The union of Sports Illustrated says that the legendary magazine’s publisher, The Arena Group, is laying off many or perhaps all its staff following a failed payment to the brand’s licensor — leaving the storied leader in sports journalism’s decades-long history on the line. It released a statement earlier today relaying the shocking claim that “the workers of Sports Illustrated were notified that The Arena Group is planning to lay off a significant number, possibly all” of its writers and editors as a result of the publisher’s failure to remedy a missed $2.8 million bill to Authentic Brands Groups (ABG), the company that owns the Sports Illustrated branding and — until now — had been licensing it to The Arena Group. That’s supported by a leaked email to magazine staffers, which according to Front Office Sports informed them that the “license under which the Arena Group operates the Sports Illustrated (SI) brand and SI related properties has been officially revoked by ABG.” “As a result of this license revocation,” the note added, “we will be laying off staff that work on the SI brand.” Our statement on today’s mass layoffs at Sports Illustrated pic.twitter.com/tQjJdoHP4p — Sports Illustrated Union (@si_union) January 19, 2024 The news comes just a day after the Arena Group let go of another 100 employees across non-Sports Illustrated brands — and just a few weeks after a string of high-profile executive departures that included now-former Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn, who was fired in December. And it all comes…Sports Illustrated Publisher Laying Off Staff After AI Scandal