Your passport to the NFL
It’s the turn of back-to-back-to-back World Sports Photography of the Year winner, Kevin Sabitus to show us the ropes of the NFL.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Kevin Sabitus | Pitch Issue 17CAGED LIONS
November 2024 Lions @ Packers
“The tunnel at Lambeau Field feels a mile long. It’s dark, dingy, and lined by a green velvet floor. A real step back in time. Both players cracking their necks as they are, you get a real sense of that pre-game anxiety bubbling up. Lit by one solitary light.”
Kevin Sabitus didn't pick up a camera until his senior year at Notre Dame, when his dad handed him a cheap Nikon D5100 and, more or less, changed the course of his life. A former footballer (the soccer kind) who couldn't quite shake sport, after college he swapped a marketing desk job in Boston for something far less certain. And by his own account “more fulfilling.” That, for the 'Domer', was photography.
After years of having the confidence to put himself in “uncomfortable places”, the gamble paid off. Internships with the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Rays sharpened his eye, and since pitching himself to NFL Photos in 2021, he says, "it's been the best job in the world."
He's shot 40 games a season ever since, ticking off all 30 NFL stadiums along the way. The classier, older joints remain his favourites: Lambeau Field chief among them.
Following three consecutive World Sports Photography Awards. His NFL work is a lesson in patience and positioning – or “just looking for the best light,” as he puts it. "I get lucky more often than not." Here, in a selection frames that point to more than just chance, is a bite-sized portion of the NFL’s best
STEELY-EYED
December 2021
Titans @ Steelers
“My first season photographing the NFL arrived with a bit of internal pressure. Greg Mabin, Steelers cornerback, looks like he’s looking through my lens here. A gift. Of sorts.”
THICK OF IT
January 2024 Texans @ Colts
“It gets pretty heated sticking your camera in faces. Some speeches are properly inspiring; you can see the emotion written all over Zaire Franklin’s face. It makes me want to go to war. Run through a brick wall, or something.”
ICED OUT
April 2023 The Draft, Kansas City
“Careers (in Anthony Richardson’s case) are made, and/or broken at the ring of a phone. In black and white, he’s worked his whole life for this moment and had just received the good news from the Indianapolis Colts.”
FOCUS
October 2023 Falcons @ Buccaneers
“A hot hot day in Tampa. And defensive tackle Calais Campbell is the biggest guy I’ve ever seen, 140kg, six-foot-eight, something like that. Camera well above my head here, capturing the emotions of the anthems.”
FLIPPING OUT
August 2025 Bills @ Buccaneers
“Made by the ‘bigger guy’ looking up, almost in awe, of rookie Tez Johnson having scored his first touchdown. A real ‘what-the-hell-is-this’ moment.”
SIGN OF THE TIMES
DECEMBER 2021 Browns @ Titans
“Working for the Browns during the pandemic, I’m further away here for social distancing; that helps the depth of this wider photo – the solar flare pooling as it is.”
AWARD-WINNING
November 2023 Vikings @ Falcons
“Josh Dobbs here, ball in hand, has an aerospace engineering degree and looks to be putting it to work. He’s an intelligent player, a journeyman, who tends to make a difference wherever he plays. With the composition as it is, this photo almost looks like something out of the Renaissance. Defenders scrambling, as they are. My first World Sports Photography Award too.”
ALL AMERICA
February 2026 SUPER BOWL LX, Santa Clara, California
“I couldn’t see the majority of Bad Bunny’s halftime show, but luckily his symbolic carrying of the Puerto Rican flag happened right in front of my eyes. I'm happier having the one photo that matters most.”
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
February 2025 SUPER BOWL LIX
