Sports Illustrated to fire most of staff; Hereâs what we know
Sports Illustrated has fired most of its staff members.
Front Office Sports reported the news, and it comes the day after publisher The Arena Group announced “a significant reduction in its workforce,” comprising 100 employees. Per the release, the group continued to manage “substantial” debt and recently missed payments, and that the layoffs were part of “cost-cutting measures to initiate a transformative shift towards a streamlined business model.”
Richard Deitsch of The Athletic posted on X,” the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, part of an email sent out to workers saying “staff” who worked for the Sports Illustrated brand were being laid off. The internal memo from Arena said some workers would be terminated immediately, while others will continue working during the notice period legally required of employers. All affected employees will get severance pay, the memo said.
Sports Illustrated’s union also posted a statement that it had been notified of Arena’s intention to “lay off a significant number, possibly all” of its union-represented staff.
“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 SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years,” the statement read.