Sports Illustrated is SAVED by 10-year deal after change in publisher

Sports Illustrated has been saved as licensing giant Authentic struck a 10-year deal with digital media company Minute Media to keep publishing the magazine/website, two months after mass layoffs and AI controversy plunged its future into doubt.

Monday's announcement comes after Authentic terminated its publishing deal with The Arena Group, which obtained the rights to publish SI editorial content in 2019 as theMaven, Inc., in January, following a missed $3.756million quarterly licensing payment. 

Later that month, The Arena Group execs told employees they would stop printing the magazine after its May issue, according to The New York Times.

Now, new publisher Minute Media, best known for its sports sites The Players' Tribune and FanSided, said it reached a long-term partnership with Authentic to 'usher in the future of the SI brand.'

'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. 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,' Minute Media founder and CEO Asaf Peled said in a statement.

Iconic US sports magazine Sports Illustrated will keep on printing after a change in publisher

The magazine's editorial operations were under threat while still under previous publisher The Arena Group

As part of the deal, Authentic will also acquire an equity stake in Minute Media.

What's more is that some of the SI employees who were laid off under the Arena Group are expected to return although it's unsure how many, according to The New York Times' report. Minute Media will start operating the magazine this week.

In November of last year, science and tech news outlet Futurism published findings alleging that SI was publishing AI-generated articles credited to authors who were also AI-generated.

The latter practice apparently extended to their profile photos, which the website alleged were sourced from online marketplaces selling such pictures. After Futurism reached out to The Arena Group, the magazine purportedly removed some of the implicated writers and republished their articles under other AI-generated authors with notes disclaiming its staff's involvement.

Sports Illustrated is known for its feature stories and racy Swimsuit issue (pictured: Beyonce) 

In response to the report, a SI spokesperson claimed that the affected articles were product reviews written without the involvement of AI by AdVon Commerce, a third-party company who they claimed used pseudonyms to 'protect author privacy' and had already severed ties with.

Meanwhile, writers and editors at the magazine sharply criticized the alleged practices. 

'We demand answers and transparency from Arena group management about what exactly has been published under the SI name,' Sports Illustrated union said in a statement, at the time. 

'We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people.' 

Besides layoffs at SI, the sports department at the New York Times was disbanded in January, while The Messenger shut down later that month.