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The NFL, MLB, WNBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL and USL players’ associations have banded together and issued a warning to the owners of Sports Illustrated about union busting.
Sports Illustrated has been in the midst of major upheaval since its publisher Arena Group Holdings missed a $3.75 million quarterly payment to the magazine’s owner Authentic Brands Group.
Authentic, which owns brands like Frederick’s of Hollywood, Juicy Couture, Barney’s, Brooks Brothers, Lucky Brand and Reebok, licensed the SI brand to Arena Group Holdings after purchasing it in 2019.
After missing the royalty payment, Authentic revoked Arena’s license, putting the future of Sports Illustrated, which has was first published in August of 1954, into limbo.
Mass layoffs soon followed, resulting in threats from the SI Union and The NewsGuild of New York warning Arena Group “to honor all the terms of our union contract.”
Now, as the magazine prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary, there have been rumblings that management of Sports Illustrated may be looking to replace full-time unionized workers with non-union staff.
Should that happen, Sportico reports that the NFL, MLB, WNBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL and USL players’ associations say, “Sports Illustrated will no longer be Sports Illustrated.”
Interestingly, the NBA was not mentioned in the statement issued by the AFL-CIO Sports Council on Monday.
In January, the SI Union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Arena Group. The NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America also accused Arena of terminating SI employees because of their union activities.
The players’ associations did not specifically state what retaliation measures they would take if the “union-busting tactics at one of America’s most important journalistic institutions” doesn’t cease.
One has to assume it would mean a complete blackout of the magazine’s ability to cover those sports and their athletes, thus making it so “Sports Illustrated will no longer be Sports Illustrated.”