Sports Illustrated print edition lives on after Authentic Brands awards license to Minute Media

Sports Illustrated’s print edition lives.

Authentic Brands Group on Monday reportedly agreed to a deal with Minute Media — ending a months-long feud with former publisher Arena Group, which had threatened to stop printing the iconic magazine if it wasn’t awarded the license.

Minute Media, the New York-based digital sports media brand whose holdings include The Players’ Tribune and Fansided, will sell a stake in the company to Jamie Salter-owned Authentic as part of the 10-year deal, according to The New York Times.

Asaf Peled, the CEO of Minute Media, guaranteed that fans of the magazine, which set the standard for sports journalism since its launch in 1954, will still be able to find it on newsstands.

“In the current era of digital, it’s still not trivial and quite difficult to build your own brand and get people to know and admire it,” Peled told The Times.

“So once you get the opportunity to work with and grow an iconic brand like Sports Illustrated, you take it.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

However, it includes an option to extend the agreement for up to 30 years to coincide with the magazine’s centennial, the Times reported.

Peled also told the Times that his company plans to expand SI’s coverage globally and to rehire some of the staffers that were slated to be fired by Arena.

Minute Media will begin running SI and its website this week, Peled added.

Rich Routman, who had run Minute Media from 2016 to 2022 before jumping ship to the Sporting News last year, was brought back as president this month and is expected to run SI, sources told The Post.

The fate of SI’s roughly 80 unionized workers, including marquee writers like L. Jon Wertheim and Tom Verducci, remains unclear.

“With today’s news that Minute Media will be taking over as publisher of Sports Illustrated, SI’s unionized journalists say they welcome the change and look forward to remaining part of the storied brand’s future,” said Emma Baccellieri, staff writer for SI and vice chair for the SI Union.

“We have said from the start that our top priorities are to keep Sports Illustrated alive, uphold the legacy of the institution and protect our union jobs. We look forward to discussing a future with Minute Media that does that.”

The Post reach out to Minute Media for comment.

Authentic, which bought SI for $110 million from Meredith five years ago, confirmed the deal to The Post.

Arena Group, which had its license revoked in January after refusing to make a $3.75 million quarterly payment, threatened to kill the print edition after Authentic Brands indicated it was leaning toward awarding the rights to a rival, as The Post reported last week.

It had announced that the last print edition would be in May.

“We were informed that Authentic Brands Group will be transitioning the Sports Illustrated license to Minute Media,” an Arena spokesperson told The Post.

“We have no further details at this point — but will let you know when we have additional information and comment.”

Arena’s largest shareholder, the energy drink magnate Manoj Bhargava, had sought to renegotiate the three years left on the original 10-year, $150 million deal with Salter.

“Jamie does not react well to threats,” a source close to the situation told The Post on Monday.

“Jamie probably doesn’t trust [Bhargava]. Manoj could come back in two years and break the contract again.”

Arena, which had been publishing the magazine and the SI website while seeking to strike a new deal, could be on the hook for a $45 million termination fee.