Bill Simmons and ESPN part ways

ESPN have announced they no longer wish to retain the services of one of the most influential sports writers of the 21st Century.

Bill Simmons’ contract, which ends in September this year, won’t be renewed.

At ESPN, Simmons is an extremely popular columnist and podcaster. The 30 for 30 documentary series he produced won awards and is one of the best products ESPN has. He spent time as a television talking head – probably his worst role. And he is editor and chief of Grantland, a site he built featuring sports and pop culture.

So, his effective termination matters, if only because one of the sports media-world’s highest profile talents is a free agent.

The announcement, which was made without Simmons knowledge, appears to have come after he went on Dan Patrick’s radio show and fired a shot at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, saying he lacked “testicular fortitude” to punish the New England Patriots.

That comes after Simmons was suspended for three weeks last year, for a rant about Goodell’s inability to look after players, appropriately punish indiscretions and how he panders to the millionaires and billionaires that own the league.

ESPN happens to have a multi-billion dollar commercial partnership with the NFL, so that just might have come into calculations. Calling out the commissioner of the richest sports league in the world when many others won’t is sure to get the executives hot under the collar.

Now other entities have a chance to bid for one of the loudest voices, biggest personal audiences and creative minds in the industry.

Simmons is one of the most influential sports writers in decades because he did a very rare thing – he helped pioneer a new form of publishing and journalism.

For decades sports writing had been dominated by beat reporters and insiders that took some of the tactics of political journalism and applied them to sports journalism. Simmons approach was based on the belief that sport is for the fans and that was the perspective that influenced his writing. He admitted biases and wrote through them like a rally driver steering into the slide. He also added a healthy dose of pop culture to his sports writing.

On a personal note, Simmons has been one of my favourite writers for a long time, partly because his story inspired me that it wasn’t too late to get into journalism. Simmons wrote on a blog until he was 30, living in a Boston flat, while working in a pub and waiting for a break.

That pattern is an out-sized version of my time working in dead end jobs like call centres while trying to find a place for my craft.

Simmons is still a largely singular figure. Not many others have built a profile and following in the way he has. His columns were routinely read by close to a million people, his podcast was downloaded 32 million times in 2013. He won a Peabody and Emmy for the documentary series.

In Australia his comparative popularity dwarfs anyone writing about sports. It would be like Andrew Webster, Richard Hinds, Brett McKay (pay me later for the plug mate), Rebecca Wilson, Greg Growden, Buzz Rothfield, Gerard Whateley being let go all at once. And even then the scale wouldn’t be the same. That gap is widened because Australian media has been slow to adapt to the internet, giving space to quality alternatives such as The Roar.

How many Australian writers carry an audience big enough to build a site around?

Simmons has been the editor-in-chief of Grantland for the five years since he opened it under the ESPN banner. It is now one of the best sources of long form sports journalism in the world, with a sprinkling of pop culture for spice.

The site was launched around Simmons’ own popularity, but as editor in chief he has built something rare – a place where talented writers are paid well, edited well and have a buffer between them and the rest of the fast-moving media industry.

Under those conditions many new writers have flourished. And my Fairfax editors will tell you I’m always badgering them about more innovative ways to host stories such as this wonderful production of Brian Phillips’ national magazine award-winning piece on Grantland.

Grantland is the second way Simmons was one of a few pioneers. He was a personal brand around which a larger entity launched an entire site. Monday Morning Quarterback with Peter King, Vox with Ezra Klein and Five Thirty Eight with Nate Silver are others that have done it since.

Like this writer at Slate, I hope Grantland isn’t left to whither by ESPN now that Simmons is out. But without Simmons’ loyal audience the site – which doesn’t have spectacular traffic in its own right – may struggle.

But this article raises another thing I’d like to address. Many of the new wave of internet writers seemingly love to slag off Simmons for his perceived shallowness. I think it is partly because of Simmons’ success – most writers don’t get a following big enough to build their own brand that has real gravity beyond the masthead they write for.

But many others love to point out the flaws in Simmons style and act like they’re a deal breaker. Too many words and repetition are hardly an isolated trait. People also say he’s a gimmicky writer, which is correct, but the whole internet is gimmicky writing; he’s just been more successful at it.

The biggest criticism that sticks is Simmons writing has become lazier since he has been running a site. He’s posted less frequently and relied on formats more than ingenuity.

My belief is management have decided go with just 75 per cent of the readers on Grantland at 50 per cent of the cost without Simmons large contract. Articles about him have speculated Simmons earns between $3.5-5 million.

So now ESPN have jettisoned Simmons, what happens next?

As he’s said on his podcast before his agent is James ‘Baby Doll’ Dixon, whose other clients include Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and many successful personalities, so Simmons is going to get paid.

Plenty of people have speculated that Fox Sports – which now has two 24 hour sports channels in USA – may be able to afford him and his multi-platform desires. NBC, through NBC Sports could do the same.

HBO and Showtime are interesting places that could stump up some cash and allow him to stay edgy – there’s less of a relationship with the NFL to damage for instance. Others have said he could raise capital for his own project.

Personally I hope Simmons takes a run at something like Vice. They are the kind of place that will allow him to push boundaries and are small enough he’ll have to go back to his creative well to find new ways to cut through.

They also have multi-platform aspirations. A more prolific Simmons on an up-and-coming site with new venture capital behind would be a perfect way for a proud talent to get back at ESPN.

Given Vice is about pushing boundaries, some of his best hires at Grantland such as Rembert Browne, Molly Lambert, Andy Greenwald, Phillips and a host of sports writers may be able to set up shop with him there.