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SI Cover Featuring Kate Upton With Braves Players Draws Some Negative Feedback

This week's SI cover previews the MLB Playoffs and features swimsuit model Kate Upton with Braves OFs B.J. and Justin Upton, but it has inspired some backlash on social media. FS1's Clay Travis tweeted, "Really appreciate Sports Illustrated reaching for the journalism stars with Kate Upton on the cover of this week's baseball playoff issue," while Sports Media Watch's Paulsen tweeted, "Glad to see Sports Illustrated continue its long tradition of featuring women on its cover. Real progressive stuff." The Charlotte Observer's Jonathan Jones noted, "Kate Upton has been on 3 SI covers (2 swimsuit) since 2012. NASCAR hasn't had a cover since Oct. 2011." SI Senior VP/Communications & Brand Development Scott Novak defended the cover, pointing to pop culture icons ranging from Bob Hope to Stephen Colbert that have made appearances on the magazine's cover. "This is fun and games. If the Braves win, this might just be the year of the Uptons," Novak said. "From the beginning, Sports Illustrated has had Academy Award winners, pop culture icons, governors, presidents, celebrities. You put a swimsuit model on the cover and that's a problem? I'm scratching my head."

MODEL BEHAVIOR? Last month at SBJ/SBD's Game Changers conference, former SI writer Selena Roberts criticized the magazine for focusing too much on models at the expense of women athletes. "When I was at Sports Illustrated, it's disappointing because there were not many women in leadership. It's no surprise that Sports Illustrated had more women on the covers in the 1950s and 1960s than they do now," she said. "The travesty of Sports Illustrated is that it has a rare opportunity to shape the agenda and to reflect society and it has chosen to revert back to what it was prior to the 1950s. That's unfortunate. You have such an iconic magazine that, ironically, is fueled by women. Nothing makes more money for them than women. It's women with bathing suits on. Women save the day at SI every single year. That's the great irony. Women fund the stories on men for the entire year."

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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