Minute Media, the sports media company that owns The Players’ Tribune, landed the publishing rights to Sports Illustrated — coming two months after a financial crisis at SI’s former publishing partner led to mass layoffs.
Authentic Brands Group, the holding company that owns the Sports Illustrated brand, announced a long-term partnership with Minute Media for publishing rights to the legendary sports brand across digital and print platforms. Minute Media’s other sports and culture content brands are The Players’ Tribune, originally founded by Derek Jeter, FanSided, 90min and its most recent acquisition, STN Video, which has rights to premium highlights from every major sports league in North America for online video platform distribution.
ABG had previously licensed the rights to publish Sports Illustrated the magazine to a company called Arena Group — but after the Arena Group missed a recent $3.75 million payment,in January, ABG revoked the license, leading the Arena Group to institute major job cuts at the publication.
As part of the deal, Authentic will also acquire an equity stake in Minute Media. Minute Media said it plans to hire back some of the employees who were laid off under Arena Group’s stewardship.
Sports Illustrated’s publishing portfolio includes Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and Sports Illustrated Kids. Minute Media will oversee all digital and print editorial operations across the SI portfolio.
“Sports Illustrated is the gold standard for sports journalism and has been for nearly 70 years across both print and digital media. The weight and power of that distinction cannot be understated,” said Asaf Peled, founder and CEO of Minute Media. “At Minute Media, our focus will be to take that legacy into new, emerging channels enhancing visibility, commercial viability and sustainable impact, all while ensuring that the SI team is inspired to flourish in this new era of media.”
In 2019, Authentic Brands Group purchased Sports Illustrated from Meredith for $110 million (afterMeredith had acquired Time Inc.and beforeMeredith was acquired by IAC’s Dotdash). When ABG bought SI, it laid off more than 30% of the publication’s staff. ABG licensed media and publishing rights for the SI brand to Maven, which changed its name in 2021 to Arena Group.
Daniel W. Dienst, ABG’s executive vice chairman of tactical ops, said in a statement, “In Minute Media we have found a partner that will honor SI’s lauded legacy and exceed fan expectations for the future. As Minute Media shepherds the SI brand across a rapidly evolving media landscape, our priority at Authentic is – and has always been – to protect its journalistic integrity and longevity. Minute Media has successfully proven that they are leading the way in a new era of sports storytelling, and we are excited and optimistic about this partnership and the future of Sports Illustrated as the preeminent lens into sport.”
