I remember vividly playing football one fall day after middle school. We were in the yard of Jason Wells and Jeremy Wright, they were stepbrothers and were both in my grade at school. My neighborhood was full of kids my age, so the game was big. At some point during a break in the action, we heard the mail truck making each stop down Apache Pass. When it arrived at the mailbox in the corner of our makeshift football stadium, Jason sprinted to the mailbox to see if it had arrived that day. Indeed, it had arrived and the guessing game began.
As he pulled away from the mailbox, my friend held the latest edition of Sports Illustrated against his chest and signaled the beginning of the contest; “Everybody try to guess who is on the cover!” It was a football season in the late 1980’s so the guesses started with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, Dan Marino and Lawrence Taylor were not far behind. More than 30 years later, I can’t begin to tell you who was on the cover that day, only that it was not the annual Swimsuit Issue as the football game continued to be played. There is no doubt the Swimsuit Issue would have otherwise detained a dozen young boys for the rest of the afternoon.
That was the influence Sports Illustrated once had, it could completely stop a game of front yard football in the Deep South. The cover shots were iconic, I still have a couple stored away. I guess they will never have the value I once hoped they would but my gut told me to save them. The March 3, 1980 edition still has my childhood address on a label on the cover. The cover required no copy, simply an ageless photo of the United States Men’s Hockey Team celebrating one of the greatest upsets in sports history. I was three at the time but my brother saved it until he went off to college, then it became mine.
The other cover puzzles me as to why I thought it might have value. It is from May 9, 1988 and it features an extreme close up of Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose. The word “Suspended!” is emblazoned across the cover in all caps. The accompanying text tells the world Rose was suspended 30 days for shoving an umpire. I guess the 12-year-old version of me thought this would be the biggest scandal to befall a lock hall-of-famer. Boy, was I wrong. Still, the issue has to be valued above the $2.25 price listed on the cover, right?
That’s what Sports Illustrated once was, that era of SI would not recognize the product now. After the shocking news Friday that Authentic Brands Group had ended the relationship they held with Arena Group to publish the print and digital versions of SI, the immediate future of the legendary publication is very grim. Many, if not all, of the remaining union employees of Sports Illustrated have been informed they are facing the end of the road as employees. What was once a publication sent to more than 3 million subscribers weekly is now being picked over like a carcass in the African desert.
The demise of such a brand is startling to watch in real time but should serve as a warning to all of us in the media world: times change and people change, you better be willing to change with them. Add Sports Illustrated to the list of seemingly bulletproof media brands that find themselves on life support. Just like newspapers, TV sitcoms and the Weather Channel, your time as an industry leader does not have a guarantee of eternity. As the saying goes, we are all day-to-day. If you are not willing to constantly be scanning the landscape of your product’s consumer to measure their behavior, your outlet will be among the next to appear in a eulogy.
We would all love our product to be so popular we have people counting down the hours until our work arrives. Whatever is today’s version of running to the mailbox for a Sports Illustrated is constantly on borrowed time, very soon something else will replace that. If you aren’t willing to stay up with the times, your product can also be in a dusty old box with little or no value. Today it is Sports Illustrated, tomorrow it will be someone else. If you are worried you are that someone else, you are probably too late.
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.
