It's been revealed that Brooklyn Decker is the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl, and tonight CNBC will take the wraps off the most profitable single-issue magazine in the world.
The financial news network will premiere Business Model: Inside the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue on Feb. 9 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
Reported by Darren Rovell, the special reveals how business, beauty, fashion and sports come together -- in the varied forms of 18 models from six locations -- to create this franchise that alone generated 7% of Time Inc. News Group's annual revenue in 2009.
The one-hour documentary looks at the history of the franchise, which started in 1964 as a five-page supplement each February to heat up the winter months. Now, it's a billion dollar multi-platform empire, which has been dubbed the "print Super Bowl of advertising. The show also catches up with former SI Swimsuit supermodels Cheryl Tiegs, Carol Alt and Kathy Ireland. The latter talks about her marketing and design company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, which generates $1.4 billion in annual sales.
Decker's place in the SI sun was announced on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman on Feb. 8. Decker is the wife of American tennis star Andy Roddick.
