• by Ray Schultz , January 7, 2024

Authentic Brands Group is quibbling over what it says are sluggish payments -- or no payments. The Arena Group is the current license holder for the Sports Illustrated brand.

“While we ordinarily don’t comment on the specific details of our relationships with our licensees, these aforementioned expectations unequivocally apply to The Arena Group, the current license holder of the Sports Illustrated brand whereby under such license they operate a traditional ad-supported sports media business,” the company says in a statement.

In continues: “Following a failure to make their quarterly license fee payment on January 1, we have put The Arena Group in breach with an intention to terminate the license absent a cure.”

Arena also said that it failed to make an interest payment of almost $2.8 million to Renew Group Private Limited, with an outstanding principal of $110.7 million.
The company is talking with Renew group to restructure the notes and given a forbearance period through March 29.

The company says it is in discussions with Renew Group to restructure or amend the notes, and has been given a forbearance period through March 29.

In its recent SEC filing, Arena outlined additional steps it was taking to try to turnaround the business. 

According to an SEC filing, Arena Group interim CEO Manoj Bhargava resigned, just weeks after the board ousted Ross Levinsohn as its CEO. 

Arena said that Bhargava “stepped down from this role to avoid any conflicts of interest which may arise as part of the pending transactions” with his affiliates.