“This is another difficult day in four difficult years for Sports Illustrated under the supervision of Arena Group (formerly The Maven),” the federation said in a statement. “We call on Al Baraka Banking Group to ensure that SI continues to be published and to allow it to serve our audiences in the way it has for nearly 70 years.”
ABG has owned the magazine since 2019 and sold the publishing rights to a company called Arena Group. The Arena Group failed to make a recent payment for the copyright, prompting ABG to withdraw its publishing license and putting Sports Illustrated's future in jeopardy.
“As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off employees working for the SI brand,” the memo to employees said, adding that some employees will be terminated immediately, while others will work until the end of the 90-day period. notice period.
ABG did not inform employees of future plans for the publication or whether it would sell the copyright to another company. Sports Illustrated has about 80 employees in its bargaining unit.
The magazine was launched in 1954 by Henry Luce as part of the Time empire. Its stunning color photographs and extensive long-form journalism quickly made it one of the most important sports publications in the country. SI's weekly editions, with stories by writers like Dan Jenkins, Frank Deford, and Gary Smith, have been a must-read for generations of sports fans and redefined the idea of sports journalism.
Along with the rest of Time's titles, Sports Illustrated has struggled to adapt to the Internet age. Its website was notoriously boring, and its 24/7 news cycle was no match for weekly sports coverage. Multiple rounds of layoffs have hollowed out the post.
Time Inc. sold SI to magazine publisher Meredith Corporation in 2018, which sold it the following year to Authentic Brands Group, a licensing and merchandise company with no journalism background. (When ABG bought Sports Illustrated, more than 30% of the staff were laid off.)
ABG sought to monetize the SI brand with planned resorts, casinos and brain energy pills, while selling the copyrights to Arena Group for $15 million a year.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
