Sports Illustrated Announces Mass Layoff


BASKET-NBA-AUCTION-LAKERS-CHAMBERLAIN
Rose Lobelson, Communications Associate at Sotheby's, points to an image of the Sports Illustrated cover of Wilt Chamberlain in his 'Championship Clinching' 1972 NBA Final jersey, with bandaged-hands after he broke a hand, at Sotheby's Auction House in Beverly Hills, California, on August 1, 2023. The jersey is estimated at $4 million. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) / *UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL WEDNESDAY, 2 AUGUST AT 9:00 ET* (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Abril Elfi
9:09 AM – Saturday, January 20, 2024

Sports Illustrated’s publisher intends to fire the majority of its staff journalists after struggling to pay the magazine’s parent company’s licensing fees.

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The owner of the magazine, Authentic Brands Group, announced in a statement on Friday that it had terminated its license with the publisher, The Arena Group, to publish Sports Illustrated but that it was still committed to the publication of the seventy-year-old magazine.

“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,” it added in the statement.

Authentic said it terminated the deal “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.”

In a statement, the Arena Group said that, even though its publishing license was revoked, it is still in communication with Authentic and will keep up Sports Illustrated production “until this is resolved.”

All 82 Sports Illustrated employees, or roughly 80% of the magazine’s workforce, are represented by a union, which stated in a statement on Friday that all of its union-represented employees faced the possibility of being let go.

“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.

The announcement comes as the magazine has been facing backlash for having transgender Singer Kim Petras on its cover.

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