Athletes may pose nude for ESPN mag

NEW YORK - In a move that could give Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue a run for its money, ESPN The Magazine will publish its first "Body Issue," which may showcase pro, amateur and Olympic athletes posing in the nude.

USA Today reports that the issue, slated to hit newsstands on Oct. 19, is hoping to feature athletes posing in the buff in artistic, tasteful ways. Editor in chief Gary Belsky said the magazine has to figure out how to "use equipment and pads and bats and goalposts and soccer nets and pucks and helmets to obscure body parts that we still can't quite go to in a magazine that's part of a company owned by [Disney]."

The intent of the magazine isn't to invoke sex or anything salacious. As Belsky said, it's really about exploring how athletes' bodies are "bent and pulled, tortured and broken, inflated and improved and made to excel."

So far Belsky said the athletes that the magazine has approached with the idea have been enthusiastic. Back in 2004, ESPN The Magazine did a spread featuring Winter X Games athletes in the nude, and Belsky hopes to follow that model.

Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue remains the most popular franchise for the magazine. It reaches 67 million consumers via the magazine, SI.com, television shows, videos, calendars and more. It has been published since 1964.