Can sports photography also be artistic, or does it need to stay mostly editorial?

’m pretty new to sports photography and trying to understand the standards a bit better.

A genuine question: is there actually room for a more artistic style in sports photography, especially when it comes to composition and color grading, or is that basically the wrong approach?

By artistic I mean stuff like:

- more intentional composition

- color grading that has a bit more style/personality

- crops/framing that aren’t strictly newspaper/editorial

- photos that still show the game, but don’t look purely documentary

I’m not saying “ignore the fundamentals.” I get that timing, focus, clean backgrounds, storytelling, etc. matter a lot. I’m just wondering whether there’s space for a style that feels a bit less editorial and a bit more personal/cinematic.

Obviously if you’re shooting for an agency or pure editorial use, I understand there are standards. But outside of that — club media, social content, branded content, player-focused work — is this kind of approach accepted, or is it still looked at as bad sports photography?

Basically I’m trying to understand where the line is between:

1. developing a style
   

and

1. just doing things wrong

Would love to hear from people actually working in sports.