The agreement “begins immediately and effectively wrests Sports Illustrated’s operations away from Arena Group"Rick Ellington/SBJ
Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group has “chosen a new company to publish the magazine” in a deal that could “settle some of the recent friction at the storied publication and continue the print edition,” according to Benjamin Mullin of the N.Y. TIMES. ABG said that it had “struck a long-term deal” to license SI’s publishing rights to Minute Media, a digital-media company focused on sports. Minute Media’s license with SI will “stretch for 10 years with an option to extend for up to 30 years total,” into the magazine’s centenary. The companies “declined to disclose financial terms” but said that ABG was “taking a stake in Minute Media as part of the deal.” Mullin writes the deal is a “significant expansion” for Minute Media, a N.Y.-based company founded in 2011 whose holdings include the sports websites The Players’ Tribune and Fansided. The agreement “begins immediately and effectively wrests Sports Illustrated’s operations away from Arena Group,” the digital-media company that has run the magazine since 2019 and "threatened to end its print edition." It is a "new chapter" for SI, which has been “engulfed in turmoil for months.” Minute Media CEO Asaf Peled said that he “planned to continue Sports Illustrated’s print edition.” He added that Minute Media “plans to expand the magazine’s publishing operations globally” and to “hire back some of the employees whom Arena Group had laid off” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/18). The SI Union in a statement said that they "welcome the change and look forward to remaining part of the storied brand’s future" (SBJ).
