The owners of Sports Illustrated say they have chosen a new company to publish the magazine, with the deal potentially resolving some of the recent friction at the storied publisher and allowing the print version to continue. He said there is.
Authentic Brands Group, which owns the intellectual property rights to Sports Illustrated and celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali, is in a long-term agreement to license Sports Illustrated publishing rights to digital media company Minute Media. announced that they had signed a contract. About sports.
Minute Media and Sports Illustrated's licenses will be extended for 10 years, with an option for a total of up to 30 years until the magazine's 100th anniversary. The companies expect the agreement, which also includes the Sports Illustrated Swim brand, to last for the full term of 30 years. The companies declined to disclose financial terms, but said Authentic Brands Group would acquire a stake in Minute Media as part of the deal.
The deal is a significant expansion for Minute Media, a New York-based company founded in 2011. The company's holdings, which include sports websites The Players Tribune and Fanside, generate more than $400 million in annual revenue.
Sports Illustrated has been embroiled in turmoil for months as a result of a corporate tug-of-war between the company that owns the iconic magazine and the energy drink mogul whose executives have been running it. The deal, effective immediately, effectively takes control of Sports Illustrated from digital media company Arena Group, which has run the magazine since 2019 and threatened to discontinue its print edition.
A spokesperson for Arena Group said the company had been informed of the agreement with the new licensee and had no other details.
This is a new chapter for Sports Illustrated, which published its first issue in 1954. Minute Media CEO Asaf Peled said in an interview that the company intends to continue the print version of Sports Illustrated.
“Even in today's digital age, building your own brand and having people know and admire it is still not easy and is very difficult,” Peled said. “So when you have the opportunity to work with and grow an iconic brand like Sports Illustrated, take it!”
Sports Illustrated has been in limbo for the past few months. Authentic Brands Group terminated Arena Group's license to operate the magazine in January after the company failed to pay a $3.75 million license fee. That same month, Arena Group, which had continued to operate Sports Illustrated in violation of its licensing agreement, told Sports Illustrated employees that many would be fired and others were given 90 days to work. He informed them that he would remain as a staff member. Arena Group executives told employees last week that the magazine would cease printing after the May issue.
Peled said Minute Media plans to expand the magazine's publishing operations globally and rehire some of the employees laid off by Arena Group. He added that he won't know how many employees will return until Minute Media begins operations this week.
Peled said Minute Media is focused on “creating short-form sports content,” creating video, audio and text that can be consumed on mobile devices. The company owns Fanside, which features articles and podcasts for sports fans, and for several years was owned by Time Inc., the former publisher of Sports Illustrated. The Players Tribune publishes videos and essays by athletes and was founded by Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter. Peled also said he wants to continue Sports Illustrated's tradition of thorough journalism.
“This is an exception to our core strategy, but it's not the first time this has happened,” Peled said.
