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ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

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11–20 of 48 posts

Re: ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

#11

I'll never understand what they were thinking getting rid of Simmons. Ego's calling the shots is never a good thing. Can't wait for him to start up something new, Grantland was really great.

He already has a deal with HBO and still has his own podcast.

Re: ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

#12

> Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun. Unfortunately, this bodes poorly for FiveThirtyEight, also owned by ESPN, and also prides itself on long form content.

Although it seems like ESPN is extremely desperate to eliminate its costs, I doubt they bail on FiveThirtyEight heading into a US presidential election. Past that, I'd be surprised to see it last. Nate Silver is still a pretty good brand and he'll regain his spotlight over the next 12 months.

Re: ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

#13

I'll never understand what they were thinking getting rid of Simmons. Ego's calling the shots is never a good thing. Can't wait for him to start up something new, Grantland was really great.

> Can't wait for him to start up something new, Grantland was really great.

He's with HBO now and his podcasts are back too. I think his show is starting next year and he's hired some of the ex-grantland staff too.

Re: ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

#16

I'll never understand what they were thinking getting rid of Simmons. Ego's calling the shots is never a good thing. Can't wait for him to start up something new, Grantland was really great.

Grantland was not making money, and Bill Simmons snobbery did not help him either.

Re: ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

#19
post #2

Perfect opportunity for Simmons to start a Grantland like site...

I don't think he'll try and do a site as big as Grantland again. I would expect him to so something on a smaller scale, however.

A lot of the non-sports people he brought in have also left or will be leaving. I don't see why ESPN would now have any use for pop culture writers. I've enjoyed Zach Lowe's NBA writing and hope he either keeps his voice with ESPN or moves on somewhere else, though I'd guess they'll try and keep the Grantland sports folks.

Re: ESPN suspends publication of Grantland

#20

Wow that's decently big news considering how big it was, and how broad the topics it covered were. Shows that it's the writers/personalities/analysts that readers want to hear from, not necessarily content on from specific publication.

I was a fan of Simmons's writing but there were still plenty of good writers left (Zach Lowe & Bill Barnwell being two).

Hopefully Bill can just bring everyone over to his new thing and continue producing the same kind of content.

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