{"id":19404,"date":"2019-05-28T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/sports-illustrated-is-sold-again-but-publishing-wont-shift-to-new-owner-yet\/"},"modified":"2019-05-28T12:50:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:50:00","slug":"sports-illustrated-is-sold-again-but-publishing-wont-shift-to-new-owner-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/sports-illustrated-is-sold-again-but-publishing-wont-shift-to-new-owner-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sports Illustrated’ Is Sold Again, But Publishing Won’t Shift To New Owner Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Folkenflik<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n <\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n Enlarge this image<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

\n Copies of the Sports Illustrated<\/em> swimsuit issue for sale on a bookstore shelf Tuesday in New York City. Media company Meredith has announced that it has agreed to sell the magazine brand to entertainment company Authentic Brands Group for $110 million.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

<\/b>
\n hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Sports Illustrated<\/em> has been sold for the second time in less than two years. This time, however, the $110 million purchase<\/a> by Authentic Brands Group places far more importance on the iconic magazine’s reputation than the publication itself \u2014 pushing the name further into such ventures as gambling and live events.<\/p>\n

The Meredith Corp. acquired Sports Illustrated<\/em> in January 2018 along with a bunch of other titles as part of its purchase of Time Inc.<\/a> Meredith moved to unload most Time Inc. magazines that were not focused on its primary audience: female readers. And those moves also reflected the flagging finances of major legacy publications.<\/p>\n

So Meredith sold Time<\/em> magazine<\/a> to Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne Benioff; it dealt Fortune<\/em> to a Thai entrepreneur, Chatchaval Jiaravanon, and it killed Money<\/em> magazine’s print edition.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated<\/em> dominated sports journalism for decades, featuring the articles of such powerful writers as Frank Deford<\/a>, George Plimpton<\/a> and Gary Smith<\/a>, and the photojournalism of such photographers as Neil Leifer<\/a>. The magazine incorporated clear-eyed looks at civil and human rights, politics, power and money through the prism of professional, collegiate and amateur sport. A cover was considered a feat the equal to many accomplishments on the field of play.<\/p>\n

Yet the immediacy of sports news, on cable television and online, in particular, from nimble and caustic websites to TV giant ESPN, chipped away at its seeming indispensability. So did larger societal shifts in how people consume information and news.<\/p>\n

“Sports Illustrated<\/em> had so much residual goodwill among its readers and entire audience,” Terry McDonell, the former top editor over the magazine, tells NPR. “Everybody remembered something about sports in relationship to Sports Illustrated<\/em>. I don’t think that’s gone away. It might have shrunk a bit.”<\/p>\n