Bill Simmons to leave ESPN in the fall

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Comments

  • MR.CJ
    MR.CJ Members Posts: 64,689 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Delphas wrote: »
    Makes sense.

    He really doesn't need them with Grantland and his podcasts popping off. Plus ESPN has never really liked him anyway.
    lamontbdc wrote:
    I don't recall any commentary he's had on football
    ESPN president John Skipper says Bill Simmons’ exit had nothing to do with his harsh words for Roger Goodell last fall, in which he called the NFL commissioner “a liar” and then dared his bosses to suspend him for saying it. So it has to be a wild coincidence that 24 hours after Simmons bashed Goodell again, this time for concealing the contents of the Wells Report (which just so happened to be about Simmons’ favorite team and quarterback), ESPN announced their partnership with Simmons was over.

    http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/05/bill-simmons-fired-espn-contract-roger-goodell-dan-patrick-liar-video

    But espn will keep grantland
  • MarcusGarvey
    MarcusGarvey Members Posts: 4,569 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Vanity fair

    ESPN will still own intellectual properties like Grantland and the wildly popular podcast, the B.S. Report. One executive was even heard starting to plan who else might host the B.S. Report. Maybe the executive thinks that “B.S.” stands for something other than “Bill Simmons.”
  • MarcusGarvey
    MarcusGarvey Members Posts: 4,569 ✭✭✭✭✭
    bignorm wrote: »
    He wont be missed. And Jalen and him has chemistry for one reason, and one reason only. Jalen allows him to act like Larry Bird is the best player ever, without question. No other ? would allow that without constantly calling him on it and ? up the flow of the show.

    His constant caping for the Celtics and hate on all Celtics adversaries, needs to go.
    He is a brat live on tv. You can tell it with his coworkers ? expressions, especially SAge Steele, Hannah Storm and Doug Collins.

    He's talented but acts like a child when he doesn't get his way. He's better than Whitlock, who espn gave his own site to spew re-runs of his black ain't ? , white people are pure as snow routine
  • TRILLip Brooks
    TRILLip Brooks Members Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Corny ass crakkker
  • MeekMonizzLLLLLLe14
    MeekMonizzLLLLLLe14 Members Posts: 15,337 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The interesting thing is how these cats leave/get fired from espn and get paid much more but go missing in the sports world. Cable networks are willing to pay more for cats from espn but you see less and less of a person.
  • TheBoyRo
    TheBoyRo Members Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There will be no farewell columns, podcasts or television appearances for Bill Simmons on ESPN.

    SI has learned that ESPN and Simmons have worked out an agreement that officially ends his tenure as a front-facing employee for ESPN. Simmons sent an email to Grantland staffers this week informing them that he would no longer be working for the site he founded in 2011. Simmons will also no longer do podcasts or appear on television for ESPN.

    An ESPN spokesperson declined comment Friday afternoon when contacted by SI. The Simmons camp has declined all interview requests since last week, including one from SI on Friday.

    How did we get here? Last Friday, ESPN president John Skipper told the New York Times that ESPN would not re-sign Simmons, the editor-in-chief of Grantland and an executive producer of the 30 for 30 franchise, when his contract expires in September. The news trended to the top of Twitter and drew interest from publications beyond the American shores.


    Four days later, following ESPN’s annual presentation to the advertising community Skipper was asked if and when Simmons would appear again on ESPN’s platforms. “We’re going to work through where we are, and I don’t have any comment on what we might do,” Skipper said. “It’s going to be better for us to talk to each other and not go to the press. Anything we are talking about is personal and confidential, and I expect you’ll hear from Bill and I in the not so distant future about what we are up to. Right now all is cordial.”

    On the future of Grantland, Skipper said ESPN is committed to the site in the post-Simmons era and does not expect a mass exodus. “We are going to continue to do it, and we are going to continue to do it at the same level both financially and staff-wise,” Skipper said. “Bill did a great job building that site, and I think he and I will be on the same page in suggesting we want to build on that legacy.” Asked specifically by SI.com if he had a long-term commitment to Grantland, Skipper said yes.


    There have been a lot of theories as to why ESPN opted to part ways with Simmons (Jim Miller’s two pieces in Vanity Fair are highly recommended reading), including Disney chief Bob Iger having finally had enough of dealing with a well-paid wildcard employee who was frequently critical of the NFL, ESPN’s most important partner. Skipper denied that.
    "I want to be definitive about that,” he said. “This was my decision. Bob and Bill have been friends, and Bob is an admirer of what Bill does. And I don't do anything like this without telling Mr. Iger. But he's put it long ago on me that I will make decisions like that.

    “It did not come down to money," Skipper continued. "Look, we're a big company. If it was just dollars and cents, we would have figured something out. It is about ultimately about what he wants to do, what value that creates, what we want to do together in deciding whether there is going to be a match, and we decided that ultimately there wouldn't be."
  • MD_PROPER
    MD_PROPER Members Posts: 1,526 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2015
    Good riddens....everything in the sports world doesn't revolve around Boston.

    He's overly biased...
  • D0wn
    D0wn Members Posts: 10,818 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i remember he interviewed Dominique and it was one of the worst interviews ever.... luckily Dom is a swagged out o.g, from the himalayas...
    all he asked Dom was larry bird questions... smh.
    that Julius interview was wack too. Jalen should of done both...
  • detcatinva
    detcatinva Members Posts: 11,691 ✭✭✭✭✭
    pretty much he was fired. i agree bill is terrible on tv and someimes his boston love gets annoying.

    however, he publicly went after the espn bosses and criticized roger goddell.

    there's a possibilty that bill simmons could be blackballed from the industry

    NFL doesnt like him, nor does Disney9who owns ESPN)

    TNT = Turner. Sports Illustrated = Turner. CNN = Turner. Huffington Post = Turner

    If he doesnt get picked up within a year then i gotta suspect something is up
  • yahwehprofet
    yahwehprofet Members Posts: 976 ✭✭✭✭
    Jalen, Wilbon, magic, Should have never split that up
  • TheBoyRo
    TheBoyRo Members Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭✭✭
    He's going to HBO
  • lamontbdc
    lamontbdc Members Posts: 18,824 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I wonder if h'es gonna have a show like Bryant Gumbel or some type of weekly sports after hours show

    II know ESPN is gearing up for Scot Van Pelt to host some type of late night sports.variety type of show
  • 9TRAY
    9TRAY Members Posts: 6,830 ✭✭✭✭✭
    HBO is a good landing spot for Bill Simmons
  • memphis2sacnicc
    memphis2sacnicc Members Posts: 2,033 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good riddance.
  • the spectacle
    the spectacle Members Posts: 245 ✭✭
    9TRAY wrote: »
    HBO is a good landing spot for Bill Simmons

    Depends on what they're doing with him there. Other than docs, all the sports shows on HBO are pretty meh.