Sports

Sports Illustrated Under Fire For Sponsoring Arena While Laying Off Employees

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Those of us of a certain age will look back with fondness upon the days spent waiting for Sports Illustrated (or SI Kids!) to arrive in the mail each month. Now, those days are gone. Yes, the company now prints monthly again after its acquisition by Minute Media. But few people read physical magazines and the Sports Illustrated staff is a shell of what it once was.

Instead, the legendary sports magazine spent the last five years getting stripped for parts and trying to make money selling just about anything other than magazines! Now it appears Minute Media is yet again willing to splash cash, but not to actual employees to creating enterprise stories about sports! Instead, Sports Illustrated became the new sponsor of the former Red Bull Arena, home Major League Soccer‘s New York Red Bulls.

Jacob Feldman and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico report that the deal is worth in excess of $100M.

“This is a naming rights partnership that brings together two iconic brands in the world of sports to really come together to elevate the fan experience,” New York Red Bulls President Marc de Grandpré said. “We’re excited to … really change the landscape of fan experiences, sports, and entertainment in the New York area.”

Fans Unhappy With Sports Illustrated’s New Deal To Sponsor Red Bull Arena

Fans of both the team and the magazine were less excited about the new partnership.

Ultimately, Sports Illustrated is never coming back in the way that fans hope. Physical media is now a thing of the past and magazine-length stories don’t draw eyes the way that quick-hit stories do. But it’s still just a horrific look for the company. It’s hard to see how it returns actual value to a product that nobody actually reads, and for a sport that relatively few people follow.

And, in general, it’s just another step away from the magazine that sports fans once knew and loved.