Sports Illustrated writer and host-in-limbo, Jimmy Traina, addressed the publication’s issues on his podcast and discussed it further with NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt, a longtime fan of SI.
On the latest SI Media Podcast, Jimmy Traina addressed the elephant in the room — the news that his company, Sports Illustrated, laid off its entire editorial staff due to a licensing issue between its parent company Authentic Brands Group (ABG) and The Arena Group. Traina begins with a brief discussion of the news and his status as of now:
“I can’t tell everyone out there how much I appreciate the reaching out, the kind words for my work. It was really overwhelming on Friday, I heard from so many people about the podcast continuing and being a fan. I do appreciate it. I’m not really going to get into it in full right now because there’s a lot of stuff that still has to be worked out and I don’t want to get into it until that happens.
Here’s what I can tell you: Sports Illustrated is still functioning, we’re still running. Despite people saying Sports Illustrated is over — we’re not over. We’re still in business, we’re still functioning. There’s some business stuff at the top that’s way out of my stratosphere that’s going on…and they need to settle some things. I’d rather talk about this in full in a couple weeks…when things get straightened out.
For your purposes, the pod is still here right now, my column is still here right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen 1,2,3,4 months from now, but right now we’re here, and I’ve been told that we’re going to be here for a little while at least, and we’ll see what happens.”
Following his brief monologue, Traina welcomed Brandt, who began his appearance with kind words about SI and the company’s future. “I could not join you on this program without starting by saying that I am chagrined, concerned, and crestfallen about some of the news I am seeing about the Sports Illustrated brand,” Brandt said. “I fully support it, I was raised on it…I think it forged a relationship with my father — and it’s not just nostalgia, I think it’s highly important today…I just want to acknowledge that to anybody and everybody who is listening particularly people of influence, it is that important and that special to so many people in this country and I’m one of them.”
The news of a licensing dispute between ABG and The Arena Group, the company that staffed and operated the editorial arm of the brand, came down last week. Once ABG pulled the license from Arena, the latter laid off its entire staff. This followed months of strife within Sports Illustrated, from changing CEOs and subsequent controversial comments from the new CEO, to being accused of using artificial intelligence and fake authors on their site.
