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Sports Illustrated

“Can the Sports Illustrated brand be transformed from a legacy print media property into a diversified fan commerce and ticketing platform with embedded financial services?”

Founded1954
HQNew York, NY
IndustryMarketplace / Sports & Entertainment
The story

Originally a storied print sports magazine founded in 1954, Sports Illustrated underwent a complex brand separation: Authentic Brands Group acquired the IP while Minute Media (Sportority Inc.) took on editorial and digital operations. A separate entity, SI Tickets, emerged as an independent fan-first ticketing marketplace leveraging the iconic SI brand. SI Tickets has been the most active embedded-finance layer, securing a $50M credit facility and launching blockchain-based ticketing (Box Office by SI Tickets) via ConsenSys/Polygon — pivoting the SI brand from pure media into commerce, ticketing, and sports experiences.

Last 12 months
2025-09
Product timeline
1954
Sports Illustrated magazine founded as a print sports publication.· pivot
2019
Authentic Brands Group acquires the Sports Illustrated brand and IP.· acquisition
2022
Minute Media (Sportority Inc.) takes over operation of SI digital and editorial properties.· pivot
2022
SI Tickets launched as a fan-first primary and secondary ticketing marketplace under the Sports Illustrated brand.· pivot
2023
SI Tickets partners with ConsenSys and Polygon to launch 'Box Office by SI Tickets,' an NFT-based event management and primary ticketing platform.· banking
2025
SI Tickets secures a $50 million credit facility led by Eagle Point Credit Management and Feenix Venture Partners to expand inventory and technology.· lending
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Sports Illustrated’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Sutton Bank
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Crypto
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
3 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.