Bye bye, Sports Illustrated?

[futureman 22415]

3 hours ago, ajax said:

Agreed. Can't blame it all on the big girls.

big girls are fine.  old soccer playing lesbians are fine.  how about dudes?

[Jive Turkey 12568]

Longhorn legend:

 

[Captainant 27448]

49 minutes ago, SurlyGator said:

You guys can flame me all you want, but the "Go woke, go broke" cause and effect appears to be rather consistent, whether you like it or not.

You're right, SIs decline was purely political and had nothing to do with the changing habits of their readership or their short term optimized business plan. 

[956 Worldwide 34432]

53 minutes ago, SurlyGator said:

Apples and oranges.  Google says that the first SI cover to include a black woman was Tyra Banks in 1996.  She's been on three, and there have been others.  I remember the howls of protest either on this forum or on its predecesor when the swimsuit issue with plus size models came out.  Personally, I didn't have a problem with it (I like big butts and I cannot lie).  However, a pretty dude in a bikini?  I'm gonna have to draw the line there.

You guys can flame me all you want, but the "Go woke, go broke" cause and effect appears to be rather consistent, whether you like it or not.

I’d place a small sum that the SI Swimsuit brand will be the only piece that remains functioning so we may want to revisit this.

SI Swimsuit was a pot sweetener for dads and teenagers who subscribed, a bit of socially acceptable skin delivered by mail without stigma. Or a newsstand impulse purchase that was designed to get you to fill out the card. SI died because magazines died, not because Swimsuit went woke. 
 

They had to shift their focus to remain relevant and it worked, dads and teenagers were not gonna keep a once a year soft skin mag afloat. But they have succeeded in getting people to talk about them and buy the issue. 

Edited January 20 by 956 Worldwide

[hayden_horn 11360]

3 hours ago, SurlyGator said:

 

Perhaps there is some correlation?

 

 

1 hour ago, MrBig said:

The brunette looks like a thick Kate Hudson. 

And these assholes making this tweet are so quick to point the finger at obese & trans women to fill some narrative about “wokeness.” But if they added the 2021 covers with black women and blamed “diversity” they would find themselves in a world of shit. 

the fact of the matter is that magazine formats are generally dead. si tried to stay relevant with plus size and teams during a me too and lgbtq revolution but the ship sailed when girls gone wild became a thing. then mobile phones have us access to all the media and who needs a fucking magazine? 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

15 minutes ago, Captainant said:

You're right, SIs decline was purely political and had nothing to do with the changing habits of their readership or their short term optimized business plan. 

Yeah, my older brother subscribed and the sub was kept in the family for many years and then eventually it was the fewer issues for same price and the ability to read current content online that had them pull the plug. I remember back when it seemed like every other issue had Tiger Woods on the cover because he was dominating the golf leaderboard.

[SurlyGator 861]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

You're right, SIs decline was purely political and had nothing to do with the changing habits of their readership or their short term optimized business plan. 

Show me where I said it was purely political.  Of course the decline in magazine use in general was the biggest contributor, but if those changes were an attempt to broaden their base, they did so (to some extent) at the cost of alienating a sizable percentage of ther actual remaining base.

[RDCanecutter 26256]

Used to check out Sports Illustrated on the rack in Eckerds when I'd use that store as a short-cut to get to the record store in the mall.

[Bevo 13526]

What happened to subscriptions following the burka edition, the obese edition, and the trans edition? Just curious what the trends say.

[ajax 2590]

1 hour ago, futureman said:

big girls are fine.  old soccer playing lesbians are fine.  how about dudes?

I bet most people didn't even know this happened. I just found this out today. That's what happens when you change your target market. Your previous target market ignores everything you do afterward. There's a market for this stuff. It's just not me.

[Footballyoubet 1]

https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/01/19/go-woke-go-look-for-a-job-entire-staff-of-sports-illustrated-kicked-to-the-curb-n606139

[Knoxtnhorn 5929]

I never did get my phone.  

I think a lot of this has to do with instant gratification and audience.  Sure, if Texas wins a MNC, it's great to get a magazine with the team on the cover 5 days later; however, by that time, I've probably read every, single article on the team.  Additionally, I never really cared about 90% of the content.  I'm not going to sit down and read about the Chargers' linebacker or UConn's women's basketball team - even if it's free.  These days, I'd rather obsess over chicken fried steak and bewbs.

[EuroHorn 3204]

17 hours ago, ousux said:

Compare this to swimsuit issues for a past few years..

No wonder an SI already on life support pulled the plug themselves.

[dittohead 92]

This used to be "cool" to say, but now, not so much.

I have every cover that Texas been on (all sports, special editions, good and bad covers, just a player shot, etc), signed by the person on the cover, or the coach of that sport at that time.  I have them packed away, but at last check it was roughly at 39 of them.  The first cover Texas was on (can't remember the name), a football player and cheerleader were walking out of the Cotton Bowl (1959 I think).  I sent that to him to sign, and when I got it back, two signatures were on it.. they got married.

Cool collection...

[Neonmoon 38127]

Is there publicly available sales data? 

I am sure there won’t be declining sales since 2000 with the explosion of internet, since 2010 since iPhone exploded, since 2012 when iPads became huge, and since 2016 since Tik Tok had every girl doing bikini dances for clicks. 

Totally the big girl’s fault 

 

[cochamps 1877]

Always loved the "Faces in the Crowd" section, especially looking for locals

[TreatyOak 16150]

For me, nothing will ever top the thrill of riding our bikes to 7-11 and picking up the Surly Horns Season Preview issue. We read it cover-to-cover, and always looked forward to the Awesome JUGGS spread. Having the readers write all the content was so ahead of its time. 

Edited January 20 by TreatyOak

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, cochamps said:

Always loved the "Faces in the Crowd" section, especially looking for locals

That's a great feature I hadn't thought about in a long time, and by long time, I mean about 30 years.

[Bevo 13526]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

Is there publicly available sales data? 

I am sure there won’t be declining sales since 2000 with the explosion of internet, since 2010 since iPhone exploded, since 2012 when iPads became huge, and since 2016 since Tik Tok had every girl doing bikini dances for clicks. 

Totally the big girl’s fault 

 

Are you saying that it isn't possible to learn anything from the numbers? There are trend lines and then numbers that deviate from the trend lines. In this case, we know the trend in magazine subscriptions shows a year over year decline. But how has SI fared verses People Magazine or verses magazines as a whole? Did the transgender edition just continue the trend or did it lead to a rise in subscriptions or a decline in subscriptions? If SIs numbers deviated after "provocative" editions, what is the hypothesis for the deviation? As you can see, a reflexive answer doesn't help answer any of those questions posed.

Edited January 20 by Bevo

[Underdog 28452]

Is USA Today even around anymore?  Always had the best bracket print out and MM breakdowns back in the day

[Not a cat 5619]

2 hours ago, dittohead said:

This used to be "cool" to say, but now, not so much.

I have every cover that Texas been on (all sports, special editions, good and bad covers, just a player shot, etc), signed by the person on the cover, or the coach of that sport at that time.  I have them packed away, but at last check it was roughly at 39 of them.  The first cover Texas was on (can't remember the name), a football player and cheerleader were walking out of the Cotton Bowl (1959 I think).  I sent that to him to sign, and when I got it back, two signatures were on it.. they got married.

Cool collection...

Bobby Lackey.  

Edited to change from Bobby Morrow, who was a sprinter for Texas.

Edited January 20 by Not a cat

[dittohead 92]

18 minutes ago, Not a cat said:

Bobby Lackey.  

Edited to change from Bobby Morrow, who was a sprinter for Texas.

That's the one.  Tommy Nobis sent back some Falcon stuff, and Coach Royal sent old game programs that he also signed.

Hardest to get out of all of them.. TJ Ford.  Which is funny now, because he sits across from me at basketball games now.

[Neonmoon 38127]

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

Are you saying that it isn't possible to learn anything from the numbers? There are trend lines and then numbers that deviate from the trend lines. In this case, we know the trend in magazine subscriptions shows a year over year decline. But how has SI fared verses People Magazine or verses magazines as a whole? Did the transgender edition just continue the trend or did it lead to a rise in subscriptions or a decline in subscriptions? If SIs numbers deviated after "provocative" editions, what is the hypothesis for the deviation? As you can see, a reflexive answer doesn't help answer any of those questions posed.

No I am not saying it’s not possible to learn anything from the numbers. The exact opposite actually. 

Listen, I understand putting certain people on the cover absolutely alienated their core audience. It’s not rocket science. The majority of their readers are white Christian males and want to see white Christian women. I’m just positing that the overall trend of magazines going out of business (due to macro forces) had a more substantive effect than any decline due to “provocative” editions. I just find it strange people want to attribute it to a niche reason when the entire industry is facing similar fates. 

 

 

 

 

 

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

[Vertigo 20266]

Kathy Ireland is the goat. Fight me.

[Deej 76561]

7 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Kathy Ireland is the goat. Fight me.

I have her and Elle as my 1 and 2. They are interchangeable. 

[n64ra 1078]

what a way to go out

 

[Bevo 13526]

Since I'm not Christian, maybe I don't understand, but I'm not looking at a woman's faith from across the room.

[Underdog 28452]

These two from Laetitia Casta late 90s intrigued me: 

 

[Harrison Stafford 3327]

22 hours ago, 6th Street said:

I rmr when the swimsuit issue was cool back in 1990

I rmr when the swimsuit issue debuted in 1964.  There was a combination of excitement and outrage.  People (parents) cancelled their son’s SI subscriptions because women posing in swimsuits was too provocative and inappropriate for a sports magazine. This issue was not coffee table material.  As young red-blooded American males, we couldn’t wait for the swimsuit issue.  Every damn year, this song and dance repeated itself.  

[nnm 36088]

15 minutes ago, Underdog said:

These two from Laetitia Casta late 90s intrigued me: 

 

Hints of areolas in the swimsuit issue and in Sears catalogues were the greatest. Made my blood pressure spike as soon as I saw one. 

[Vertigo 20266]

This photo was a big part of my childhood.

[Bullneck 18987]

20 hours ago, Bateshorn said:

In its day, getting an SI and an Entertainment Weekly was basically perfection

[satyanash 14281]

20 hours ago, Reese Bennett said:

si has been dead to me since they put a soccer guy on the cover the week the Rockets won their first championship--and we all know the Knicks would have been on the cover if they had won. I had been waiting my whole life--including the first year I got a subscription for Christmas at age 9--to have a Houston championship team on the cover and they fucked me.  Just look at this shit. Rockets championship below soccer and on par with an old-ass Ted Williams fishing. Since then, I haven't even picked up an issue in a doctor's office waiting room. Fuck them. And good riddance. 

[Zeus 5950]

Absolute garbage from them the past 5-10 years. Nobody really reads magazines anymore but it feels like they also purposely crashed the brand. 
 

ESPN shitass magazine had better models

[Reese Bennett 3605]

1 hour ago, satyanash said:

Souvenir issue that came out after a delay (even though there's a July 4 date on it). They had the Knicks souvenir issue ready to go. It was so bad and so many Rockets fans were pissed that Dream stopped by the si offices to talk to them about it during his post championship TV tour. Again, Fuck them.

[notre dame joe 172]

I had it for one year thinking ND was going to win a lot of titles.  I think I only have one in a box somewhere

 

[NAVY 6738]

Kathy Ireland cover 

 

[956 Worldwide 34432]

17 hours ago, Not a cat said:

Bobby Lackey.  

Edited to change from Bobby Morrow, who was a sprinter for Texas.

Bobby Morrow was a sprinter for Abilene Christian.  And multiple gold medalist/world record holder. And from the 956.

[Beau Vine 54000]

[Pam Cummings 9577]

Unlike most i dont think they failed because of going to the thick and the trans women on the cover. I think that their traditional audience had already well tuned them out by that point and that those were last-gasp desperate attempts at being culturally relevant and finding a new audience.

Edited January 21 by Pam Cummings

[Bevo 13526]

18 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said:

Unlike most i dont think they failed because of going to the thick and the trans women on the cover. I think that their traditional audience had already well tuned them out by that point and that those were last-gasp desperate attempts at being culturally relevant and finding a new audience.

That is what most here are saying.

[Bevo 13526]

27 minutes ago, Pam Cummings said:

Unlike most i dont think they failed because of going to the thick and the trans women on the cover. I think that their traditional audience had already well tuned them out by that point and that those were last-gasp desperate attempts at being culturally relevant and finding a new audience.

Sorry, it timed out on me.

 

That is what most here are saying.

I think they lost sight of what their core audience wanted. Subscriptions are down substantially across most magazines so they needed to adapt. Learn what people pick up in line for groceries, learn what people pick up in waiting rooms, learn new revenue streams and how to leverage their name into new businesses, become more of a people magazine of sports to attract women audiences... There were lots of options and SI chose poorly.

[RPM 26223]

Print magazines are less relevant in 2024 than iPods. It's the Sears syndrome. SI had a dominant position, even teaming with CNN to create a 24/7 sports network, but failed to keep it's market.

[956 Worldwide 34432]

3 minutes ago, RPM said:

Print magazines are less relevant in 2024 than iPods. It's the Sears syndrome. SI had a dominant position, even teaming with CNN to create a 24/7 sports network, but failed to keep it's market.

Yep.  Which goes back to the Enshittening model.  I used to visit the si.com site more frequently than espn.com but the site just got shittier and shittier, there was no reason to go. No writing and “content” worse than niche competitors focused on CFB (my main interest). 
 

I think the question of whether SI Swimsuit made the right move by moving away from eye candy to empowerment will be measured in whether that brand stays alive. I think the Swimsuit brand will stay. 

[Brisketexan 104598]

Unlike most i dont think they failed because of going to the thick and the trans women on the cover. I think that their traditional audience had already well tuned them out by that point and that those were last-gasp desperate attempts at being culturally relevant and finding a new audience.

Sorry, it timed out on me.
 
That is what most here are saying.
I think they lost sight of what their core audience wanted. Subscriptions are down substantially across most magazines so they needed to adapt. Learn what people pick up in line for groceries, learn what people pick up in waiting rooms, learn new revenue streams and how to leverage their name into new businesses, become more of a people magazine of sports to attract women audiences... There were lots of options and SI chose poorly.

These. Magazines are dying, including for people who used to read a lot of them. Like me. There are several magazines I’d subscribed to for decades that I’ve let lapse over the last 5-10 years or so. Some because the content change, most because I can get the same info on the web in real-time, not waiting a week or a month.
I think that SI did what many sinking ships do: grasp at straws, “what we’re doing ain’t working, let’s try something radically different!” Sometimes, that works. Most of the time, it doesn’t. The ship that was already sinking…sinks. It didn’t sink because of what it did in recent years. It sank because what it did in recent years didn’t change its already-sinking trajectory.

[RPM 26223]

I have a 4 year stack of Texas Monthly that still have the wrapper on them. I check the website weekly.

[pops 6974]

Their writing went to shit,  they lost all of their good journalists,  the internet happened. Perfect shit storm so they just started throwing shit against the wall to see if it would stick. 

I would guess I, along with most on here,  were their target demo. There are still magazines I get because I prefer them in that form over digital.  The content from si is not one of those. They were uniquely positioned to take on ESPN at the turn of the century in a way the athletic is doing as opposed to just scores and highlights and breaking news. They didn't. Sucks for nostalgic reasons, but not for anything they've done in the past 20 or so years. 

[Ignatius 4001]

On 1/19/2024 at 5:17 PM, DixonHur said:

I used to love reading SI in the back of our station wagon as dad drove us to home from Steak & Ale, with a brief stop at Service Merchandise, before picking up a video at Blockbuster.

Steak & Ale? Was the wait too long at Sambo’s?

 

[Hook1997 5287]

Sports Illustrated for kids was pretty awesome to get as a kid.  They had good kid based articles explaining everything.