I work as a translator, although that's because of a foreign-language-heavy medieval history degree, so that might not work for a sports history degree...

But there are lots of non-academic jobs for people with PhD-level skills. I think that a lot of people don't realize they have transferable skills. Everyone's so focused on getting that tenure-track academic teaching job that they don't stop and look at what else they could do! But someone with a PhD probably has extremely good skills in research, writing, time management, stress management, oral presentation, organization, leadership...probably lots of other stuff. These are things that companies are looking for, even if they don't need someone to teach them about sports history specifically.

This is a pure anecdote of course, but for me, when I first started working as a translator, I was hired to replace someone who got so stressed out that they went out for lunch one day and never came back. But I didn't find it particularly stressful, after grad school and (briefly) working in the academic world.

So, just being open to looking at non-academic jobs really helps. Someone with a PhD should be able to adapt to different kinds of jobs, since they have lots of skills that employers want.