RIP Sports Illustrated

[Chris_Sanders]

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/19/1225680000/sports-illustrated-lays-off-most-of-its-staff

The end of an icon.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Martha Stewart the last swimsuit cover?

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[Shane]

Haven’t touched an SI in over 10 years easy.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Haven’t touched an SI in over 10 years easy.

I read the articles online. They do the fan sided stuff

 

[Chris_Sanders]

And obviously the swimsuit issue gets some eyes

 

[blindseyed]

And obviously the swimsuit issue gets some eyes

And apparently nuggets now lol

 

[oaken1]

Martha Stewart the last swimsuit cover?

You must be registered for see images attach

Any rag that would even consider publishing and distributing this absolutely deserves to go out of business.

Not RIP...but good riddance

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Any rag that would even consider publishing and distributing this absolutely deserves to go out of business.

Not RIP...but good riddance

I didn't consider it a negative....

That's also a lot of anger

 

[TJ]

SI’s been dying a slow death for a while, and has only been getting negative press the past few months. They haven’t been relevant in years

 

[Mulli]

They owe me a helmet phone from my subscription 35 years ago. RIP

 

[Harry]

Martha Stewart the last swimsuit cover?

You must be registered for see images attach

At least they let her sit down.

 

[Snakester]

Between the big swimsuit women and the fawning over trans athletes competing against women it’s easy to see them going out of business.

 

[oaken1]

I didn't consider it a negative....

That's also a lot of anger

I'm all for the beauty of maturing women.

But the SI swimsuit edition has always been about celebrating female perfection...and even at my age a chubby eighty year old just isn't that.

But no anger. I miss watching MASH more than I will ever miss SI

 

[az jam]

It was a great publication long ago with excellent sports writers. Very sad.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

All print is walking dead

edit... books will stick for a long time... but magazines? dead

 

[moosehead]

All print is walking dead

edit... books will stick for a long time... but magazines? dead

Same with newspapers, probably. I've been a freelance writer and editor since the 80s (hunting and fishing, mostly) and for outdoor magazines at least - two things have changed. Obviously, the delivery method - magazines are expensive to produce and distribute - now we have podcasts, online magazines, blogs, vlogs, forums like this, and all kinds of ways for us to consume content. Also, at least in the outdoor industry - content generation has changed. Paid writers started disappearing over a decade ago and many mags started supplementing with reader-produced content. "Hey, submit your article and if selected, you get a free pair of binos". That model made it easier and easier to squeeze out staff writers, and the readers didn't seem to notice (or care) about the difference in quality.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Like Shane I haven't picked up an copy in over a decade at a minimum. And I'm pretty sure these folks were already dying a slow death when they decided to change the thing that made them most famous. So in the end it was just a symptom of a much bigger problem in the building. Print media is dying. If you don't change your image and update your delivery model as the world moves online and then on phones........ your pretty much the walking dead at that point. SI..... Blockbuster..... Sears. Tons of examples to choose from.

RIP

 

[Zeno]

I think the last SI issue I purchased had Fitz on it after the playoff win over GB.

I tended to purchase issues that had covers of teams/players I like--Tillman, Fitz, Warner etc, but otherwise ignored it.

Used to have subscriptions to Sporting News and Baseball Digest but never SI.

 

[Harry]

The name still has currency value. I expect them to still be an online presence.

 

[BACH]

Saying that I slept with a girl that was in the swinsuit edition will become less of a power move..

 

[TruColor]

Saying that I slept with a girl that was in the swinsuit edition will become less of a power move..

Waitaminute...is there a story here or are you speaking in hypotheticals?

 

[kerouac9]

Same with newspapers, probably. I've been a freelance writer and editor since the 80s (hunting and fishing, mostly) and for outdoor magazines at least - two things have changed. Obviously, the delivery method - magazines are expensive to produce and distribute - now we have podcasts, online magazines, blogs, vlogs, forums like this, and all kinds of ways for us to consume content. Also, at least in the outdoor industry - content generation has changed. Paid writers started disappearing over a decade ago and many mags started supplementing with reader-produced content. "Hey, submit your article and if selected, you get a free pair of binos". That model made it easier and easier to squeeze out staff writers, and the readers didn't seem to notice (or care) about the difference in quality.

Established writers can bring their audiences to pay, but I worry about the next generation of writers and where they’ll find a forum. Defector is a model where I’m happy to pay to access content and they seem to be willing to pay freelancers and sign young writers.

I work in marketing and PR and online sources are happy to print out content for free because they’re desperate for anything. I doubt anyone reads it, especially when Google increases fails to deliver meaningful search results.

That said, SI didn’t fold for structural reasons or because it got woke. It folded because VC ghouls loaded it up with debt it couldn’t possibly service.

 

[PJ1]

Saying that I slept with a girl that was in the swinsuit edition will become less of a power move..

So you actually know Martha Stewart?

 

[Garthshort]

When SI first came on the scene it was an icon and I couldn't wait to read it. At the time I only had Sport Magazine, The Sporting News and a lot of newspapers to keep me up on sports news. My brother-in-law was a close friend of one of the top writers on SI, Bob Creamer. And when I graduated from college and finished two years in the Army in Germany and wanted to pursue a career as a sports writer, I had an interview with BC. He told me that the pay was poor, but that he could get me a job. It would involve moving to a small town in Ohio. But, having just spent two years in a small village in Germany, I declined the offer, and ended up in NYC. And continued my love of sports, by READING about them. But I appreciated SI when it first came out.

 

[Osbern61]

Back in the day, I looked forward to reading Doctor Z's column. Now he, Don Banks, Frank Deford all gone.