Sports Illustrated Publisher Loses Name Rights, to Lay Off Staff

Brendan Coffey

Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group is pulling the license to publish SI from Arena Group.

"On Thursday January 18^th, we were notified by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) that the license under which the Arena Group operates the Sports Illustrated (SI) brand and SI related properties has been officially revoked by ABG," according to an email sent Friday morning to Arena Group staff shown to Sportico. "As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand."

Arena Group is a publicly traded publisher that acquired the rights to publish SI in 2019 from ABG. Authentic Brands bought SI from a traditional publishing house in 2019 for $110 million. ABG is a business that acquires the intellectual property of stars and brands and makes its money from licensing deals—their portfolio includes Muhammad Ali and Marilyn Monroe.

Arena Group missed a $3.75 million quarterly payment on its license at the end of 2023, triggering the right for ABG to pull the license. In an early January Securities & Exchange Commission filing, Arena Group said the parties were holding discussions to salvage the arrangement.

In a statement, ABG said it gave Arena an opportunity to cure its breach of the licensing arrangement and that it seeks to continue the SI brand including editorial content. "We are committed to ensuring that the traditional ad-supported Sports Illustrated media pillar has best-in-class stewardship to preserve the complete integrity of the brand's legacy," the company said in part.

In a Friday afternoon filing with the SEC, Arena Group said the loss of its SI license means it immediately owes ABG $45 million, based on the terms of their agreement. Arena suggests the loss of the license or some of the financial terms aren't set in stone yet, stating it is "engaging in continuing discussions with ABG regarding the Licensing Agreement."

The ABG license gave Arena the right to publish SI, SI for Kids, the swimsuit issue, SI-branded events as well as video and audio media in English and Spanish in North America, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Had Arena Group been able to make its regular quarterly payments, it had the option to renew its license for up to 100 years.

Also in the filing, Arena said it is laying off one-third of its total workforce and will incur costs of $5 million to $7 million as a result.

A statement from the NewsGuild of New York, which represents SI reporters, said "possibly all" of the SI staff may lose their jobs. The union called on ABG to find another publisher for the long-live sports magazine to preserve staff jobs.

Arena Group also publishes The Hockey News, The Street financial news site, Parade and Men's Journal, among other publications. On Thursday, the company announced it was eliminating more than 100 staffers at non-SI publications as part of a "transformative shift towards [sic] a streamlined business model."

Arena Group is going through some corporate uncertainty, with a deal to be bought by 5-Hour Energy billionaire Manoj Bhargava still pending. Late last year, SI was discovered using AI to generate content accompanied by made-up bylines and author photos. Two weeks later, Arena Group fired Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn.

Levinsohn posted on LinkedIn that he has resigned from the board of Arena Group, saying, "The actions of this Board and the actions against Sports Illustrated's storied brand and newsroom are the last straw."

Arena shares on the American Exchange were down 35% to $0.82 a share Friday afternoon. They are down more than 90% over the past year. Arena now owes more to ABG ($45 million) than double the value of the company's market cap ($22 million at $0.90 cents a share).

(This story has been updated starting in the fourth paragraph with details of Arena Group's filing with the SEC on Friday, with a statement from ABG, news of Ross Levinsohn's LinkedIn post, and with Arena's share price at the close of trading Friday.)

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