Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN

[shoes22]

http://www.vox.com/2015/5/8/8573303/bill-simmons-espn

Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN
Updated by Todd VanDerWerff on May 8, 2015, 11:02 a.m. ET

Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN, the New York Times reports:

View: https://twitter.com/NYTSports/status/596680975767175169


"I’ve decided that I’m not going to renew his contract," ESPN president John Skipper told the Times' Richard Sandomir. "We’ve been talking to Bill and his agent, and it was clear we weren’t going to get to the terms, so we were better off focusing on transition."

Skipper expanded on that thought in an official statement posted on the ESPN Front Row website:

ESPN’s relationship with Bill has been mutually beneficial — he has produced great content for us for many years and ESPN has provided him many new opportunities to spread his wings. We wish Bill continued success as he plans his next chapter. ESPN remains committed to Grantland and we have a strong team in place.

Simmons's contract expires in the fall, and he will exit ESPN at that time. He first wrote for the network's website in 2001 and quickly became one of its most prominent personalities. His fan-centric brand of sports column grew to be the predominant form of internet sportswriting for much of the last decade.

Simmons was also instrumental in developing the website Grantland, which has become a major force in longform writing on both sports and pop culture, and in developing the sports documentary series 30 for 30, which has won both a Peabody and an Emmy.

 

[SteelSmack]

He was warming up to the Cavs, he had to be let go.

 

[Ohio]

Good, ESPN made him worse.

Now he can go back to his old ways.

 

[spydy13]

I had no clue that ESPN owned Grantland. I figured they had a stake in it, but didn't think Simmons would be dumb enough to launch a platform that he didn't own.

Seems like this has been coming for awhile. He's shit on Fox Sports 1 in the past, so we'll see if he's buddy buddy now that he needs a job.

I've always thought the guy had some really bad takes on sports, but I must admit that I tune into the BS report more often than not when he's talking basketball.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

I have always enjoyed Simmons. He can be a typical jerkoff at times, but he knows a ton about the history of the game.

Enough with the Celtics talk though. It's playoffs, and I know you have been talking LeBron for 5 years now and it's tiring...

Nobody cares about the Celtic's 8th man, or why you and Zach Lowe are enamored by Isiahh Thomas.

 

[macbdog]

Pretty sure Simmons could do his own thing and come out fine. Fox Sports will be the one pandering to him. Good for him, really, he needed to get out of there.

 

[shoes22]

So the wording was kind of unclear with this. I don't care if he leaves actual ESPN, but does this mean he's leaving Grantland too? I hope not.
It's kind of shitty to kick a guy off something that he founded and created himself.
Is this also the end of "30 for 30" or will someone else be producing that now?

Edit: Oh shit, I just realized this means he's leaving The B.S. Report and all his numerous podcasts too, because those are owned by ESPN as well. This is gonna bum me out more than I thought. I don't get why ESPN would let him go...The BS Report is probably the most listened-to sports podcast EVER.

As these things usually go, it probably came down to a money/contract dispute going forward.

 

[enigmatic]

Hated Simmoms. HATED him. Just not a fan of sports writing that has more pop culture references than actual sports. I get why other people liked him, though.

Whitlock's going to run Grantland now, just watch. And it will come a 3 alarm, spectacular dumpster fire.

 

[Huber.]

Hopefully he is retiring to Somalia.

 

[ssopata]

How many of the writers for Grantland, when presented the opportunity, leave and go wherever Simmons lands? It'll be interesting to see some of the fallout once Simmons is officially gone

 

[gourimoko]

Can't believe he didn't own Grantland. What an idiot. If he owned Grantland, he'd at least have had a large platform to continue his writing and his podcasts; even something he could use to springboard into a larger arena, but now?

And given how this played out, I highly doubt it was a mutual decision.

Lol... lolololol...

Adios!

 

[ssopata]

Hated Simmoms. HATED him. Just not a fan of sports writing that has more pop culture references than actual sports. I get why other people liked him, though.

Whitlock's going to run Grantland now, just watch. And it will come a 3 alarm, spectacular dumpster fire.

Whitlock is already developing is own Grantland style site, The Undefeated. It'll explore race through the sports aspect.

 

[Surge]

He's a tool but his reaction to Anthony Bennett going number one on live TV was awesome...

 

[shoes22]

Whitlock is already developing is own Grantland style site, The Undefeated. It'll explore race through the sports aspect.

Ugh. That already sounds horrible.
Nothing quite like a highly-specialized website to alienate readers.

 

[Surge]

Whitlock is so over the top racially sensitive he hurts my ears.

Can't stand listening to him constantly play the race card.