Cavs owner is latest interested buyer for Sports Illustrated

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and bestselling author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins are part of a group bidding to buy Sports Illustrated and several other former Time Inc. titles from Meredith, The Post has learned.

Final bids for SI are due Monday at 5 p.m.

The group is being headed by Joshua Pollack, chief executive of the California-based Velocity Group, who earlier helped run Relativity Media, sources familiar with the talks said on Sunday.

The Pollack group is also interested in buying Fortune and Money, two other ex-Time Inc. titles, sources said. Bids for those titles were due June 29.

Since the advent of legalized sports gambling, SI appears to be drawing the most interest from potential suitors. Meredith is said to still be holding hope that SI will fetch at least $200 million — but industry sources think a sale price that rich is not realistic as the title’s profit last year was around $13 million.

Jimmy Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill, remains in the hunt for SI, sources said, as is Ari Emanuel, co-chief executive of William Morris Endeavor, a Hollywood talent agency.

Mark Shapiro, co-president of WME-IMG and a former top executive at ESPN, is coordinating the group’s bid, sources said.

The Pollack team has attracted a wide number of advisers and potential investors. Jason Binn, CEO of DuJour Media, a pal of Robbins who hosted his last book launch party, is providing behind-the-scenes advice, sources said.

J.R. McCabe, the former head of digital at Time Inc., is also advising, sources said.

The Pollack group may also benefit from financial support from Raine Capital, an investor in Vice Media that is helping round up investment cash to support the bid, sources said.

Raine’s two principals, Joe Ravitch and Jeff Sine, could not be reached for comment.

Ravitch is the son of former Democratic power broker Richard Ravitch, and Sine had been one of the producers of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” Both had long careers as rival investment bankers before forming Raine in 2009.

The boutique firm advised on Steve Ballmer’s purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers and on the sale of a $3 billion stake in the Premier League’s Manchester City.

Another backer of the Pollack-led group is Boston’s ABRY Partners, sources said. ABRY could not immediately be reached for comment.

Gilbert’s Rock Bridge Equity sold its majority interest in the Robb Report to Penske Media but kept a minority stake in the uber-luxe titles. Gilbert’s backing of the Pollack bid is also through Rock Bridge Equity, sources said.

Gilbert could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Robbins confirmed his interest in SI.

Jay Penske, whose media company controls Rolling Stone as well as the Robb Report, had kicked the tires of Time magazine but is no longer interested, sources said.

Meredith has publicly acknowledged that it is selling the titles, but said recently that it would make no comment on the process until the winning bidders are ready to be revealed.