Sports Illustrated Lays Off Most of Its Staff, Union Says

The future of Sports Illustrated was uncertain after the publisher of the iconic magazine and website laid off most or “probably all” of its guild-represented staff, reported Ramishah Maruf for CNN.

The magazine’s publisher said it is “laying off staff that work on the SI brand.” Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has owned the magazine and website since 2019. I Photo: Sports Illustrated Flickr

In a memo sent to staff viewed by CNN, the magazine’s publisher said it is “laying off staff that work on the SI brand.” Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has owned the magazine and website since 2019.

It sold the publishing rights to Arena Group, but the company missed a recent payment for those publishing rights, and ABG revoked them, the publisher said in its memo.

“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 said in a statement.

“We are calling on ABG to ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years.”

In December, the Arena Group fired Sports Illustrated’s CEO Ross Levinsohn after an embarrassing debacle in which Sports Illustrated was caught publishing stories with fake author names and profile photos generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Levinsohn was replaced, effective immediately, by interim chief executive Manoj Bhargava, the 5-Hour Energy founder who owns a majority stake in The Arena Group, as reported by Vince Bodiford, a spokesperson for Bhargava. Oliver Darcy and Liam Reilly also reported for CNN.

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