Is Sports Illustrated done?
The jobs of people who produce Sports Illustrated were in limbo after the company that paid to maintain the iconic brand’s print and digital products told staff that its license was revoked.
apnews.com
Sports Illustrated staff could be laid off as the iconic magazine’s publisher faces money troubles
The jobs of people who produce Sports Illustrated were in limbo Friday after the company that paid to maintain the iconic brand’s print and digital products told staff that its license was revoked.
In an email to employees Friday morning, the Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated and related properties, said that because of the revocation, “we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand.”
Authentic Brands Group owns the Sports Illustrated brand and had been licensing it to Arena. Authentic later said in a statement it intends to keep Sports Illustrated going. The company is negotiating with Arena and other publishing entities to determine who will do that, according to a person with knowledge of the talks who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about them.
Until those negotiations are resolved, it’s unclear which journalists would actually do the work of making Sports Illustrated. It was not clear how many jobs were affected.
Sports Illustrated used to be an enormously powerful magazine. Now it looks like it's dying. And the rest of the magazine business is struggling to avoid the same fate.
www.businessinsider.com
RIP Sports Illustrated. And RIP, magazines.
- Sports Illustrated used to be an enormously powerful magazine.
- Now it looks like it's dead or dying.
- The rest of the magazine business is struggling to avoid the same fate.
Sports Illustrated used to be an American cultural touchstone.
Now it appears to be dead, or very close to dying: Because of a dispute between the company that owns the rights to the Sports Illustrated brand and the company that was actually making Sports Illustrated, the thing you can read, it looks like many of the people who are working there are going to be laid off.
What will actually happen to the publication is unclear: In a statement released Friday afternoon, Authentic Brands Group, which owns the Sports Illustrated brand, confirmed that The Arena Group, which had been publishing Sports Illustrated, no longer has a license to do that. But Authentic Brands promised to "ensure that the brand of Sports Illustrated, which includes its editorial arm, continues to thrive."
This is sad for the remaining people who work at Sports Illustrated. And sad for a certain kind of media person — like me — who remembers when Sports Illustrated was Really Important.
).
www.elevenwarriors.com
