Lyndee Pinkerton

The sports world was shaken to its core on Jan. 18, as mass terminations hammered Sports Illustrated (SI) due to its publisher missing a payment on publishing rights. Although the layoffs hit the magazine hard, insurance for Sports Illustrated’s survival has been confirmed.
The brand-management firm Authentic Brands Group (ABG) purchased Sports Illustrated for $110 million in 2019 from a company known as Meredith. After the transaction, 30% of Sports Illustrated publishing staff was laid off by ABG. Afterward, ABG granted the parent company Maven (now known as Arena Group) publishing rights and licensed media, which recently missed a quarterly payment to ABG. As a result, ABG has revoked its licensing agreement, causing Arena Group to lay off the majority of the writing force at Sports Illustrated.
The Arena Group is in the process of negotiating with ABG about the recent development. Despite the fight for the license, the Arena Group did announce that Sports Illustrated will continue to be produced until the issues are resolved.
“Even though the publishing license has been revoked, we will continue to produce Sports Illustrated until this is resolved,” Arena Group said. “We hope to be the company to take SI forward, but if not, we are confident that someone will. If it is another business, we will support with the transition so the legacy of Sports Illustrated doesn’t suffer.”
In a statement of their own, ABG also confirmed that Sports Illustrated will continue to publish.
“Authentic is here to ensure that the brand of Sports Illustrated, which includes its editorial arm, continues to thrive as it has for the past nearly 70 years,” AGB said. “We are confident that going forward, the brand will continue to evolve and grow in a way that serves sports news readers, sports fans and consumers. We are committed to ensuring that the traditional ad-supported Sports Illustrated media pill.”
They also added their own perspective on the situation with Arena Group. “Yesterday, The Arena Group’s license to serve as the publisher of Sports Illustrated was terminated as a result of the company’s failure to pay its quarterly license fee despite being given a notice of breach and an opportunity to cure the breach.”
The incident of massive layoffs has caused Sports Illustrated to put out a statement themselves. “This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group stewardship,” Sports Illustrated said. “We are calling on ABG to ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years. We expect The Arena Group to honor all the terms of our union contract and will fight for every one of our colleagues to be treated fairly.”
For nearly 70 years, Sports Illustrated has been a powerhouse in the magazine industry, winning the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. Highlighting incredible athletes such as Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods, the magazine has become a household name. Before the internet, Sports Illustrated was a gateway to information about sports, analytics and other news that TV stations couldn’t cover. Being on the cover of Sports Illustrated was a huge deal if you were an athlete, bringing large amounts of sponsorships, fame and money.
Despite much success over the last 70 years, the age of digital media has made survival for Sports Illustrated difficult, as it has for many other magazines. In a world where news spreads almost immediately, sports fans will turn to online news sources before Sports Illustrated. Though the future of Sports Illustrated is up in the air, the 70 years of Sports Illustrated’s reign have had a massive impact on sports culture. The legacy of the magazine has simply been undeniable.