Sports Illustrated lays off entire staff signaling end of 70-year run

Sports Illustrated laid off a "significant number, if not all" of its employees on Friday, and it appears that the magazine's 70-year run could be coming to an end.

A statement from the magazine's union read, "This is another difficult day in what has been a difficult four years for Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (previously The Maven) stewardship. We are calling on ABG to ensure the continued publication of SI and allow it to serve our audience in the way it has for nearly 70 years."

Mitch Goldich, unit chair of the SI union and NFL editor, promised that the union wasn't giving up on the magazine yet.

He stated, "We have fought together as a union to maintain the standard of this storied publication that we love, and to make sure our workers are treated fairly for the value they bring to this company. It is a fight we will continue."

Sports Illustrated has been on the ropes for a few years now, and some believe the company has no one but itself to blame.

The publication has become an anachronism like many famous magazines, and the only headlines it has made lately have attracted controversy. It's little surprise to see the collapse of the magazine and the end of an era.