American sports magazine Sports Illustrated lays off staff

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The American sports magazine, Sports Illustrated, has told staff that it will lay off a "significant number, possibly all" of its employees, the union representing the workers said Friday in what marks the latest blow for the storied athletics publisher.

It is not clear if the layoffs will affect the entire staff, but the News Guild said the Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated, was notified by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) that it is revoking Arena's license to publish the magazine.

"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 Sl and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years. We expect The Arena Group to honor all the terms of our union contract and will fight for every one of our colleagues to be treated fairly," it added.

The Arena Group acquired publishing rights for Sports Illustrated for a decade in 2019.

But recent months have seen the magazine embroiled in controversy. In December, former Sports Illustrated CEO Ross Levinsohn was fired after the magazine was allegedly caught in a scandal that involved the use of AI-generated content, and fake author information.

Mitch Goldich, the NFL editor and unit chair at Sports Illustrated, vowed to press on in light of the layoffs.

"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. It is a fight we will continue," Goldich said in a statement.