The owner of Sports Illustrated has laid off the publication’s entire staff, according to Front Office Sports.
The licensing group that owns the sports magazine has ended its agreement with The Arena Group to continue publishing the magazine just weeks after Arena missed a $2.8 million payment.
“We were notified by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) that the license under which the Arena Group operates the Sports Illustrated (SI) brand and SI-related properties had been officially revoked by ABG. As a result of this license revocation, we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand,” an email announcing the decision said.
“Some employees will be terminated immediately,” the statement continued, “and paid in lieu of the applicable notice period under the [the union contract]. Employees with a last working day of today will be contacted by the People team soon. Other employees will be expected to work through the end of the notice period and will receive additional information shortly.”
