Goodbye to Red Bull Arena in SCENIC Harrison, New Jersey. Hello to Sports Illustrated Stadium:

Is this the same Sports Illustrated that went through multiple layoff rounds and then got caught using fake writers to publish A.I.-generated content? The same Sports Illustrated that was going to stop printing in 2023? Actually, it is not, sort of. Today I learned there is a Sports Illustrated, then something else called “Sports Illustrated Tickets.”

Explained here by Jacob Feldman and Eben Novy-Williams at Sportico:

It was Sports Illustrated Tickets, which is independent from the famed media publication and pays Authentic for the rights to use the 70-year-old publication’s name, that signed the stadium rights deal with MLS club owner Red Bull. While Sports Illustrated Tickets and Sports Illustrated are separate businesses, the latter company does promote the other’s marketplace on its website.

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Sports Illustrated Tickets has been operated by CEO David Lane since its launch in 2021. The platform has partnered with Venmo, joined Ticketmaster and Seatgeek as the only official licensed channels of the NFL Ticket Network, and brought on Drew Brees as an investor, acting as one of the more stable SI-related licensees for Authentic since it acquired Sports Illustrated in 2019.

“For Sports Illustrated, there’s the media side, and today there’s the live event side,” Lane said. “We’re a real opportunity to grow the brand and reintroduce it to a whole new generation of fans.”

The deal is 13 years, more than $100 million. Cool stadium, just a shitty area. The press box is down low, behind the benches, and you can hear the thump of the ball and the sweet sounds of cuss words on the pitch, amplified by the stadium’s emptiness. It’s on this very ground that no one shows up to watch the North Jersey Energy Drinks, who are now owned by the Philadelphia Union. We all hate Red Bull, We all Hate Red Bull.