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In a statement, the Arena Group said that, even though its publishing license was revoked, it is still in communication with Authentic and will keep up Sports Illustrated production “until this is resolved.”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