Sports Illustrated could be back under new ownership — a longtime sports media company with other established brands under its belt. According to Front Office Sports, Minute Media is the leader in the clubhouse to acquire publishing rights to Sports Illustrated from Authentic Brands Group.
FOS reporter A.J. Perez says Minute — the parent company of sites like The Players’ Tribune and The Big Lead — is considered the front-runner to take over SI’s operations. One of Perez’s two cited sources said Authentic is expected to decide who will operate SI over the next month.
In January, SI’s parent company Authentic Brands Group pulled the SI license from The Arena Group, the publishing company that was in charge of SI’s daily operations. In response, Arena laid off SI’s entire staff, although some, like media reporter Jimmy Traina, were still working.
The article also states that while Minute Media would own the sports publishing arm, it probably won’t own the SI Swimsuit Edition, which FOS says could be split off and sold to another bidder. Perez says the move to split SI and its Swimsuit Edition was received well by current Arena Group leader Manoj Bhargava.
Perez notes that the Swimsuit Edition used to be a major profit driver for the publication but that things have changed in recent years and was actually close to losing money. He also says that, like much of the rest of SI, the swimsuit edition has languished under Arena.
