Molly Milligan '20 presents her certificate project, "Sports Illustrated is hanging on by a thread. Can a magazine be saved amid the 21st-century sports media landscape?" during the Program in Journalism's Senior Colloquium.
Sports Illustrated has long been one of the most well-recognized titles on the newsstand. But since the mid-2010s, the magazine has endured a period of managerial upheaval compounded by the struggling state of print journalism. In 2015, SI published 50 issues per year; but this year, that number had fallen to just 16. Meanwhile, many of the magazine’s most popular writers have been fired or have flocked to new outlets like The Athletic. The situation is further threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, which has halted live sports and thus sports writing. What can SI do to maintain its relevance, or is trying to save the magazine a fool’s errand?
