Monday was another difficult day for Sports Illustrated. After undergoing significant staff changes less than a year ago, the company owned by Authentic Brands and operated by Maven Media, announced more layoffs.
Projecting a $30 million decline in revenue this year, Maven laid off nine percent of its staff and six percent of SI’s editorial department, according to Sara Fischer of Axios. Included in the layoff was SI’s senior writer and longtime contributor Chris Ballard. Having joined the publication as an entry-level writer in 2000, Ballard noted a changing industry accelerated by the current global crisis as the reason for his exit.
“I hope the best for SI and will root for it to survive. For now, I’m on to other stories, and projects. In this moment, sports feels insignificant but, someday soon, hopefully, it won’t,” Ballard wrote on Twitter.
In addition to Ballard, other SI employees included in the current round of layoffs were long-time editor/producer Tom Mantzouranis and editor/writer Jack Dickey.
SI is not alone in issuing cost cutting measures amid the COVID-19 crisis. After laying off hundreds of workers earlier this year, iHeartMedia recently announced significant paycuts for their leadership and plans to furlough a number of employees for 90 days.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
