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Sports Illustrated lives on for now, but SI Sportsbook is closed
Authentic Brands Group is getting a major payout for severing ties to a licensing agreement for Sports Illustrated, just not the one you think. ...
![Sports Illustrated's future in flux after layoffs [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/c003c2d679d34432ba5675e064dc6a1a.jpg)
Sports Illustrated's future in flux after layoffs [Updated]
The future of Sports Illustrated is up in the air as The Arena Group laid off a portion of its staff on Friday, with the rest expected to be let go in three months’ time, according to Front Office Sports. ...

Ads for the NFL are showing up on white nationalist Twitter accounts
The NFL likes to think of itself as apolitical, but as most fans know, that’s only sort of true. Check out which political campaigns NFL owners donate to or the military-industrial complex fever dream that still kicks off multiple games every Sunday. ...

Ohio State just became even more insufferable
The Ohio State University, after a three-year legal battle, has officially registered a trademark for “THE.” Yeah, you wouldn’t think you could do that for t*e most common words in t*e English language, right? Marc Jacobs was also attempting to trademark “THE,” and t*e U.S. Patent and Trademark Offi...

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Annex a history book, you dummies
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, our monthly series (hence the name!) in which we make fun of people in and around the sports world. And, boy, are the pastures green this month. But first: an honorable mention!...

WWE veered a little close to Nazism last night
Bemoaning the impact of Vince McMahon and Bruce Pritchard on NXT has been done in many places, including this one. For some, it is truly sad to see what was once a unique and massively enjoyable product become yet another base for the boring, uncreative, and rote choices McMahon and Pritchard make w...

Rafa Benitez has become what he beheld
Deep down, Liverpool supporters would tell you they didn’t want to do this to Rafa Benitez when he was announced as Everton’s manager before the season. Or, to put it more accurately, they didn’t want to have to do this. Benitez is still, and will always, be loved by the red half of Liverpool for br...

Remember when Dame and Shaq had beef? Now they’re collaborating on a dang sneaker
It was less than two years ago, in a pre-COVID time, when Damian Lillard and Shaquille O’Neal were exchanging diss records at each other, and the rest of us witnessed it play out over the course of a week. Now, to be fair, the beef was “just for fun,” according to O’Neal at least, but it’s worth rev...

<i>SI</i> Broverlords Try To Explain Themselves In Email To Staff That Explains Nothing
At 11:56 p.m. on Sunday night, staffers at Sports Illustrated/Maven received an email titled “A Message from SI Leadership.” The email was an attempt to do some damage control in the wake of a story Deadspin published on Friday, which detailed how SI’s new owners plan to turn the prestigious magazin...

Inside TheMaven's Plan To Turn <i>Sports Illustrated</i> Into A Rickety Content Mill
Now that Sports Illustrated’s three owners, Meredith Corp., Authentic Brands Group, and TheMaven, have completed the callous layoff of half of Sports Illustrated’s newsroom and finalized a deal that gives control of the publication to TheMaven, a wannabe tech company helmed by notorious scumbags Ros...

Either <i>Sports Illustrated</i> Deserved Better Or None Of Us Do
The gutting of Sports Illustrated was pointless, needlessly cruel, stupid and thoroughly corporate. It is what we do now—from an agrarian society to an industrial one to an informational one and now to the strip-it-down-resealable-parts one. Hurray for progress! See you in hell!...

<i>Sports Illustrated</i> Eventually Holds "Transition Meetings," Lays Off Half Its Staff
After setting then canceling “transition meetings” today amid reports of substantial layoffs, Sports Illustrated management rescheduled the two meetings and finally went through with them just before the end of the day. This was despite a last-minute public plea from employees to nix a deal with The...

Major Layoffs Are Coming At <i>Sports Illustrated </i>Today
Dozens of staffers at Sports Illustrated are expected to be laid off as early as Thursday, according to sources and published reports, and the cuts could be as deep as 50 percent of staff....

Chris Stone Out As <i>Sports Illustrated</i> Editor-In-Chief, Layoffs Appear Imminent
Sports Illustrated is currently transitioning ownership and corporate leadership, from Meredith Corp. to Authentic Brands Group, where it will be operated by ad platform and digital media company TheMaven. That transition logged its first major editorial upheaval Tuesday, when it was announced that ...

Darren Rovell Squeals At The Sky About The Sanctity Of Endorsements
So California’s Fair Pay to Play Act, a bill permitting athletes at the state’s colleges and universities to seek endorsement deals and make money off the use of their names and likenesses without losing their eligibility or scholarships, became law yesterday. People have concerns!...

Adam Schefter Doing Ads For An NFL Sponsor Is So Embarrassing
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is a reporter who reports on the NFL. That implies certain things, or at least it used to, namely that a reporter should not have a personal financial stake in the NFL, a business they ostensibly cover objectively, making more money. This seems uncontroversial to me, and for dec...

Miami Marlins Sorry For Blaming Tampa Bay Rays For Killing Steve Irwin
A spokesman for the Miami Marlins apologized today for a bit of spicy Twitter banter in which the Marlins’ account blamed the Tampa Bay Rays for Steve Irwin’s death, Miami radio host Andy Slater reported....

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski Is Now A Corporate Shill For An NBA Sponsor
Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN’s most prolific and trusted NBA reporter, is now a brand bot for a company that is partnered with the league he is, in theory, supposed to be covering aggressively and adversarially. ...

The UFC's Pride Month Shirts Can't Hide How It Really Feels
Shortly following the start of Pride Month in June, the UFC joined in the grand tradition of brands glomming onto the LGBTQ+ rights movement in order to enhance their profiles:...

<i>Sports Illustrated</i>'s Media Operations Pawned Off To Unproven Start-Up Helmed By Longtime Media Creeps
Control of Sports Illustrated’s media operations has changed hands once again, just three weeks after the now former SI owner Meredith Corp sold the magazine’s name and licensing rights to Authentic Brands Group. Per a press release posted by Meredith and sent out to SI staffers, Sports Illustrated’...