Post: #1

Quote:Bill Simmons, who built a personal empire at ESPN and is one of America’s most influential sports personalities, will leave the media giant when his contract expires in the fall. The announcement came with startling abruptness Friday morning after months of negotiations failed to produce a contract extension for Simmons. He has more than four months left on his current contract.

“I’ve decided that I’m not going to renew his contract,” John Skipper, the president of ESPN, said in a telephone interview. “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 said that he made his decision to part ways with Simmons about three weeks ago.

Skipper said the differences between the company and Simmons were “about more than money,” although he would not offer details. He added: “We’ve had an excellent run with Bill, almost 15 years. It’s been good for us and good for him. It was a decision I had to make and he had to make to move forward.”

Grantland, the sports and entertainment site run by Simmons for ESPN, will be unaffected by his departure, Skipper said.

“It long ago went from being a Bill Simmons site to one that can stand on its own,” Skipper said. “Bill’s done an excellent job for us on Grantland and we have an outstanding staff. Bill’s contributions have been fantastic, including his own column. I hope we’ll have a friendly discussion about the transition. We’re absolutely committed to the site.”

The site’s publisher, David Cho, left last week.

Skipper, considered a friend and staunch supporter of Simmons’s at ESPN, said: “This is not personal. It’s business. I was prepared, if there was an appropriate deal, to do it. Bill’s talent has always been the primary thing for me.”

Simmons reportedly made about $5 million annually under his current deal, and was seeking more.

With so much time left on his existing deal, the question is whether Simmons will remain through the end of his contract in September, or whether a settlement will be reached that allows him to leave sooner.

Simmons, his agent and his publicist did not respond to requests for comment. Simmons has also made no comment on his Twitter account, which has 3.7 million followers.

The outspoken Simmons turned himself into a major brand at ESPN, branching out from his base as a freewheeling columnist to host a popular podcast, the B.S. Report; to create Grantland (which has spawned the televised “Grantland Basketball Hour”); and to play a role in the launch and success of the “30 for 30” documentary film series.

But his future at ESPN became a cause célèbre last year when the company suspended him for three weeks for calling N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell a “liar” during a podcast and effectively dared his bosses to fire him.

Simmons became a free-speech martyr during his absence, with the likes of Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow supporting him. Those who spoke out on his behalf on Twitter used the hashtag #FreeSimmons.”

Skipper said that the incident had no bearing on his decision to end ESPN’s relationship with Simmons.

But on Thursday, Simmons criticized Goodell again, this time over the investigation by the lawyer Ted Wells into the deflation of footballs by the New England Patriots that suggested the likely involvement of quarterback Tom Brady. In an interview on a syndicated radio show, Simmons suggested that Goodell lacked the “testicular fortitude” to impose punishment on Brady “until he gauges the public reaction.”

Now the intrigue will begin about Simmons’s next step. He could join another traditional media company, like Fox, or a digital media outlet like Yahoo. Or he could use his high profile to start his own multimedia platform with investment from private equity. Suitors were lining up on Friday. Shane Smith, the chief executive of Vice Media, wrote to Simmons on Twitter, “you are a beautiful baby boy and we love you very much. Come to VICE we make you happy for once in our misery lives.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/sports...-ways.html

Post: #2

Used to like Simmons more when Grantland was less PC and didn't follow all the sports Feminist talking points but all the mainstream sports press are like that I guess.

He is a much better writer than TV personality I think. Loved his NCAA and NBA coverage for the most part and he is pretty good on the NFL as well. Kinda scary that he's got Lena Dunham supporting him on "free speech" though

Post: #3

Simmons is a lot better when he does his work with actual analysts like Zach Lowe, Goldsberry or Barnwell.

Lately Simmons has been on the SJW bandwagon though with his support for Lena Dunham. His site was also becoming hipster central.

Funny thing even with his slight SJW-ism Simmons has spoken about the SJW mob on Twitter and isn't afraid to go after ESPN's corporate partners (NFL). That's what mostly got him fired.

He will have no shortage of companies looking to pay him top dollar though in 'free agency' lol.

Post: #4

Simmons took the ESPN brand hostage (for better or for worse). I didn't like Simmons the more ESPN forced him to be more PC, and he overstepped his hand trying to be a "the basketball guy''. This is bad news for ESPN as for 30 is all Simoons and the most valuable property on ESPN outside of live sports and Sportscenter. Simmons, if smart, is calling HBO or Netflix right to negotiate a deal where he moves over that franchise. With the that deal Simmons will likely try to lure in all his people at ESPN and do this all solo-ish.

This will likely cost ESPN more money. It wasn't about money. They just clashed on creative ideas and I think ESPN didn't like what Simmons was trying to go for and it hit the final straw.

Simmons monies the PC mouth cover will be better for his brand. Plus he can quit with his passive femme promoting of sack female gossip/sports stuff. Never understood if that was his idea or ESPNs.

Post: #5

Bill Simmons is my favourite sports writer, and the reason I follow sports in the first place. He's spoken out against the twitter mobs countless times and how ridiculous it is. His support of Dunham to me doesn't exactly equal him supporting Jezebel feminist ideals. Though this is coming from someone who is a fan of "Girls".

I'm done with ESPN, ideologically (yeah, I know, I'm sure they're real torn up about that one). I'm curious to see what Simmons does next. ESPN would have a very different vibe if they had no Grantland, 30 for 30 or 538, all things that Simmons can take credit for. I don't think there is a better cultivator and producer of talent then him when it comes to this stuff. In my opinion he needs to either go to another big network, or stay independent. Going from a $5M+ annual paycheck to pennies has to sting a bit though, so for his sake I hope he stays big. The idea of going to Vice or Bleacher Report just seems so beneath him.

Post: #6

(05-08-2015 04:57 PM)kosko Wrote:  Simmons took the ESPN brand hostage (for better or for worse). I didn't like Simmons the more ESPN forced him to be more PC, and he overstepped his hand trying to be a "the basketball guy''. This is bad news for ESPN as for 30 is all Simoons and the most valuable property on ESPN outside of live sports and Sportscenter. Simmons, if smart, is calling HBO or Netflix right to negotiate a deal where he moves over that franchise. With the that deal Simmons will likely try to lure in all his people at ESPN and do this all solo-ish.

This will likely cost ESPN more money. It wasn't about money. They just clashed on creative ideas and I think ESPN didn't like what Simmons was trying to go for and it hit the final straw.

Simmons monies the PC mouth cover will be better for his brand. Plus he can quit with his passive femme promoting of sack female gossip/sports stuff. Never understood if that was his idea or ESPNs.

I'm the opposite. I don't think this will cost ESPN money at all. Lots of people connected are saying Grantland doesn't break even financially.

ESPN would extract a heavy price for 30/30 (Disney owns the IP, not simmons) and its been going on for so long they don't need Simmons hand in it to keep it running.

Financially 538 has been a disaster for espn as well. traffic is atrocious for what they paid to Silver to take him from NYT.

ESPN rightly knows the 'star' is the live sports rights they own, and protecting that is more valuable than the jock-sniffing personalities (anchors, commentators, etc).

Fox Sports tries to do the whole 'personality' driven schtick and they've failed. Without having live sports rights, they cannot move the needle on ratings much.

Look at Beadle (granted no where near as big as simmons) and she tried to do her own thing at NBC, and came back with her tail between her legs to the mothership.

I agree Simmons will try to do partially with Glenn Beck did and build a proprietary media platform independent but also have a contract with Time Warner so he can do nba (Turner) and maybe some stuff on HBO (TW owns them).

So on top of bashing ESPN's most valuable partner (NFL/goodell), Skipper I think just coldly looked at the numbers and felt Simmons isn't really brining in 5-6 million a year in value which is what he gets now yearly.

ESPN's earnings have dropped in the last two quarters due to massive cost increases in live sports deals and a drop in advertising revenue and affiliate fees have been trending softer as well. They know their powder is best served in deploying for rights battles and not personalities.

I'd bet on John Skipper over Bill Simmons any day.