If anything, I think it’s more, but in a different way. People just don’t read magazines like Sports Illustrated anymore due to online articles on ESPN and The Athletic. You can also get direct access to information from sportswriters via their Twitter feeds.
Sports stars are bigger than ever. Every year I go to a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe and the most popular celebrities are the sports stars. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Aaron Rodgers are there every year, as are Steph Curry and his dad and brother, and retired stars. The crowds get bigger every year, so I would argue sports gets more popular every year, but just not in a reading the sports page kind of way. That’s the real reason SI is going under. SI covers used to be collectible, but now people collect selfies with celebrities on their phones and post them on Instagram.
Using SZ as a gauge of how popular sports are makes no sense.
