Sports Illustrated Expands Its Footprint with College Town Resorts

Sports Illustrated is launching a new concept of sports-themed travel resorts in college towns, starting with a location in Tuscaloosa set to open near the University of Alabama in 2025.

The resorts are expected to include a full-service hotel, vacation club, residential condominiums, live-action sports experiences, dining, and an SI Fit Health/Wellness Center. Travel + Leisure Co has a license with SI’s parent company, Authentic Brands Group, to operate the upcoming college town resorts. 

The first Sports Illustrated Resort property under Travel + Leisure Co opened last year in the Dominican Republic’s Cap Cana beach resort with amenities such as golf, sportfishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, horseback riding, water sports, ziplining, biking, and hiking.

Time Inc. owned Sports Illustrated until 2018, when it was sold to Authentic Brands Group, which then signed a licensing agreement with The Arena Group to run SI’s editorial operations. Tuscaloosa won’t be the first college town to have an SI presence, as the company debuted its separate Sports Illustrated Clubhouse restaurant concept last month with its first location opening on the University of British Columbia’s campus. 

Sports Illustrated has evolved beyond its monthly print magazine to have an online sports betting company called SI Sportsbook with gambling operator 888. Sports Illustrated also launched SI Tickets in 2021 as an event ticketing marketplace.

 “Sports Illustrated Resorts are about hospitality, lifestyle, leisure, and entertainment where we celebrate not only the legacy of Sports Illustrated, but the path it is on now by immersing our guests in sports culture and providing the best entertainment, cuisine, fitness, health and wellness to our guests,” Christopher Schroeder, CEO of Sports Hospitality Ventures, LLC, said in a statement.