The owner of Sports Illustrated said it has chosen a new company to publish the magazine, a deal that could resolve recent tensions at the storied publication and continue its print edition.
Authentic Brands Group, which owns the intellectual property rights to Sports Illustrated as well as celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali, said it has entered into a long-term deal to license Sports Illustrated’s publishing rights to Minute Media, a digital media company Sport theme.
Minute Media’s license with Sports Illustrated is for 10 years, with the option to extend for a total of up to 30 years until the magazine’s 100th anniversary. The companies declined to disclose financial terms but said Authentic Brands Group would take a stake in Minute Media as part of the deal.
The deal represents a significant expansion for Minute Media, a New York-based company founded in 2011 whose holdings – including sports websites The Players’ Tribune and Fansided – generate more than $400 million in annual revenue.
Sports Illustrated has been mired in turmoil for months, the result of a tug-of-war between the company that owns the iconic magazine and the energy drink mogul whose executives ran it. The agreement takes effect immediately and effectively strips operations of Sports Illustrated from Arena Group, the digital media company that has operated the magazine since 2019 and has threatened to shut down its print edition.
It’s a new chapter for Sports Illustrated, whose first issue appeared in 1954. Asaf Peled, the chief executive of Minute Media, said in an interview that he plans to continue the print edition of Sports Illustrated.
“In the current digital age, it is still non-trivial and quite difficult to build your own brand and get people to know and admire it,” Mr. Peled said. “So when you get the opportunity to work with and grow an iconic brand like Sports Illustrated, you take it.”
Minute Media plans to expand the magazine’s publishing operations worldwide, Mr. Peled said, and rehire some of the employees Arena Group laid off. He added that he didn’t know how many employees would return until Minute Media begins operating the company this week.
Mr. Peled said Minute Media focused on “creating short-form sports content,” creating video, audio and text for consumption on mobile devices. It includes Fansided, which provides articles and podcasts for sports fans and was owned for several years by former Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc.; and Players’ Tribune, which publishes videos and essays by athletes and was founded by Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter. Mr. Peled said he also wanted to continue Sports Illustrated’s tradition of in-depth journalism.
“It is an exception to our core strategy, but it is not the first time we have done this,” Mr Peled said.
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2024-03-18 15:45:07
www.nytimes.com
