The genre has been popular on Tiktok's book community Booktok for a longer period, but got a proper breakthrough last year, according to book influencer Jasmine Darban.
Among the most notable titles are the hockey romance novels "Icebreaker" by Hannah Grace and "Pucking around" by Emily Rath, as well as the Formula 1 series "Dirty air" by Lauren Asher. Common to the books is that they are love stories set in sports contexts.
During the Olympic Games in Paris, the genre got a new boost, after public love declarations among athletes were caught on Booktok.
For example, a clip of Armand Duplantis, who kisses his girlfriend in front of the cameras directly after setting a world record, went viral and was described as a scene from a romance book.
Tennis players kissed after the gold
Another example is the tennis couple Katerina Siniakova and Tomás Machac, who celebrated their Olympic gold in mixed doubles by kissing on the tennis court. On social media, it is speculated that the players broke up just weeks before the competitions started.
Many liken it to the "second chance" trope found in many romance books. That is, they get a new chance with each other, says Jasmine Darban.
But it's not just the Olympic Games that have increased interest in the book genre. Darban mentions Wimbledon and Formula 1 as examples of other sports events that engage readers on Tiktok.
I don't get the feeling that many of them care about sports, really. During the Olympic Games, it's mainly been about people thinking it's romantic to see athletes show their love in front of millions of people.
Taylor Swift fuels the trend
Global superstar Taylor Swift, and her relationship with Kansas City player Travis Kelce, are also seen as a factor in the increased popularity of the "sports romance" genre.
It's the world's biggest artist dating an athlete. She shows up at his matches, and he goes to her concerts. It's not surprising that it has become a trend, says Darban.
At the same time, there is a risk that the boundaries between real athletes and fictional romances become blurred on Booktok. In 2023, an influencer got into trouble when she made videos about the players in the hockey team Seattle Kraken, something that was initially encouraged by the team.
But then she got criticism for sexualizing the players, and the wife of one of them went out and said it had gone too far. So, there is another side to this trend as well.
In 2023, the subgenre of hockey romance novels, which is part of the "sports romance" genre, caused controversy on Tiktok, something that The New York Times reported on.
It happened both through several hockey teams joining the Booktok community and through Booktok profiles sharing content inspired by the books but targeting real players.
Some of the content was explicit and referred to sex, and in some cases, it went further onto the arenas. It all culminated when the wife of one of the hockey players in Seattle Kraken went out on social media and said that the comments directed at her husband had turned into sexual harassment.
The team later removed all content from its Tiktok account that referred to Booktok.
