Sports, sure. Illustrated, not so much

Sports Illustrated has laid off its entire six-person photo staff.

The surprise move, which comes just over a week before the Super Bowl, the premier sporting event in the US, is believed to be part of ongoing budget cuts at Time Inc.

The photographers were given pink slips on Thursday, according to the National Press Photographers Association, which broke the news on its website.

“It’s true,” Brad Smith, SI’s director of photography, told NPAA’s News Photographer Magazine. “There was a decision made through the company to restructure various departments, including at Sports Illustrated. Unfortunately, economic circumstances are such that it has cut six staff photographers.”

The laid-off photographers are Robert Beck, Simon Bruty, Bill Frakes, David E. Klutho, John W. McDonough and Al Tielemans.

An SI spokesman confirmed the cuts. “We are taking a re-imagined approach to photography,” said the spokesman, who insisted the title was going to be expanding its contributor base — just not with staffers. “The decision in the long run will be better for SI as a business.”

The photo staff had grown to about a dozen in its heyday, although in an earlier era it relied on freelancers for most of its photos.