Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN

As I said, TNT/BR combo makes the most sense.

But I can see Murdoch making a run to overhaul that godawful mess of a college football show. Or I can see Comcast putting together a national show distributed across all its RSNs.

His name is worth a ton. He has an incredible ability to connect to the ever-renewing supply of males between 18 and 25. If Vox can raise $50M with a valuation of $400M, there is no telling how high Simmons can go. Who was Ezra Klein compared to Bill Simmons?

 

He and Evan Spiegel can get together and talk about money over beer.

 

Simmons was able to get the podcast guests largely because they knew they'd be appearing on the front page of ESPN.com. People making the media rounds care about metrics (or their PR flacks do, that is), and if he's running some independent entity he's gonna be hardpressed to get big names to go on. Just check the metrics for podcasts on Yahoo or countless other outlets. His popularity was largely bolstered by ESPN -- giving him his own Sports Guy page, putting him on front page of site. He didn't realize how good he had it, put his finger in the eye of his employer, and now has Skipper saying bitchy things about how Grantland remains and is strong without Bill. I do look forward to him taking shots at ESPN people and vice versa though, which will probably begin by sundown.

 

Which is why I think is why he lost older readers. He feigns interest in shit that people his age have long moved past, and so it comes off as disingenuous pandering. He says Goodell doesn't have the testicular fortitude to make a decision about Brady until he reads public opinion. Simmons' whole career is based on covering things that are popular. He follows the crowd and then acts like he's been there all along. Sorry, but a guy in his mid-40s acting like he gives a shit about wrestling is just sad. Ya don't have to keep humping the 18-25 population. You can develop big boy interests.

 

The Simmons brand still has real value but the ESPN blanket certainly has helped.

When he was on Page 2, I only read Simmons and Easterbrook.

Since he's been on Grantland, I only read Simmons, maybe Barnwell and if Jazayerli has a Royals column, I'll read.

In an environment where everyone has a page and a column, Simmons is one of the very few I seek out.

I also don't see Simmons as a lifer, unlike these other industry types. He's made his millions and I actually could see him ratcheting down in the next few years and counting his money. He's left his mark but strikes me as a Type B.

 

I think this is the same skepticism that was the order of the day when Dan Patrick left ESPN for Content Factory.

I imagine Simmons doing something like that. I guess syndication would be the way you'd say it.

The easiest way for him would be BR/TNT or Fox and college football, both of which would pay very well. I also think a Comcast show that's distributed nationwide would be a possibility, and they have all the team tie-ins that would make getting guests pretty easy.

But why does Simmons ***need*** to earn $3M? I assume he has fuck-you money already, he certainly says fuck-you enough, and he can do what he wants now.

 

The 18-25 population -- OK, expand it to the 18-34 that Nielsen numbers always quote -- is where TV makes its money. Always has been, always will be.

Basically you don't matter when you're 40-plus.

 

You mean big boy interest like running Grantland and the 30 for 30 series?

 

I would think Simmons makes more than $3M a year.

 

Putting Simmons on something other than the NBA would seem to me, to be a mistake.

That's not to say he's now knowledgeable on other sports, but the NBA is his biggest strength. I'm assuming if ESPN doesn't want him, then ABC won't either. That leaves Turner.

Nothing about Simmons is Type B. A Type B doesn't come up with and found his own page on ESPN, which was largely his idea, and come up with the idea of 30 for 30 if he was just content to cash checks.