Every published piece can earn bonuses on top of your agreed fee. There are three, and you control two of them.

Click bonus

Each published article gets a personal tracked share link. Unique clicks through your link earn:

• 1,000 unique clicks: £25
• 3,000 unique clicks: £50
• 6,000 unique clicks: £100

Only clicks through your own link count, so this rewards the marketing you do yourself: your social accounts, your newsletter, communities you’re genuinely part of. One ask: respect each platform’s rules on self-promotion. Burning a community’s goodwill to chase clicks hurts you and us.

Dwell bonus

Pieces that hold readers earn more. Based on the article’s average engagement time, on any piece with at least 1,000 reads in the month:

• 1:30 average read: £15
• 2:30 average read: £30
• 4:00 average read: £50

Editor’s Pick

£100, awarded once a month across the network for craft. Metrics don’t enter into it.

The fine print

The highest tier reached is the one paid (tiers don’t stack within a bonus type, but click, dwell and Editor’s Pick can all be earned on the same piece). The scheme is reviewed quarterly, and a piece is always paid under the scheme that was live when it was published. Worked example: a £100 commission that averages a 4:00 read on 1,000+ views and drives 6,000 clicks through your link pays £250, and £350 if it takes the Editor’s Pick that month.

Across the network we cover:

• Football: Premier League, EFL, scouting and data pieces
• Horse racing
• Boxing and combat sports
• Motorsport: F1 and MotoGP
• Rugby
• Cricket
• Tennis
• Basketball
• Golf

You can apply with one sector or several. We match each brief to whoever fits the sport, format and rate. Pick all the sectors you genuinely cover on the apply form, not just the ones where you’d take any work.

We commission across six formats. Multi-format contributors are welcome and often the most valuable:

• Writing: features, previews, match reports, analysis, opinion pieces
• Photography: matchday, portraits, behind the scenes, training shots
• Video: short-form social content, longform features, interview formats
• Data and stats: deep dives, weekly packages, infographic-led pieces
• Podcasting: episode hosts, regular contributors, interview guests
• Social: feed content, threads, reels, dedicated social campaigns

On the apply form tick every format you’re comfortable delivering at a professional standard.

Plain honest: we say no to a lot of applications. The ones that don’t land tend to share a few patterns.

• Generalists covering five sports at surface level. Specialist depth wins us briefs against bigger publishers. Generalism doesn’t.
• Aggregators rewriting press releases or other outlets’ copy. We pay for original reporting, not summaries.
• Tipsters without journalism craft behind the tips. Betting picks aren’t what we commission. Sports journalism is.
• Anyone using AI to draft full pieces. We run plagiarism and AI detection on submissions. Pieces flagged as machine-generated get rejected.
• Pure SEO writers chasing keywords, not stories. The network’s authority comes from craft, not search-engine hacks.

If you recognise yourself in this list, save us both the time. If you’re certain you’re none of these things, apply confidently.

We aim to review every application within 2 weeks of submission. During busy intake periods (like our initial launch) it can take a little longer.

Your dashboard shows your current status. We don’t send chasing emails because the dashboard is always up to date.

Approved contributors fall into one of three tiers, set by our editorial team during application review:

Tier 1: Lead Contributors. Established writers with a proven editorial track record and a significant social following (typically 10k+ engaged on a relevant platform). Top per-piece rates, first refusal on premium briefs, and the highest tier of the article-promotion bonus scheme.

Tier 2: Contributors. Experienced writers who consistently deliver quality work. Standard per-piece rates, access to most briefs across the network, eligible for the standard promotion bonus.

Tier 3: Emerging Contributors. Talented writers earlier in their career or building specialist knowledge. Lower per-piece rates while you build a portfolio with us. Clear path to Tier 2 after 6–10 quality commissions.

You don’t choose your tier on the apply form. We place you fairly based on your portfolio, track record and social presence. Tiers can move up over time. You’ll see your current tier on your dashboard.

Approved contributors are paid against invoices submitted at the end of each month. Send your invoice to the address shared with you on approval.

Standard terms are 30 days from invoice receipt. Per-piece rates depend on your tier (Tier 1, 2 or 3) and the specific brief. Specific payment dates are set in the agreed brief for each piece of work.

We commission directly when there’s a brief that matches your sectors, rates and capacity. There’s no queue or rota.

Some contributors get their first brief within days of approval. Others wait longer because we don’t yet have demand in their specific niche. Keeping your sectors and rates accurate helps us match you faster.

Each network site has an editorial lead who plans content for their site. When they need a piece, they pick from the contributor pool based on sectors covered, agreed rate, format (writer/photo/video) and current capacity.

You always have the option to accept or decline a brief.

Yes, and many contributors do. Pick all the sectors you cover on your profile and we’ll match you against any site where there’s a fit.

We deliberately limit how many sites any one contributor writes for, to keep each site’s editorial voice distinct. Most contributors work across 1-3 sites.

The content network runs as separate editorial brands. Each site has its own identity, voice and audience. You write under that brand, not under a parent name.

This is deliberate. Each property builds its own authority over time. We’ll always explain on a brief if there’s any commercial placement involved.

Yes. Every commissioned piece runs through Copyscape for plagiarism and an AI-detection tool before publishing.

Plagiarism is an automatic rejection. We pay for original work.

AI detection is a guide, not a verdict. These tools throw false positives on genuine human writing fairly often. If a piece flags, we’ll come back to you with the specific sections and ask for context. Often the explanation is a particular phrasing style and we move on. Sometimes the piece needs revisions.

The aim isn’t to police your drafting process. Use whatever tools help you. The aim is that what we publish reads as your work, not as something a language model generated.

Go to Account from your dashboard. Change your rate, monthly capacity, sectors or any other detail. Save and the changes take effect immediately for future commissions.

Existing agreed work stays at the rate that was confirmed in the brief.

Update the “Notice / availability” field on your Account page to reflect when you’ll be back. If you have active commissions you can’t meet, reply to the brief email as soon as you know and we’ll reassign.

Taking time off doesn’t affect your standing – it’s normal.

Each commission is a per-piece engagement. The brief email is the agreement: scope, deadline, fee, rights. You confirm and we proceed.

If you’d prefer a standing freelance agreement covering rates and IP, ask your contact when you receive your first brief.

Each network site has its own light style guide (typically a one-pager covering tone, headline style, formatting). It’s shared with you alongside your first brief for that site.

General rule of thumb across the network: UK English spelling, AP-style numbers, no marketing jargon, write like a sharp human.

By default, commissioned content is work-for-hire: Dragon Sports Media Limited (or the relevant network site) owns the published piece. You retain the right to reference it as your work and link to it in portfolios.

If you need different terms for a specific piece, raise it before accepting the brief.

Yes. Freelance contributors are free to take work from anyone. We don’t require exclusivity.

The only exception: we ask you not to republish content commissioned by us on other platforms without prior agreement.