below.

We will start to review applications on January 12th and will begin the phone interview process the week of January 20th. After we begin to review applications, we typically do not consider additional applications.

We have provided a general outline of the hiring process around internships and frequently asked questions here: https://www.sports-reference.com/internships.html.

Our Purpose and Values

We democratize data, so our users can enjoy, understand, and share the sports they love.

We value:

• Respect for our users, the athletes we cover, and our team;
• Reliable tools and services that meet our users' needs every day;
• Craftsmanship in building tools and products; and
• Data democratization. We publish many data sets for emerging and underserved sports. For instance, the New York Times covered our recognition of the Negro Leagues as major leagues in the summer of 2021.

To meet these expectations, we encourage team members to participate in company discussions and to share new ideas for features or potential solutions to problems.

Background

We take great pride in the Sports Reference Summer Internship program. Each year, we incorporate feedback from the previous year to ensure we are providing a valuable and relevant experience. In 2026, we will provide:

• Meaningful project assignments that advance our company purpose;
• Weekly programming, which last year included
  • Technical-skill seminars led by experienced members of our team,
  • Professional development activities led by a trained Job Search Coach,
  • Networking opportunities with professionals in the sports industry, and
  • Industry-relevant presentations with Sean Forman, President of Sports Reference;
• Opportunities to bond with fellow interns; and
• Access to all team members and the ability to participate in company discussions via Slack.

Our program is designed with undergraduate students in mind, but we welcome all applicants. If you are interested in a Sports Reference Summer Internship and are more experienced, please take into consideration that we do not alter the pay or structure of our internship program to accommodate more advanced skill sets.

Positions

Sports Reference plans to welcome six interns for summer 2026:

• Two Data Interns
  • Goals: Complete data management projects that help us fulfill our purpose to democratize data, so our users can enjoy, understand, and share the sports they love. A highly qualified candidate will also have basic knowledge of relational databases.
• Two Engineering Interns
  • Goals: Work on an established engineering team with full time engineers on current projects and help us fulfill our purpose to democratize data, so our users can enjoy, understand, and share the sports they love. Candidates should feel comfortable writing code in any language (currently, our most frequently used languages are TypeScript, Go, and Perl). A highly qualified candidate will also have basic knowledge of relational databases and web development.
• Two Marketing Interns
  • Goals: Actively contribute to marketing projects that help us fulfill our purpose to democratize data, so our users can enjoy, understand, and share the sports they love. A highly qualified candidate will also have experience with 1) product marketing, 2) community management OR 3) social media & design.

Applicants may apply to only one position. Any applicants who apply to more than one of the positions will not be considered.

Qualifications and Skills

A qualified candidate's application will demonstrate:

• Evidence that you are capable of meeting the goals listed above, beneath the relevant position;
• Ability to lead a project after being given basic directions;
• Desire to find correct answers, even when difficult to do so;
• Tremendous attention to detail; and
• A history of getting things done (and done well).

Expectations

• Complete assigned projects as time and skills allow
• Continue your ongoing learning and professional development

Salary

Sports Reference 2026 Summer Interns will be paid at a rate of $23.50/hour.

Sports Reference 2026 Summer Interns are expected to work 40 hr/week for at least nine weeks between May 26th and September 4th. We offer some flexibility for start/end date and vacation time. We generally work a standard workday, though we offer the ability to flex hours to accommodate non-work obligations.

Other Information

• Sports Reference's first site was launched in 2000. We have bootstrapped ourselves to 42 full-time employees and have no venture capital backing.
• Sports Reference is a remote-first company. Sports Reference is located in Philadelphia and non-Philadelphia candidates will be considered on an equal footing to those who are local. Presently, all Sports Reference employees are working remotely at least some of the time, but those in the Philly area may work from the office on days of their choosing.
• Applicants must have a legal right to work in the United States. Having an intern not based in the US would be difficult to coordinate at this time.
• We are willing to provide accommodations for candidates for whom the timing or structure of our interview process may be challenging. This may include early morning or evening interview times or provide payment to cover child care expenses if needed. If you are applying for a role where verbal communication is not a significant requirement, we may consider an alternative form of interview as is reasonably possible and suitable. Similarly, if an extended period of internet connectivity is a challenge, we may consider an alternate form of interview. If we invite you to interview, please let us know of any possibly necessary accommodations.
• Our typical interview process is described at https://www.sports-reference.com/job-interview-process.html
• Employment at Sports Reference LLC is at-will and this position is an at-will appointment.
• 100% of our merchandise sales support youth sports.

Application Prompts

For ALL applicants, the first half of the prompt is to answer the following question:

Why do you want to intern with Sports Reference, and why should we hire you? (200 word max)

The second half of the prompt is related to the specific position for which you are applying. Applicants may apply to only one position. Find the prompt for the position in which you are most interested below.

Data Internship Prompt

On Baseball Reference, when a player misses a full season, we note the missed season and provide details when possible (e.g., list an injury, link to stats in a foreign league, note military service). This data provides greater context to players' careers. Please answer the following questions with respect to how you would add missed seasons for players to Baseball Reference:

1. Below is a small sample of data from a table we call sup_player_team_seasons in our SQL database. Attempt to write a SQL query that would find all players who returned in 2025 after one or more gap years. Alternatively, explain how you would use Excel, Google Sheets, or another tool. (Data Interns will use SQL during their internships, but knowing SQL is not a prerequisite for applying.)

1. Step by step, how would you complete research on players with missing years? What sources would you use?

person_id,year_id,team_id,comp_id,phase_id,stint_id,b_games,games_batting,games_defense,b_war,p_war

abad--001fau,2001,OAK,AL,reg,1,1,1,1,-0.03,NULL

abad--001fau,2003,BOS,AL,reg,1,9,9,8,-0.32,NULL

abad--001fau,2006,CIN,NL,reg,1,5,5,0,-0.02,NULL

abbott000and,2023,CIN,NL,reg,1,NULL,0,21,NULL,2.77

abbott000and,2024,CIN,NL,reg,1,NULL,0,25,NULL,3.32

abbott000and,2025,CIN,NL,reg,1,NULL,0,29,NULL,5.62

abbott000cor,2021,CHC,NL,reg,1,8,8,7,0.03,-0.41

abbott000cor,2022,WSN,NL,reg,1,NULL,0,16,NULL,-0.01

abbott000cor,2023,WSN,NL,reg,1,NULL,0,22,NULL,-0.46

abel--000mcl,2025,MIN,AL,reg,2,NULL,0,4,NULL,-0.46

abel--000mcl,2025,PHI,NL,reg,1,NULL,0,7,NULL,0.3

abreu-002wil,2023,BOS,AL,reg,1,28,28,25,0.67,NULL

abreu-002wil,2024,BOS,AL,reg,1,132,132,130,3.4,NULL

abreu-002wil,2025,BOS,AL,reg,1,115,115,104,3.21,NULL

abreu-002wil,2025,BOS,AL,WC,1,3,3,2,NULL,NULL

Engineering Internship Prompt

Please provide us with a coding solution to the following problem. You can use any high-level language that you’d like. This problem shouldn’t take more than an hour to complete. If you are finding yourself spending more time, your solution is probably too elaborate. Submit a link to the location where we can view the code (e.g., GitHub). The solution should contain a README.md that provides an explanation to your solution.

Given a json file that includes each team's Win-Loss records versus opponents, provide a code sample of how you would build a table displaying a matrix of head-to-head records, similar to this table. We are interested in your ability to work with data structures, loops and logic.

Provided json data (Note: The json data provided below is just to give a visualization of the data format. The actual values are unimportant for this exercise and shouldn't need to be included in the code.):
{

'BRO': {

'BSN': { 'W': 10, 'L': 12 },

'CHC': { 'W': 15, 'L': 7 },

'CIN': { 'W': 15, 'L': 7 },

'NYG': { 'W': 14, 'L': 8 },

'PHI': { 'W': 14, 'L': 8 },

'PIT': { 'W': 15, 'L': 7 },

'STL': { 'W': 11, 'L': 11 }

},

'BSN': {

'BRO': { 'W': 12, 'L': 10 },

'CHC': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'CIN': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'NYG': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'PHI': { 'W': 14, 'L': 8 },

'PIT': { 'W': 12, 'L': 10 },

'STL': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 }

},

'CHC': {

'BRO': { 'W': 7, 'L': 15 },

'BSN': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'CIN': { 'W': 12, 'L': 10 },

'NYG': { 'W': 7, 'L': 15 },

'PHI': { 'W': 16, 'L': 6 },

'PIT': { 'W': 8, 'L': 14 },

'STL': { 'W': 10, 'L': 12 }

},

'CIN': {

'BRO': { 'W': 7, 'L': 15 },

'BSN': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'CHC': { 'W': 10, 'L': 12 },

'NYG': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'PHI': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'PIT': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'STL': { 'W': 8, 'L': 14 }

},

'NYG': {

'BRO': { 'W': 8, 'L': 14 },

'BSN': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'CHC': { 'W': 15, 'L': 7 },

'CIN': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'PHI': { 'W': 12, 'L': 10 },

'PIT': { 'W': 15, 'L': 7 },

'STL': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 }

},

'PHI': {

'BRO': { 'W': 8, 'L': 14 },

'BSN': { 'W': 8, 'L': 14 },

'CHC': { 'W': 6, 'L': 16 },

'CIN': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'NYG': { 'W': 10, 'L': 12 },

'PIT': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'STL': { 'W': 8, 'L': 14 }

},

'PIT': {

'BRO': { 'W': 7, 'L': 15 },

'BSN': { 'W': 10, 'L': 12 },

'CHC': { 'W': 14, 'L': 8 },

'CIN': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'NYG': { 'W': 7, 'L': 15 },

'PHI': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'STL': { 'W': 6, 'L': 16 }

},

'STL': {

'BRO': { 'W': 11, 'L': 11 },

'BSN': { 'W': 13, 'L': 9 },

'CHC': { 'W': 12, 'L': 10 },

'CIN': { 'W': 14, 'L': 8 },

'NYG': { 'W': 9, 'L': 13 },

'PHI': { 'W': 14, 'L': 8 },

'PIT': { 'W': 16, 'L': 6 }

}

}

Results should look like:

Marketing Internship Prompt

Describe a project that you played a major role in that showcases your experience in marketing.

Please (in less than 250 words):

1. Describe the project and your role.
2. Describe the project goals, deliverables you were responsible for and results.
3. Any challenges you faced along the way and how you navigated them.
4. How this project has prepared you for a marketing internship with SR.

The project can be anything from coursework, a past internship, an extracurricular, a side hustle, or a part-time job. Please include any materials that can help us get a feel for your work on this project (i.e. final deliverables, graphics, slides, posts, emails, etc) using methods such as a portfolio website, a file drive link like Google Drive, or attach files to your application.

Sports Reference LLC does not discriminate in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, military service eligibility, veteran status, marital status, disability, membership in any other protected classes, or on the basis of sports franchise preferences.