Bill Simmons and ESPN to Part Ways

I awoke this morning to a phone alert that stated ESPN would not be renewing Bill Simmons’ contract when it expires in September. My first reaction was shock honestly. There have been many speculations about Simmons’ future once his contract ran up and obviously his history with ESPN upper management is not squeaky clean, however I nor many other people thought he would leave the biggest sports media company in the world, as repressive as they can be sometimes. I am a big fan of Simmons and the content that he has produced (Grantland, 30 for 30, etc.) so I am very excited to see the future of his career and ESPN. Let’s take a look shall we.

Immediate Future

Well for the next four months, Simmons will continue working for the worldwide leader. I have to imagine this will be very awkward for him. When he’s doing podcasts and TV and interacting with other people like his good buddy Jalen Rose, they have to be thinking about him leaving. First, though, Simmons needs to comment or release a statement or something on ESPN’s decision. I really will be interested to hear whatever he has to say about his upcoming departure even though it will most likely be very PC. While he’s working in his final months with ESPN, he will also be fielding offers from several other sports networks and media outlets, but we’ll get to that in a second.

ESPN’s Future

With this being the company’s decision to part ways, I can’t imagine they don’t have a solid plan about what to do with Simmons’ outlets once he leaves. 30 for 30 will be fine as he’s not the only executive producer. I’m sure they will continue to produce great documentaries.  Now Grantland is where it gets interesting. ESPN owns the rights to Grantland and will continue with the site. Says ESPN president John Skipper, “It long ago went from being a Bill Simmons site to one that can stand on its own. Bill’s done an excellent job for us on Grantland and we have an outstanding staff.” However, Simmons seems to be loved by his staff and I wonder if any make the jump with him wherever he goes. I’m telling you right now if Jacoby, Zach Lowe, Andrew Sharp, Chris Ryan, and Rembert are gone in September with Simmons then I’m out on Grantland. If most of the writers stay then I along with most people will continue to read the site. Skipper’s right, the site is no longer a Simmons site. The writers can stand on their own and I think they will very well without him.

Simmons’ Future

Now we get to the interesting part: The Sports Guy’s future. I think he’ll have a few options. Pretty much every sports network and media outlet would be stupid not to offer him something. He has a massive following and the first few weeks of his new endeavor (whatever it is) will get huge ratings. The first question is what is that endeavor? Does he want to start a new site? Would he start his own site independently or spin it off a major outlet? Does he want to write anymore or does he just want to do podcasts and TV? All these questions lead to the big one: Where would he want to go that fits what he wants to do? Obviously, money is a big factor, but there’s also more to it. A place that will allow Simmons to get his opinions out in cool and entertaining ways that fit his style has to be a big factor to him because that’s what his audience cares about and he seems to actually care about his audience some. So here’s my ranking of the top five most likely places that Bill Simmons ends up:

1. Turner/Bleacher Report: This is the most likely destination and just makes a ton of sense. Turner has NBA rights with TNT and runs NBA TV so Simmons could perhaps have his own show or a segment on Inside the NBA or something along those lines. On the website side, Simmons could write columns for Bleacher Report or spin off his own site from them, even though he is not super fond of the site.
2. Independent site: This is really the only other option for him in my opinion. I think he goes to the known entity in Turner or he rolls the dice and tries to start his own site (it should be noted he gambles on sports regularly). He may want to take a risk and give up financial security right now for potentially a bigger payout in the long run. It all depends on how much he trusts himself and his ability to make it as an editor-in-chief without the backing of a huge sports network. This is the scenario where I would worry about Grantland because I imagine he would poach a lot of writers from Grantland for his own site.
3. Yahoo: They can offer a lot of money and a lot of freedom as far as the Internet goes, but what about the TV audience that he’s gained the last three years? Yahoo doesn’t really have anything there.
4. Fox Sports: Money, money, money, money. That’s what they can offer him and a lot of it. However, that and former ESPN executive Jamie Horowitz are about the only things going for Fox whereas they don’t have NBA rights which is a huge negative, especially for Simmons. I will say that Bill Simmons and Clay Travis working for the same network as both noted gamblers would be very interesting.
5. NBC: I really only put them on here because I needed a fifth spot. They can offer him money and some freedom TV wise, but they have a smaller TV audience on NBC Sports Network and again no NBA rights.

The bottom line is that Simmons and ESPN will both be fine after their split. ESPN will keep on chugging as the biggest sports network in the world and Simmons will have his pick of the litter when it comes to networks wanting to hire him. Win meet win. I will miss the Sports Guy at Grantland though.

What are your thoughts? Where do you think Bill Simmons should wind up? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @_the5thquarter!