List of films based on sports books
On occasion, sports books have been used as source material for film adaptations. Popular sports in the United States such as baseball and American football have been adapted to film. Books about sports such as boxing, bullfighting, cockfighting, football, hockey, hunting have also been adapted.
Baseball
- * television film.
Comedies
- ♠ The book Fever Pitch is about a fan of football and Arsenal Football Club in particular, not the baseball team, the Boston Red Sox.
Basketball
- * television film.
Bodybuilding
Boxing
| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type |
| City for Conquest | 1940 | Anatole Litvak & Jean Negulesco | USA | City for Conquest | Aben Kandel | 1936 | Novel |
| Gentleman Jim | 1942 | Raoul Walsh | USA | The Roar of the Crowd | James J. Corbett | 1894 | Autobiography |
| Fat City | 1972 | John Huston | USA | Fat City | Leonard Gardner | 1969 | Novel |
| Mandingo | 1975 | Richard Fleischer | USA | Mandingo | Kyle Onstott | 1957 | Novel |
| Raging Bull | 1980 | Martin Scorsese | USA | Jake LaMotta & Joseph Carter | 1970 | Autobiography | |
| The Hurricane | 1999 | Norman Jewison | USA | The 16th Round | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter | 199? | Non-fiction |
Bullfighting
Running of the Bulls
Buzkashi
Car racing
Comedies
Cockfighting
| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type |
| Cockfighter | 1974 | Monte Hellman | USA | Cockfighter | Charles Willeford | 1962/1972 | Novel |
Cycling
Diving
- * television film.
Falconry
Fencing
- ♠ Gen. George Patton relaxes in occupied Bavaria with fencing and horseback riding.
- * television film.
Fishing
- * television film.
Football/soccer
Football, American
Professional, college, high school| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type | TV | Date | Country |
| Navy Blue and Gold | 1937 | Sam Wood | USA | Navy Blue and Gold | George Bruce | 1937? | Novel | - | - | - |
| Jim Thorpe – All-American | 1951 | Michael Curtiz | USA | ? | Jim Thorpe | 19?? | Autobiography | - | - | - |
| Brian's Song | 1971 | Buzz Kulik | USA | I Am Third | Gale Sayers & Al Silverman | 1970 | Autobiography | Brian's Song | 2001 | USA |
| North Dallas Forty | 1979 | Ted Kotcheff | USA | North Dallas Forty | Peter Gent | 1973 | Novel | - | - | - |
| ' | 1980 | Robert Lieberman | USA | ' | Rocky Bleier | 1975 | Autobiography | - | - | - |
| Everybody's All-American | 1988 | Taylor Hackford | USA | Everybody's All-American | Frank Deford | 1981 | Novel | - | - | - |
| Any Given Sunday | 1999 | Oliver Stone | USA | On Any Given Sunday | Pat Toomay | 1984 | Novel | - | - | - |
| Monday Night Mayhem | 2002 | Ernest R. Dickerson | USA | ' | Bill Carter & Marc Gunther | 1988 | Non-fiction | - | - | - |
| The Junction Boys * | 2002 | Mike Robe | USA | The Junction Boys | Jim Dent | 2001 | Non-fiction | - | - | - |
| Friday Night Lights | 2004 | Peter Berg | USA | ' | H. G. Bissinger | 1990 | Non-fiction | Friday Night Lights | 2006 | USA |
| Code Breakers * | 2005 | Rod Holcomb | USA | A Return to Glory: the Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor, and Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53 | Bill McWilliams | 2000 | Non-fiction | - | - | - |
| ' | 2008 | Gary Fleder | USA | ' | Robert C. Gallagher | 1983 | Biography | - | - | - |
| The Blind Side | 2009 | John Lee Hancock | USA | Michael Lewis | 2006 | Non-fiction | - | - | - | |
| Radio | 2003 | Mike Tollin | USA | "Someone to Lean On" | Gary Smith | 1996 | Article | - | - | - |
- * television film.
Comedies
Off the field
| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type |
| Two-Minute Warning | 1976 | Larry Peerce | USA | Two-Minute Warning | George La Fountaine, Sr. | 197? | Novel |
| Black Sunday | 1977 | John Frankenheimer | USA | Black Sunday | Thomas Harris | 1975 | Novel |
Football, Australian
Football, Canadian
Professional and university| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type |
| The Man Who Lost Himself * aka The Stranger I Married | 2005 | Helen Shaver | Canada | The Man Who Lost Himself: The Terry Evanshen Story | June Callwood | 2000 | Non-fiction |
- * television film.
Golf
- * television film.
Gymnastics
Ice hockey
- * television film.
Horse racing
Comedies
Overland
Hot air ballooning
Hunting
Fox hunting
Game
- ♠ A roman à clef about director John Huston filming The African Queen.
Game birds
- ♠ A duck-hunting grandfather takes on a gang of drug traffickers.
Hiking
Hurling
Jai alai
Kite flying
Lacrosse
| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type |
| ' ♠ | 2008 | Gary Fleder | USA | ' | Robert C. Gallagher | 1983 | Non-fiction |
- ♠ Ernie Davis plays briefly with fellow football star Jim Brown, who was also a lacrosse superstar at Syracuse University.
Marathon
Marathon dancing
Mountaineering
- * television film.
Polo
- ♠ Polo-playing US cavalrymen resist Japanese invasion.
Roller derby
Rowing
- ♠ Two rowers are recruited by the CIA, and the sport follows the agents through their lives.
- * television film.
Rugby league
Rugby union
Off the field
Sailing
| Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type |
| The Deep | 1970 | Orson Welles | USA | Dead Calm | Charles F. Williams | 1963 | Novel |
| Dead Calm | 1989 | Phillip Noyce | Australia | Dead Calm | Charles F. Williams | 1963 | Novel |
| White Squall | 1996 | Ridley Scott | USA | The Last Voyage of the Albatross | Chuck Gieg & Felix Sutton | 1962 | Non-fiction |
| Two Came Back * | 1997 | Dick Lowry | USA | Albatross | Deborah Scaling-Kiley & Meg Noonan | 199? | Novel?/ Memoir |
| Mutiny ♠ | 1925 | F. Martin Thornton | UK | ? | Ben Bolt | 192? | Novel |
- ♠ No plot is currently available for this yachting film.
- * television film.
Scuba diving and snorkelling
Skating
Skiing
- * television film.
Skydiving
Stunt driving
- ♠ The film includes flashbacks of the Wall of Death.
- * television film.
Surfing
Swimming
Tennis
[Real tennis]
- ♠ Sigmund Freud plays a match.
Track and field
Wrestling
Historical sports
Chariot racing
- ♠ A chase, rather than a race.
Gladiatorial combat