Buying things to burn them down
By 
Apparently, every last dollar has been looted out of Sports Illustrated, so what was inevitable when the goons took it over will be happening:
Much of the staff of Sports Illustrated, and possibly all remaining writers and editors, received layoff notices Friday, which could spell the end of a publication that for decades was the gold standard of sports journalism.
The union of the staff tweeted Friday that it would continue to fight for the publication of the magazine but that its future is now in the hands of the magazine’s owner, Authentic Brands Group.
“This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (previously The Maven) stewardship,” the union said in a statement. “We are calling on ABG to ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years.”
The layoffs come amid an ongoing dispute between Authentic Brands Group and the Arena Group, the two companies atop an unusual ownership structure for Sports Illustrated. ABG, which owns the brand, is a licensing company that owns the brands of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Arena Group pays ABG $15 million a year for the rights to publish Sports Illustrated in print and online.
I feel terrible for all the journalists ane editors who have been laid off. Obviously, the publication had been in decline for a while even before it was purchased by people who plainly wanted to liquidate it, but in its day it was great:
The best magazine in American history — not just sports magazine but magazine, period — may be dead. Or not. Who even knows? Sometimes even “heartbreak” isn’t a big enough word.
Over the next days, many people will write stories about what Sports Illustrated meant to their lives. They will write about that jittery anticipation of going to the mailbox on Thursday (or Friday) when you knew the latest SI would be there. They will write about the excitement of seeing who made the cover … and how that excitement doubled if it was someone they loved. They will write about that magical moment of scanning the table of contents to see what stories were chosen. And not just what stories but what writers? Did Bill Nack write something this week? Jenkins? Reilly? Price? Wolff? Gary Smith? Frank Deford?
There is no way to fully describe just how completely Sports Illustrated commanded the sports stage in those lazy days before the internet, before every game was on television. The Super Bowl wasn’t over until SI wrote the story. The Masters didn’t end until Dan Jenkins said it ended. Muhammad Ali’s fight wasn’t complete until you saw the cover in your mailbox.
In the Google/Facebook adscape it would be hard to keep these publications alive even if the owners really wanted to, which they generally don’t. We’ll have to discuss the de facto shuttering of Pitchfork at some point to.