The demise of most of Sports Illustrated staff amidst layoffs is devastating news to some iconic writers who homed their trade there over the years.
Rick Reilly, a former staffer in their heyday, penned in his latest Life of Reilly column, believes the soul of the iconic brand petered out years ago.
SI, in the wake of having its license revoked for unpaid capital debt, has laid off nearly 90% of their staff, both in traditional and digital media.
“Just utter, utter happiness that it ever even happened,” said Reilly.
“Let’s say you grew up in a house, and you had your best years in that house and you did your best work working out of that house, and then you left the house. And then you’d go back and drive by like, ‘Oh, they painted it purple, and they put up a horrible-looking fence, and there’s just ridiculous-looking sculpture in the yard. And they’ve let it go.’
“And then you stop going to see that house. And then you find out the house fell down.
Reilly worked there between 1985 and 2007, the glory years of famous brand.
He recently told Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic he is happy for what he did there and is not over emotional.
“That’s kind of how I feel about SI. It hasn’t been the SI that I knew for years, you know. I mean, I left 16 years ago. It hasn’t been that great place for the last, I’d say five to seven years. It’s been just a shell of itself. So it’s not that emotional anymore.”
The publishing house has not quite been the same since selling out to Authentic Branda Group while the AI scandal, where fake bios where allegedly done by bots, did not help the brand.
