Friday was a sad day in sports journalism as Sports Illustrated announced that it would be laying off most of its staff, and may eventually lay them all off, after its publisher, Authentic Brands Group under the Arena Group, revoked its publishing rights.
"... We were notified by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) that the license under which the Arena Group operates the Sports Illustrated (SI) brand and SI-related properties has been officially revoked by ABG. As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand," an email sent to staff said.
"Some employees will be terminated immediately, and paid in lieu of the applicable notice period under the [the union contract]. Employees with a last working day of today will be contacted by the People team soon. Other employees will be expected to work through the end of the notice period, and will receive additional information shortly."
The union that most of SI's employees work under said they would continue to fight for publication, but that its future is in the hands of Authentic Brands Group.
"This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (previously The Maven) stewardship," the union said in a statement. "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."
In 2019, Meredith Corporation sold Sports Illustrated for $110 million to Authentic Brands Group, in turn agreeing with Arena Group to publish SI in print and digital. That deal was terminated after Arena missed a nearly $4 million payment less than a month ago, in effect breaking the licensing deal.
This latest move comes after the website was found to have published AI-generated articles, some with fake names and bios, back in November.
