Sports Illustrated’s publisher intends to fire the majority of its staff journalists, if not all of them, after neglecting to pay the magazine’s parent company’s licensing costs.
The owner of the magazine, Authentic Brands Group, announced in a statement that it had terminated its license with the publisher, The Arena Group, to publish Sports Illustrated, but that it was still committed to the production of the seventy-year-old magazine. Before the Knicks game, the Washington Wizards make a roster move.
“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,” the statement stated.
“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,” according to Authentic, the agreement was terminated on Thursday. Prediction and Betting Advice for Egypt vs Ghana | Sports News Today,
In a statement, the Arena Group claimed that, even though its publishing license was canceled, it is still in communication with Authentic and will keep up Sports Illustrated production “until this is resolved.”
All 82 Sports Illustrated employees, or around 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 stated in a statement.
The announcement of the layoffs follows publisher The Arena Group’s announcement the day before of a “significant reduction” of its 100-person staff due to “substantial debt” and unpaid invoices.
Front Office Sports, the outlet that broke the initial story about the widespread layoffs, claimed that the business had recently failed to pay Authentic $2.8 million.
Sports Illustrated made waves in November when reports surfaced that the magazine had published items written by artificial intelligence using the identities and likenesses of fake journalists.
It’s the most recent significant journalism magazine to experience personnel reductions, occurring on the same day that Los Angeles Times employees are holding a walkout in protest of impending layoffs. Condé Nast stated earlier this week that Pitchfork employees will be let off as part of a reorganization that will merge the music website with GQ magazine.