Grantland is dead...

[webdanzer]

I guess the writing was on the wall for this one, but it still sucks.

http://deadspin.com/espn-has-killed-gra ... 1739659651

I've never been a big Simmons fan, but he assembled some great talent over there.

[wco81]

I listened to a lot of their podcasts.

But I wonder if it was profitable. Thing is, the kind of in-depth and thoughtful work they do on Grantland, they tend to put behind the paywall on espn.com.

They've been laying off a lot of people on the TV side too. With cord-cutting on the rise, ESPN's business model is under assault.

But maybe the overly generous TV deal it signed with the NBA is part of the problem. That's the TV deal that provides for the league to still get paid even if there's a work stoppage. And allows max contracts to approach $40 million a year after the 2016 or 2017 season.

Not sure why ESPN, ABC and TNT signed that deal. It's not like NBC or CBS was trying to take NBA away.

[Inuyasha]

what's grantland? Horace Grant blog site? or a site dedicated to Ulysses S. Grant?

the name doesn't convey a sports site to me. maybe that was the problem all along.

[RobVarak]

ESPN had to know that it was going to be a loss leader of a sort. May not have gotten the traffic that the main page generates from fantasy interest alone, but it had to pull a great demographic and the brand had value. Their main F- up seems to have been a failure to integrate the site closely enough with the ESPN brand. All that goodwill and cultural mindshare accruing to what seemed like a site that had no connection to ESPN was probably a net negative.

Simmons is a flawed writer and a polarizing character, but that site was special.

[pk500]

what's grantland? Horace Grant blog site? or a site dedicated to Ulysses S. Grant?

the name doesn't convey a sports site to me. maybe that was the problem all along.

Grantland Rice. One of the greatest, most mythical sports writers in American history.

[pk500]

The demise of Grantland is due to one thing: Quality doesn't produce profits due to the least-common-denominator mouth-breathers who inhale ESPN idiocy like "First Take," "Around the Horn," Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless and Chris Berman.

ESPN does not give a sh*t about quality. It cares about profit. And TMZ-style shows and content bring far more eyeballs and ad dollars than intelligent, almost literary pieces.

The next ESPN sub-site in the crosshairs must be FiveThirtyEight.com. The Worldwide Leader in Vapid Idiocy will keep around Nate Silver and Co. probably until the 2016 presidential election and then kill the site.

[wco81]

Well, it's more likely the fans don't care about quality.

Most people just want quick scores, they don't want to read "in-depth" about sports.

ESPN has NFL Matchup on at wee hours of the night because most football fans aren't interested in watching breakdowns for 30 minutes. They prefer the folksy telestrator the way Madden did it.

And if you listen to the Grantland podcasts, they tried shtick too, they didn't sound like NPR or even worse, C-Span.

I think it's economic pressures more than anything. If ESPN didn't have financial uncertainties, despite being hugely profitable for the moment, they probably wouldn't have paid much attention to Grantland.

[pk500]

The departure of Simmons also may have been writing on the wall. Grantland was his vanity project that ESPN green-lighted to keep him happy. With Simmons gone from the Bristol Bunch, there was no reason for the Worldwide Leader to keep it, despite Skipper's protests to the contrary right after Simmons' departure.

[Inuyasha]

As a final shot at Simmons, ESPN should have posted a Boston anecdote on the grantland final website.

[pk500]

As a final shot at Simmons, ESPN should have posted a Boston anecdote on the grantland final website.

That would be hypocritical. Losing Simmons is part of the reason ESPN is shedding viewers and readers. Love him or hate him (I dig him), he drew many, many eyeballs.

[Inuyasha]

Simmons was fine when he started but now he's so annoying. Once he became a 'celeberty' it went to his head. His shtick got old fast. Sometimes I had to wonder if I was listening to local Boston sports radio instead of a National show. He always had so mention one Larry Bird 80s Celtics stories too. And his degenerate gambling friend Sal became a bore to listen to along with his other cronies.

When he whines about ESPN it's unbearable.

I liked Andy Greenwald and some of the other writers there. Dont know all their names but the NBA writer was fabulous. He's the one that had the plays he wrote about animated in every article. Genius. The NHL writer I liked too. He was good for casual hockey fans as well as hardcore hockey fans.

I hope the other guys who got canned get something. They're not millionaires like Simmons is.

[wco81]

Apparently Simmons engineered a sudden walkout by 4 editors from ESPN, which probably didn't help.

http://deadspin.com/how-grantland-died-1739682579

[Inuyasha]

Apparently Simmons engineered a sudden walkout by 4 editors from ESPN, which probably didn't help.

http://deadspin.com/how-grantland-died-1739682579

Right on cue, Simmons couldn't just leave the ESPN thing alone. Total egomaniac.

I like the comments section on the deadspin page. 10:1 against Simmons.

[pk500]

Apparently Simmons engineered a sudden walkout by 4 editors from ESPN, which probably didn't help.

http://deadspin.com/how-grantland-died-1739682579

Sudden walkout? Come on: People get recruited by former bosses all the time.

Simmons hired these four for Grantland. They clearly respected and liked him and wanted to work for him. So he recruited them away from Grantland and its shaky future to work at HBO. Anyone would do that. You would, too.

I left an eroding situation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after 16 years when one of my former IMS/IRL colleagues recruited me for a better job at her young, growing PR/marketing/events company. I gave my two weeks' notice, but I never "pre-warned" my bosses that I was considering leaving.

Is that a sudden walkout, too?

[pk500]

Also consider this tweet from James Andrew Miller, who wrote "Those Guys Have All The Fun," the detailed look at the history of ESPN. This guy has moles all over Bristol:

James Andrew Miller ‏@JimMiller Oct 31
4 editors who left @Grantland33 were incredibly talented & important, but their departure did not cause site's demise. #Grantland

So the Grassy Knoll conspiracy theories can end about Simmons' hires of four editors causing Grantland to collapse. Miller also reported on Twitter that ESPN boss John Skipper let Grantland editor-in-chief Chris Connelly know the site was dead a week before staffers were informed.

The only unanimous takeaway from this situation is that the HR department in Bristol needs some serious help. This entire episode was handled so poorly by ESPN.

[Danimal]

Apparently Simmons engineered a sudden walkout by 4 editors from ESPN, which probably didn't help.

http://deadspin.com/how-grantland-died-1739682579

You can't engineer a walk out unless the people want to leave. Says more about ESPN than Simmons.

ESPN has become a farce, look at there website they basically just re-post the lamest s*** from social media. There is no fact checking on anything they publish and their on air personalities culminate with guys who worked for the WWE and former players who can barely speak.

[Dave]

Chris Connelly, in his interview with Richard Deitsch (http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/11/0 ... mmons-espn) said the editors gave two-weeks notice. Not sure what else could be expected in the situation.

No matter what people think of Simmons as a writer/media personality, the guy knew how to spot talent and foster their development.

I'll miss being able to go to Grantland on my lunch hour knowing something interesting will be there or have something random (like a Rembert column) catch my eye when going to read Barnwell's latest column on the NFL.

[Aristo]

I don't get all the drama. Web sites come and go all the time. We all follow writers wherever they happen to land. I have no idea why anyone spend any time worrying about writers or personalities they don't like. I just don't read people I don't care for. Shocking, I know.

In this case, I don't think there are any bad guys. I don't blame ESPN for deciding that no matter how great the content was on Grantland, it wasn't worth the cost to produce. I don't blame Simmons for wanting to go elsewhere. I sure as hell don't blame Simmons for hiring people he respects and wants to work with.

But I really don't care where I read the stuff I enjoy. I'll still use ESPN's web site for what it does well, and continue to think it is a gross corporation that really damages the sports it covers. If I a game is on ESPN, I'm watching, not because it is ESPN, but because I want to watch that game.

I thought Grantland was great. I assume Simmons new place will also have a lot of great content. I don't care if it is not called Grantland. I may or may not subscribe to HBO to get to it. Probably not. But it's not like there is a lack of content out there.