The publisher of Sports Illustrated, which was stripped of its license last month, is pitching to revive the iconic brand even as it continues to dismantle the magazine, and its plans include SI-branded TVs. This includes the creation of a channel, the Post reported.
Arena Group, led by Five Hour Energy founder Manoj Bhargava, has been reluctant to pay Authentic Brands Group’s Jamie Salter a $15 million annual fee to accomplish the extraordinary turnaround. Two people involved said it would likely cost a little more than the license fee. Situation told the Post.
Arena sparks an uproar by announcing it will lay off most of SI’s unionized staff (including the few remaining prominent writers) for failing to make quarterly payments to ABG of $3.5 million. Ta. Staff are required to be given 90 days’ notice of mass layoffs, and the SI website continues to be updated.
But Arena also owns Bridge Media Networks, which includes a 24/7 network. sports news highlightsis a low-budget, mostly digital channel that plays 30-minute loops in midsize markets and a few major markets like Detroit and Los Angeles.
Sources said SNH is currently being broadcast on SI’s website, but Bhargava wants to rebrand the channel as SITV and hire broadcast talent to improve its broadcasts. The goal will be to find a home for cable operators and SITV as major sports networks like ESPN move to a standalone app model, the people added.
Salter is also negotiating a rights license to Minute Media, owner of the Players Tribune blog founded by Derek Jeter. The company’s offer is low, but it is likely to maintain the 70-year-old magazine’s traditional model and many of its writers. This was revealed by a person familiar with the negotiations.
Salter plans to make a decision in the coming weeks, the person added.
Arena Group declined to comment, as did Authentic Brands and Minute Media.
There is a lot of sour relationship between Bhargava and Salter after Arena scrapped the license fee. Authentic is owed $45 million on his current contract.
When Bhargava asked for a reduction in license fees; “I told him no more,” Salter told The Washington Post..
The rival moguls have been going rounds ever since. During an interview with Arena-owned TheStreet earlier this month, Bhargava even acknowledged the Post’s illustration of the two hitting close to the mark in a boxing ring.
“We kind of bumped into each other for a little while,” he said. “I think some of the things about boxing might have been a little accurate.”
Bhargava called Salter a “tough old guy” but predicted he would accept Arena’s offer.
“The contracts will be different,” Bhargava said in an interview on February 16. “Jamie will be better than he was, and so will we.”
Mr. Bhargava intends to retain some of the 82 unionized workers who are about to lose their jobs, but he will also retain influential authors such as Tom Verducci, John Wertheim, Chris Mannix, Greg Bishop and Pat Ford. hinted that it did not have sufficient funds.
“We looked at other avenues and looked at our cost structure. We couldn’t afford to hire these great journalists,” Bhargava told TheStreet.
“In an era when people are paying, [great articles] I’m not here anymore. ”
But SI union representatives are worried about the publication’s future if Mr Salter accepts Arena’s plans.
“It’s time for ABG to prove it cares about more than milking the Sports Illustrated name for profit,” the union said.
“We need to ensure a future that honors not only SI’s history, but also the employees who make the brand’s success possible.”
In its heyday, SI’s circulation was 3 million copies a week, but today that number has dropped to 12 a year, with an annual membership fee of $20. There are also about seven special issues a year.
Arena does not disclose how many print subscriptions it has left.
Arena makes a small profit from SI’s print and digital editions, and the brand generates more than $100 million in annual revenue, people said.
February 14th, Bhargava Invested an additional $12 million giving his company a 54.5% stake in Arena.
