Sports Illustrated fires all staffers

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Friday, Jan. 19, 2024 2:45 p.m. | Friday, Jan. 19, 2024 2:45 p.m.

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A George Mason University fan holds up the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine at a send-off for the team on Wednesday, March 29, 2006, in Fairfax, Va. The Sports Illustrated publisher notified employees that it plans to lay off a significant portion — possibly all — of the outlet’s staff after its license to use the iconic brand’s name in print and digital was revoked. In an email to employees Friday morning, the Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated and related properties, said that Authentic Brands Group has revoked its marketing license.

Sports Illustrated, one of the most respected sports publications in the country since its inception in 1954, fired all of its staffers Friday, according to a report in the New York Post.

The Post report stated that Sports Illustrated owner the Arena Group informed staffers of their termination Friday.

SI staffers received word of the decision in a memo that was later distributed on social media.

The News Guild, which represents Sports Illustrated’s union employees, responded on social media, vowing to fight and calling for the Arena Group to continue to magazine’s digital and print publication.

A Washington Post.com report said that all SI staff and possibly all remaining writers and editors, received the termination notices Friday.

The move places the future of the iconic sports magazine in peril and could signal its impending demise.

A Front Office Sports report says the decision to gut the SI staff comes after Authentic Inc., which purchased SI for $110 million in 2019, terminated an agreement with the Arena Group to publish the magazine in print and digital.

Arena missed a $3.75 million payment three weeks ago that breached the company’s licensing deal, according to the Front Office Sports report.