The battle for control of Sports Illustrated—and balance within the traditional brand—is extremely playing out in court.
On Monday, Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group filed a lawsuit against former publisher The Arena Group in New York, demanding nearly$ 50 million for what it claims are a$ 45 million termination fee.
Importantly, the lawsuit also alleges that Arena Group user Manoj Bhargava made a number of bad management decisions, as well as missed payments. In overall, the 51- site problem spells out 14 claims of crime, including breach of contract, tortious intervention, trademark copyright and trademark infringement.
The suit claims that” Bhargava behaved more like a gang than a trusted business partner and good-faith counterparty,”” threatening to basically burn all down and destroy the SI company, unless ABG entered into a new contract on entirely new words.”

Authentic and Minute Media signed a contract in March to continue publishing SI both online and in print. Meanwhile, the company has continued to leverage SI’s brand in other categories, though its sports betting strategy has also faced recent disruption.
Following the Minute Media announcement, Arena continued to violate its agreed-upon licensing agreement, holding onto SI marks, publishing ABG-owned content on rival websites, and declining to turn over proprietary information to Minute Media. Instead, Authentic alleges, Arena illegally demanded a”$ 50 million ransom” to cooperate and has gone so far as” threatening to shut down SI’s operations if they were not paid”.
Authentic declined to comment on ongoing litigation. A representative for Arena has not yet responded to a comment request.
Arena is likely to respond legally by answering the complaint, denying the accusations and raising counterarguments. The allegations in a complaint are made in response to the advocacy of the plaintiff, not a flimsy account of events. There’s a good chance that Arena will insist that Authentic is attempting to use the legal system to gain negotiation leverage and that it has acted within reasonable and lawful interpretations of business agreements and other contracts.
Monday’s lawsuit comes after ex- Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn sued his former employer, claiming it owes him more than$ 40 million. Bhargava is criticized in that lawsuit for “illegal misconduct, overt self-dealing, and systematic destruction of shareholder value.” Specifically, Levinsohn alleged that Bhargava intended to use Sports Illustrated assets, including SI Swimsuit models, to promote his other companies, which include 5- Hour Energy and a jewelry line. In December, Bhargava took Levinsohn’s place as CEO.
In a filing with the National Labor Relations Board’s New York office, the union representing Sports Illustrated staff members filed a lawsuit against the publication’s former publisher. Arena declined to comment on those assertions at the time.