It can be hard to keep track of what, exactly, is happening over at Sports Illustrated at any given moment.
Left for dead and reanimated several times, it appeared that the legacy sports brand had found a new lease on life with new publisher Minute Media, but then reports swirled about just how hard Arena Group and majority owner Manoj Bhargava were making it for them to get what they needed. Even as SI gets back on its feet once more, there are lawsuits, threats, and layoffs.
Jimmy Traina, who writes a weekly column for SI.com and hosts the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast, had to cancel last week’s episode in the middle of that tug-of-war before Minute Media was able to wrest some control over the brand. At the time it sounded unclear when the podcast would be back, or if it would be at all.
However, Traina was back with a new episode on Thursday, featuring Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
At the top of the episode, Traina addressed the situation surrounding the podcast and the company, saying that despite what you’ve heard, SI isn’t going anywhere.
“We missed a show last week. Was not ideal. Out of my hands,” said Traina. “Thought actually the hiatus here for SI Media with Jimmy Traina might be a little but longer, but we’re up and running. Only missed one show. I need to thank some people for that. SI management, Minute Media management, SI’s new operator, were phenomenal in working hard to be able to get this podcast up this week.
“Can’t thank all these people enough because this would not have happened if a lot of people didn’t do a lot of work they didn’t need to do. I don’t want to get into what’s going on with SI because it’s so convoluted and drawn out. Most of what you read about the old operators of SI are true, so you can Google it if you want. But we’ve transitioned to a new operator and it’s been a miracle we’re able to just get up and running and we only missed one show.
“We’re here. We’re not going anywhere. We’re rolling. SI the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, is still going. The website, SI.com, bookmark it. Our social channels are alive. The podcast is alive. And we have a sort of a new lease on life that I’m really looking forward to. Whatever you’ve read about SI, don’t believe it. We’re here. We’re not dead. We roll on. This podcast rolls on.”
Traina added similar thoughts at the top of Thursday’s Traina Thoughts column as well.
“You may have read reports in recent weeks about some turmoil regarding Sports Illustrated,” he wrote. “To make a very long and convoluted story short, SI now has a new operator, Minute Media, which is a GREAT thing. The transition from the old operator to the new operator was rough, but not because of the new operator.
“I will spare you the details and just tell you that Sports Illustrated is not dead—by a long shot. The magazine is alive. The website is alive. Our social channels are alive. My column is alive, and my podcast is alive. Any reports of SI‘s demise are 100% wrong.”
[SI.com, SI Media with Jimmy Traina]
