Bad time to work for Sports Illustrated.

Back in October, there was a massive round of layoffs after previous owner Meredith decided to sell to a new company, which licensed the publishing rights to a group called TheMaven. Nearly half of the staff was let go.

Fast forward five months, and more cuts are taking place, via Sara Fischer at Axios:

https://twitter.com/sarafischer/status/1244738657212301313?s=20


Chris Ballard was the name I recognized the most. He wrote NBA stories and specialized in long form pieces:

Other people let go:

  • Tom Mantzouranis (senior video producer)
  • Jack Dickey (editor and writer)
  • Kalyn Kahler (writer)
  • Sarah Kwak (editor)
  • other editorial staff

Seems like this is just the beginning. We’re gonna hear about more furloughs and layoffs and cuts as sports media outlets try to navigate a world in which there are no sports.

Locally, there hasn’t been much movement thus far, with the Inquirer reassigning a few sports writers to news beats as a short-term solution. NFL free agency and and the upcoming draft have been critical in keeping the gears grinding here in Philly, but I do wonder what happens when that well dries up in May or June if the arenas remain empty.

Something to keep an eye on.