Sports activities Illustrated staffers have been notified by way of e mail Friday that they have been being laid off.
Genuine, the licensing group that initially bought SI for $110 million 5 years in the past, is terminating its licensing agreement with The Area Group, in accordance with Entrance Workplace Sports activities. Area Group missed a $2.8 million fee to Genuine three weeks in the past, breaching the 10-year SI licensing deal, FOS reported.
This comes on the heels of Area Group, which owns and operates greater than 20 totally different publications together with Males’s Journal, Parade, and TheStreet, laying off 100 employees.
“This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (previously The Maven) stewardship,” SI Union Chair and SI NFL editor Mitch Goldich said in a statement. “We are calling on ABG [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.
“We expect The Arena Group to honor all terms of our union contract and will fight for every one of our colleagues to be treated fairly.”
Sports activities Illustrated was caught publishing AI-generated content under writers’ names that didn’t exist on its web site. The corporate denied that the work was written by AI whereas acknowledging {that a} third social gathering, AdVon Commerce, created content material for his or her web site beneath pseudonyms. That relationship was terminated instantly.
SI dates again to 1936, and was as soon as the premier vacation spot for written sports activities content material, documenting probably the most impactful moments in sports activities by means of its covers and issuing an annual “Sportsperson of the Year” award. The journal was offered to Meredith Company as a part of an acquisition of Time Inc. in 2018. The corporate offered off Sports activities Illustrated to Genuine Model Teams for $110 million the next yr. Licensing out the rights to the Maven (later referred to as The Area Group), Sports activities Illustrated’s digital id grew to become a hub for different smaller websites like Athlon Sports activities, The Spun, Morning Learn, and The Hockey Information. Nevertheless, it struggled to search out digital footing beneath the brand new possession.
