Bill Simmons fired by ESPN, banned from own site

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/05/1 ... hn-skipper

This news is actually about a week old, though it became a bit more official on Friday when Simmons informed Grantland staff he wouldn't be back.

It sounds like Simmons was not liked at ESPN, though from what I can piece together, it is based out of jealousy and pettiness against him. There is a pretty good writeup that talks about it here.

Simmons got in trouble for calling Goodell a Liar over the Ray Rice debacle last year. A week ago, he made comments on the Dan Patrick show saying Goodell lacked 'testicular fortitude'. Simmons was fired immediately after that interview was conducted.

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My personal feeling is that ESPN made a pretty big mistake here, canning their most talented and financially valuable staff member for the most petty of reasons. In the week since his firing, there haven't been any stories coming out of the woodwork about how Simmons had secretly been some kind of insufferable dickhead all along... like the stories we heard after Keith Olbermann's multiple firings. So I'm inclined to believe that ESPN is either way too protective of their NFL relationship, or they got fed up with some minor details way too easily.

I will say though, Simmons, who is normally very reasonable, can be a bit of a homer and douche when it comes to his Patriots fandom. That ultimately played a small role in his being fired, which feels somewhat cathartic to me. Of course, he'll land on his feet somewhere else and probably be better off for it.

I really like him when he's not trying too hard to be noticed. Can't take on the badge though, they got friends everywhere. If he's not careful he'll sleep with the fishes.

He wanted 6m a year, they said no. He might have been fired, but the money was as big a reason he's gone.

He's a Cheatriots fan and if he is half as annoying as the patsies trolls that recently flooded this forum, he had it coming! 8)

CPHawk":2hpfxtcm said:

He wanted 6m a year, they said no. He might have been fired, but the money was as big a reason he's gone.

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ESPN's president specifically said money was not the reason. I believe them, since it's very unusual to terminate an employee 4 months before his contract is up over an inability to agree to a money number on a new deal.

And if it was money, ESPN would be colossally stupid. Grantland alone got them 10 million unique hits in April. Add in his 30 for 30 and NBA coverage and six million is a bargain price for what he gave the company.

The timing of the firing makes it very obvious that ESPN valued their $1.2 billion relationship with the NFL over anything else.

Sports Hernia":2l6lorq1 said:

He's a Cheatriots fan and if he is half as annoying as the patsies trolls that recently flooded this forum, he had it coming! 8)

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That about covers it for me. Good riddance I say with no tear in my eye.

Kearly what are you doing by even admitting ESPN exists let alone care about whatever they do?

I'll always appreciate his disgust that the NBA all but rolled out a red carpet to step over Seattle so the could be moved to OKC.

He went "Zombie Sonics" for a long time.

Can't work for a a major network and blast your #1 moneymaker.

ESPN and the Dan Patrick show are not friends. No doubt him firing salvos from that forum did not help things.

ESPN sucks, I watch sports broadcasts only on that station, nothing else.

Whether you like him or not, I'm just grateful that he brought about the 30 for 30 series. It's the best thing that's been on ESPN outside of live sports.

Simmons has signed a new multi-year deal with HBO. He'll have a weekly talk show as well as video podcasts and "other content".

http://deadspin.com/bill-simmons-to-hos ... 1719516197

Bill Simmons will launch a new site later this year and has hired several former Grantlanders to work on it.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/17/media/b ... index.html

Add those to the former Grantlanders he'd already hired (Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, Juliette Litman, and Mallory Rubin), and it sounds like The Ringer will be the spiritual successor to Grantland.