Peter King, the longtime Sports Illustrated football writer, pens a tribute to the once-beloved magazine:
Nothing describes how the sports media business has changed better than the precipitous decline of Sports Illustrated. More than a bit of melancholy washed over me Friday, processing the news of the battered place. Because even if SI survives 2024, it will do so as a skeleton of what it was.
I have only good memories of my 29 years with the franchise. In the midst of the sadness and bitterness over SI’s demise, I want to share a few of the reasons why I will always consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth because I got to work for the greatest sports journalism franchise for the guts of my career.
I remember the phone call—absolutely, totally out of the blue—from managing editor Mark Mulvoy in spring 1989. I was 31, covering the Giants for Newsday. Mulvoy asked if I was interested in interviewing for a job at the magazine. It’s still one of those things to this day that I can’t quite believe happened. I went into the mag’s Rockefeller Center offices, across from Radio City, and Mulvoy got to the point pretty fast. He wanted me to write the “Inside the NFL” column and, in fact, there wasn’t much of an interview. He asked me if I wanted the job.
Outer voice: “That’s fantastic. I’ll talk to my wife today and get back to you tomorrow. That okay?”
Inner voice: Are you bleeping kidding me? WHERE DO I SIGN BEFORE YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND?
Much excitement when I got home. My wife, Ann, asked me: “What will they pay you?” I told her I had no idea. I never asked.
FMAI Divisional, Peter King, 22 January 2024
SI was the victim of changing technology as much as it was of its own convergence and corporate financialization. But it remains the great historical record of American sports, covering the period from 1954 to 2024, which in those 70 years included Peak America. It was also evidence of how excellence leads to success, as it brought together talented and truly-dedicated writers with first-rate photographers.
Unfortunately, it also serves as a cautionary example of what lies ahead for America.
Speaking of favorite Sports Illustrated covers, this one from November 10, 1975 was definitely mine.
