Sports Illustrated has informed its entire editorial staff that they will be laid off. According to a screenshot of the email staffers received on January 19, the parent company of SI‘s parent company, Authentic Brands Group, informed SI‘s parent company, the Arena Group, that it was revoking SI’s brand license. The future of the SI brand itself remains unclear. Arena Group acquired the publishing rights for SI from ABG in 2019. That marked SI‘s second owner in as many years after being sold by Meredith Publishing in 2018, who sold to ABG in 2019.
SI employs nearly 1000 people, per the latest employment reports. Once the pinnacle of sports media, SI will now become the latest sports outlet to clean house. In October 2019, G/O Media cleaned house at Deadspin. Meanwhile, Vox Media has levied several rounds of layoffs at SB Nation since the pandemic. This included entirely removing their hockey and soccer verticals in 2023. However, this is sadly a trend that will continue as private equity continues to acquire more and more legacy media brands.
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Pitchfork Absorbed Into GQ
Furthermore, Sports Illustrated is not even the first outlet this week shuttered by its parent company. Pitchfork, often seen as the industry standard for music journalism, would cease operation as an independent publication. Instead, it would be folded into GQ as a vertical. Both publications are owned by Conde Nast, the publishing giant that also owns Vogue amongst many other publications.
“We have fought together as a union to maintain the standard of this storied publication that we love, and to make sure our workers are treated fairly for the value they bring to this company. It is a fight we will continue,” Mitch Goldich, a union unit member at SI, said in a statement. Furthermore, the guild also called for Authentic Brands Group to “ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years.”
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