OT: Sports Illustrated shutting down for good

[MalagaBulls]

The end of an era. I used to read them religiously:

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[madvillian]

Feels like they really diluted their brand down to almost nothing. The SI us millenials grew up with died long ago.

[Ice Man]

The end of more than one era! When I was a youth, SI seemed as if it had already been around since forever, and I was a youth long, long ago. Enough such that I was a full-fledged adult when its (in)famous Cheryl Tiegs cover was published.

(Talk about different times. I worked at IBM then, and when showing up our new powerful PC, we would boot up the computer to show that cover picture on its screen. That would not fly today!)

SI employed many wonderful journalists over the years, and printed many wonderful stories. RIP, SI.

[MalagaBulls]

Feels like they really diluted their brand down to almost nothing. The SI us millenials grew up with died long ago.

Exactly, I remenber yesteryear when it was a thing to pay $1.50 to get the latest edition in print.

[Kurt Heimlich]

Feels like they really diluted their brand down to almost nothing. The SI us millenials grew up with died long ago.

Yep they didn't find a path once magazines stopped mattering. Funny enough I bought a subscription for SI for Kids not too long ago from my niece's school drive to help her get points (plus it was cheap and I liked the little perforated cards that came in the middle of the magazines in the 90s/00s as a kid). But SI's online presence seemed nothing more than some mediocre to straight low quality fan blogging "articles" these last several years.

[madvillian]

The end of more than one era! When I was a youth, SI seemed as if it had already been around since forever, and I was a youth long, long ago. Enough such that I was a full-fledged adult when its (in)famous Cheryl Tiegs cover was published.

(Talk about different times. I worked at IBM then, and when showing up our new powerful PC, we would boot up the computer to show that cover picture on its screen. That would not fly today!)

SI employed many wonderful journalists over the years, and printed many wonderful stories. RIP, SI.

It seems so quaint now but back in the 90s, before HDTV and the internet, the only way to get really clear photos of sports and your favorite teams and players was via magazines, and SI had the best photographers. Every week as a kid you'd flip through the first few pages and it was always full glossy print photos of the big games from the prior week.

That was also part of the appeal of ESPN the magazine in its heyday, as it had even bigger, glossier, photos.

[MalagaBulls]

The end of more than one era! When I was a youth, SI seemed as if it had already been around since forever, and I was a youth long, long ago. Enough such that I was a full-fledged adult when its (in)famous Cheryl Tiegs cover was published.

(Talk about different times. I worked at IBM then, and when showing up our new powerful PC, we would boot up the computer to show that cover picture on its screen. That would not fly today!)

SI employed many wonderful journalists over the years, and printed many wonderful stories. RIP, SI.

Ice, that Cheryl Tiegs edition was an absolute trend setter and sold millions of copies.

[Ice Man]

Yep they didn't find a path once magazines stopped mattering.

In fairness, who did?

Reader's Digest
TV Guide
Time
LIfe
Newsweek
Playboy
SI
People
Cosmo

I guess the latter two are still doing OK, but even there it's only because their magazines are still selling (the celebrity/women's niche remains fairly successful). Few magazines have figured out how to transition their brand. Clearly, the task is hard.

[sco]

Yeah, I remember magazines. Amazed it lasted as long as it did...guess they can thank the genius who came up with the swimsuit idea. I'm sure there's a case study in there somewhere about shifting media preferences.

[kodo]

Looks like "Sports Illustrated" is owned by a company ABG and licensed it to another company Arena. Arena can't make licensing payments, but SI could be licensed to another company and continue depending on what ABG does with it. And it looks like even Arena licenses content, writing & photos, from another company anyway.

Does anyone actually create anything in America anymore or is it just layers & layers of companies all making money signing deals with each other?

[_txchilibowl_]

Not surprised after they got busted for AI produced articles that they claimed were written by journalists. Not the company it used to be...

Still...the end of an era.

Side note: does anybody remember that sweet holographic Michael Jordan cover they did for Sportsman of the Year? I treasured that thing.

[Ice Man]

Does anyone actually create anything in America anymore

Not with films! Here is the 2023 list, based on ticket sales -

1) Barbie - A movie about a toy
2) Super Mario Bros - video game
3) Spiderman: Across the Spider Verse - comic book
4) Guardians of the Galaxy - comic book
5) Oppenheimer - bio
6) The Little Mermaid - remake of a fairy tale
7) Avatar: The Way of the Water - sequel
8) Ant-Man and the Wasp - comic book
9) John Wick 4 - a sequel to a sequel to a sequel
10) Sound of Freedom - Original content? Really?

LOL

[League Circles]

Does anyone actually create anything in America anymore

Not with films! Here is the 2023 list, based on ticket sales -

1) Barbie - A movie about a toy
2) Super Mario Bros - video game
3) Spiderman: Across the Spider Verse - comic book
4) Guardians of the Galaxy - comic book
5) Oppenheimer - bio
6) The Little Mermaid - remake of a fairy tale
7) Avatar: The Way of the Water - sequel
8) Ant-Man and the Wasp - comic book
9) John Wick 4 - a sequel to a sequel to a sequel
10) Sound of Freedom - Original content? Really?

LOL

Lol, that's so depressing

[MalagaBulls]

Does anyone actually create anything in America anymore

Not with films! Here is the 2023 list, based on ticket sales -

1) Barbie - A movie about a toy
2) Super Mario Bros - video game
3) Spiderman: Across the Spider Verse - comic book
4) Guardians of the Galaxy - comic book
5) Oppenheimer - bio
6) The Little Mermaid - remake of a fairy tale
7) Avatar: The Way of the Water - sequel
8) Ant-Man and the Wasp - comic book
9) John Wick 4 - a sequel to a sequel to a sequel
10) Sound of Freedom - Original content? Really?

LOL

Funny that, a few scenes from Eastwood's spaguetti westerns were filmed in southern Spain.

[Hangtime84]

Good bye to the swim suit editions

[jmajew]

For some reason this really made me sad...it sucks to be getting old.

[nick p]

Sucks to see what’s become of it Sports Illustrated It was such an iconic part of growing up a sports fan

[Dan Z]

Yep they didn't find a path once magazines stopped mattering.

In fairness, who did?

Reader's Digest
TV Guide
Time
LIfe
Newsweek
Playboy
SI
People
Cosmo

I guess the latter two are still doing OK, but even there it's only because their magazines are still selling (the celebrity/women's niche remains fairly successful). Few magazines have figured out how to transition their brand. Clearly, the task is hard.

I remember when Family Circle Magazine closed down in 2019. At the time it was the highest circulating magazine, but the problem was that it didn't get as much ad revenue as they expected.

I bet it still made a profit, just not as much as the corporation that owned it thought was necessary so they closed up shop.

[pipfan]

I had almost 1000 SI's saved, from 20 years. My brother and I did it. So many classic covers and stories. Haven't thought about SI in years, but it was a weekly read, never missed it

[GinWeary]

Does anyone actually create anything in America anymore

Not with films! Here is the 2023 list, based on ticket sales -

1) Barbie - A movie about a toy
2) Super Mario Bros - video game
3) Spiderman: Across the Spider Verse - comic book
4) Guardians of the Galaxy - comic book
5) Oppenheimer - bio
6) The Little Mermaid - remake of a fairy tale
7) Avatar: The Way of the Water - sequel
8) Ant-Man and the Wasp - comic book
9) John Wick 4 - a sequel to a sequel to a sequel
10) Sound of Freedom - Original content? Really?

LOL

Meh...I think people just like to complain about this nowadays. Many films are adapted from or inspired by a theater play, short film/story, book, or other existing characters. Many of the films that you list are pretty incredible. Some other examples include:

Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957)
Psycho (1960)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The Godfather (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The Color Purple (1985)
Goodfellas (1990)
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

....and many more, going all the way back to the 1930's. Remakes are nothing new. A good film is a good film regardless if the story comes from a book or other source material.