MicrostockGroup

I was thinking about sending Alamy some sports images but it seems like most news sites use places like Associated Press and Reuters and not Alamy, Getty,  or other stock sites.

Anybody know what the arrangement is with how Associated Press and Reuters supplies and sells their images?

This post may help you out a bit.

http://photo.net/business-photography-forum/00QjVk

Getting started in this area is really more about networking and knowledge acquisition. Yes you need the talent too. Much different from the microstock game.

It's not something I do so what I say is just based on the snippets I've picked up alomg the way, however it's my understanding that AP and Reuters are more for full time journalistic photographers with press cards who are out there full time shooting those type of images, it's up to the minute take the shot and beam it into the editor kind of stuff.

From the nature of your very question I'm guessing that's not what you do, as someone else mentioned Alamy Getty etc do sell sports images and certainly in the UK I see a lot of credits to those agencies in the papers, so unless the sports images you're talking about happened today or yesterday I wouldn't think AP and Rueters are for you.

Of course you could always email them and ask!

the days of working for newspapers on spec are really gone. i used to be able to survive on spec going across the country, or even when i was in the capital, and working for the weeklies. they used to pay me 15 dollars for each image they pick, and it was not unusual for me to walk out of the office with 90 dollars from 6 shots of 36. (we used to shoot negatives then, lol). but that was in the late 80's till the
crash in the 90's.  yes, 15 dollars an image, micro stock, lol...
not 15 cents. and that was in the 80's to the mid 90's.

today, like litifeta says, you'd be lucky not to be ripped off lol. most newspapers do not pay anything, they get free photos from newsagencies. and they welcome volunteers . times have changed. yes !
but if you're in a country where photojournalism is still  old school, who knows,
there might be some way to make it.   
call them , your local papers,etc.. , and see if they'll get you to be a stringer , or just to work on spec.  that's basically how i started when i graduated from NYI , quit my accounting job,  moved to the capital, to work as a retoucher, stringer, and AV specialist. but the stringer work was the most fun, not the most paying... but the most challenging and satisfying. because i got to travel and saw the whole country as a mere young man with his batteries of Nikon F, OM2, and Rolleiflex SLX, all paid for ... speeding across canada in a white  camaro.