Sports Illustrated announces layoffs affecting most of its staff

Much of the staff working for the iconic sports magazine Sports Illustrated learned Friday that they will be let go as part of a round of layoffs expected to impact most, if not all, of the company, according to The Washington Post and the magazine’s union.

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The Arena Group bought publishing rights for Sports Illustrated from Authentic Brands Group in 2019, The Post reported. Recently, the Arena Group missed a payment for those rights and ABG revoked its publishing license, according to the newspaper and union officials.

In a note to staff members obtained by the Post, company officials said, “As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand.”

The Arena Group said in a statement that it was working to negotiate with Authentic about the license “with plans to sustain our commitment to delivering quality content throughout the ongoing discussions,” The Associated Press reported. The company did not elaborate on Friday.

The NewsGuild of New York and Sports Illustrated Union issued a joint statement confirming that workers learned Friday that the Arena Group plans to “lay off a significant number, possibly all, of the Guild-represented workers at SI, a result of Authentic Brands Group (ABG) revoking Arena’s license to publish SI.”

“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,” Mitch Goldich, Sports Illustrated’s NFL editor, said in the statement. “It is a fight we will continue.”

A majority of Sports Illustrated’s editorial staff, including employees focused on print, digital and video products, are members of the union. It formed in January 2020 with the support of more than 90% of eligible staff members and included 94 workers as of 2022, according to the NewsGuild of New York.

News of layoffs at Sports Illustrated came one day after the Arena Group announced it was reducing its workforce by 100 employees, citing “substantial debt and recently missed payments.”

“My immediate focus is to collaboratively design a growth-oriented media company, ensuring the financial stability necessary to cultivate and grow the brands we cherish,” Jason Frankl, chief business transformation officer for the Arena Group, said in a statement announcing the cuts. “While this week’s layoffs were regrettably necessary, I look forward to sharing detailed plans soon.”

Last year, Sports Illustrated came under scrutiny after it published several articles under bylines from writers that did not appear to exist, according to Futurism and The Washington Post. At least one writer’s profile photo also appeared to be on sale on a site that sells AI-generated headshots, Futurism reported.

Sports Illustrated subsequently deleted several stories from its site, with the Arena Group telling CNN in a statement that the posts had been made by a third-party company, AdVon Commerce.

“We have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy — actions we don’t condone — and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership,” the spokesperson said. They added, “AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans.”

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