Media: Sports Illustrated Goes [to] Authentic

Licensing company Authentic Brands, the owner of brands from Marilyn Monroe’s to Juicy

Couture, agreed to acquire Sports Illustrated for $110 million. But the buyer doesn’t want to run the magazine itself; the company will license it back to the seller, Meredith Corp., for at least two years.

Authentic Brands will instead focus on licensing the SI brand in many other ways as well, putting its name toward selling products including apparel, possibly setting up stores in airports and finding a way into sports gambling, the Journal reports. But it won’t stop there. The Washington Post cites a few other ideas, like SI for Kids camps and SI-branded foosball or ping-pong tables. The press release brings up live events and esports.

“Sports Illustrated has real heritage, authenticity and respect,” Jamie Salter, founder and chief executive of Authentic Brands, told The Journal. “It’s hard to get all those in a single brand.”