When I was a teenager, there was this mall my friends and I used to go to. The space outside school and our houses was where we could just be high schoolers. We would stop by the food court and peruse the many stores inside. If one of us had money, we could buy clothes or a video game. Most importantly, there was a place where we could just be ourselves outside the watchful eyes of the adults in our lives. As I got older, that mall started to disintegrate piece by piece. First, the big retail stores began to move out, replaced by vacant storefront windows and dusty furniture. Then, the people started going elsewhere, and the smaller stores started to go because the rent was too high. The last time I visited that mall, three things were hanging on: a barbershop, a place that sold shades, and an ice cream place.
I couldn’t even imagine where kids go today. In the same way, I had an adjacent feeling once the news broke that Sports Illustrated would be laying off most of its staff. For sports lovers, the magazine has been one of the continual pillars of sports journalism. Everybody can recall a Sports Illustrated cover that caught their attention and led them to read an exceptionally well-written and researched story (the 2001 XFL story comes to my mind). There was a synergy between the beauty and the craft on the field and the journalists who also worked to tell teh stories for us to follow, root for, and cheer against.
But all that rich history is being torn down to the studs, with many talented journalists as collateral damage. I can’t say that it was due to the onslaught of the “debate style” shows such as ESPN’s First Take or Undisputed or talk shows headed by Pat McAfee, Dan Le Batard, and the athletes themselves. Although the networks and the audience shifts have been tailored to these reactionary, quote-invoking styles, media has always been in a constant state of evolution.
However, the supposed death of Sports Illustrated has been preceded by many blows to sports journalism over the years and in recent months. You have the loss of outlets like Grantland in 2015 and the editorial debacle committed against the original Deadspin (which has evolved into the worker-owned Defector). Shows like Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel and ESPN’s The Sports Reporters have been canceled, and the New York Times folded its sports section into The Athletic.
Most recently, the NFL has been discussing buying a stake in ESPN itself. Consider what that would do to oversight and stories that could shed a negative light on the league if warranted. It’s scary. Sports Illustrated even had its own AI writing scandal. This is the land where you get your exclusive reports and perhaps see an athlete or team’s history in a different light.
The sports news polar icecaps were melting into the sea long before the demise of trusted and tested institutions, and it is sad to witness all of these places become digital husks of what they were. Things change. I get that. It used to be that people started and ended their day watching highlights on SportsCenter. With the abundance of social media, the impact of the show’s format has obviously lessened. However, journalism should be looked upon as an essential public utility. Sports journalists at press conferences and in locker rooms develop these stories for us to indulge in, often working under the pressure of dwindling resources and pushing for reactionary dopamine hits because it’s believed the reader doesn’t want in-depth reporting. It’s in a weird and troubling state of constant contraction currently. As these places leave or fold like those shops in the mall, I wonder where the next generation of sports writers will gain their inspiration from.
Murjani Rawls is a ten-year culture editor, writer, and critic who has worked in places like DraftKings Network/Vox Media, The Root, and Substream Magazine. He is a member of the Critics Choice Association; his beats are music, television, film, pop culture, and sports. You can find him at the gym or the Trader Joe’s Hummus aisle when he’s not writing.
