I have feels on this as a subscriber in high school and junior high (well, mom and dad gave it to me), about 1993-2000.
SI was not just sports news, it was good journalism and writing. I have plenty of long form pieces that I can remember, that stick with me even now, 15 years (oops. 25 years) later. I don’t know where you can get that quality of sports journalism now, maybe The Athletic? It went to shit along with everything else when we switched to “content” and not “writing.”
I assume the Swimsuit brand is still valuable to keep going somehow although it became this self-licking ice cream cone of celebrating the swimsuit issue itself and how groundbreaking/impressive/progressive/inclusive SI swimsuit was.
At its peak SI swimsuit was SO much better than internet porn, it was literally the most famously hot women in the world in next to nothing. I guess the one-name supermodel is also dead along with SI; I couldn’t tell you who are the supermodels now like every human could back in SI heyday (Rachel, Elle, Heidi, Tyra, Claudia, Kathy, Cheryl, etc).
Believe me, a stray nipple peeking through a fishnet top in SI was MUCH more exciting than one on the silicone wonders you found in 1994 Playboy.