Bill Simmons launching new website - and hiring writers

[Small Town Guy]

I think this will be a pretty good site. Simmons is starting a new site that will start in the spring. It will be 70 percent sports, 29 percent pop culture, 1 percent Karate Kid.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Morning-Buzz/2011/02/18/simmons.aspx

"This is something that was really important to me when my contract was up at the end of last year," Simmons told THE DAILY. "It's going to have a bunch of quality writers. And it's going to have the flexibility to have a lot of people come in and write one time a year or a couple of times a year, whatever.

Chuck Klosterman and Katie Baker are two of the first hires. I've always wished Klosterman would write more about sports, so I think he'll be tremendous with the site. There will be 8 to 12 full-time writers, then freelance.

 

[Bucknutty]

So where do I send my resume?

 

[ChrisMaza]

So where do I send my resume?

What he said.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Who's actually running the business side of this enterprise? Or is it under the ESPN umbrella, in which case Bill could do all right with it.

 

[Big Circus]

From what I've read, it's owned by ESPN but not branded as such.

 

[YankeeFan]

If ESPN's not backing it, I'd rather take my chances working for Lenny Dykstra.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Is Simmons "hiring writers"?

Or handpicking them?

 

[LongTimeListener]

It sounds like I would enjoy reading every writer on Bill Simmons' site except Bill Simmons.

 

[wicked]

Interesting philosophy. Has this been done elsewhere online?

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/02/Feb-18/Media/Simmons.aspx

The site will depend on sponsorships, with Simmons saying that his goal is to cap the number of advertisers at between five and 10 "and make them more like partners." He drew a parallel with the ESPN documentary series "30 for 30," which focused on signing a few sponsors. "They were integrated with everything we did. I feel like they were happy with how the arrangement worked out," Simmons said. "I think it's possible to do that with a website." By limiting the number of sponsors, Simmons believes that the site will not become a slave to page views and a minimum number of posts per day.

 

[Boom_70]

Hopefully his budget allows for a fact checker.

 

[playthrough]

"The site will not become a slave to page views" ... that's a noble sentiment but probably unrealistic for the interwebs.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

If, and it's a big if, those sponsors Bill talks about buy in as part of a package they buy from ESPN, it's actually a doable idea. If not, this won't last long. At least it's an idea. I wish it very well.

 

[jlee]

Not a Simmons fan, but godspeed to anyone who wants to hire sports writers.

 

[Versatile]

Interesting philosophy. Has this been done elsewhere online?

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/02/Feb-18/Media/Simmons.aspx

The site will depend on sponsorships, with Simmons saying that his goal is to cap the number of advertisers at between five and 10 "and make them more like partners." He drew a parallel with the ESPN documentary series "30 for 30," which focused on signing a few sponsors. "They were integrated with everything we did. I feel like they were happy with how the arrangement worked out," Simmons said. "I think it's possible to do that with a website." By limiting the number of sponsors, Simmons believes that the site will not become a slave to page views and a minimum number of posts per day.

Is no one else even slightly troubled by the idea of "sponsor" companies being "integrated with everything we" do?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Interesting philosophy. Has this been done elsewhere online?

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/02/Feb-18/Media/Simmons.aspx

The site will depend on sponsorships, with Simmons saying that his goal is to cap the number of advertisers at between five and 10 "and make them more like partners." He drew a parallel with the ESPN documentary series "30 for 30," which focused on signing a few sponsors. "They were integrated with everything we did. I feel like they were happy with how the arrangement worked out," Simmons said. "I think it's possible to do that with a website." By limiting the number of sponsors, Simmons believes that the site will not become a slave to page views and a minimum number of posts per day.

Is no one else even slightly troubled by the idea of "sponsor" companies being "integrated with everything we" do?

They're certainly not troubled, in ESPNLand.

 

[wicked]

Is it ideal? No.

Is someone trying to find a way to finance some form of journalism/commentary online? Yes.

I'm not going to demonize the concept yet.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I would be very surprised if any of the "sportswriters" hired for this site are anything but already reasonably established writers, most of whom are from fields other than sports, whom Simmons either admires (totally OK) or is friends with (less OK). Chuck Klosterman is not exactly hurting for work.

 

[GBNF]

I would be very surprised if any of the "sportswriters" hired for this site are anything but already reasonably established writers, most of whom are from fields other than sports, whom Simmons either admires (totally OK) or is friends with (less OK). Chuck Klosterman is not exactly hurting for work.

Not trying to be contrarian, but why is it less OK for him to be friends with? And what exactly does Klosterman's career prospects have to do with it?

It's his (and ESPN's) site. If he wants to hire his buddy Hench, or his amigo Gus, or his compadre Jacko, that's up to him. If people want to read them, they will. If not, they won't.

It's not up to Bill Simmons to offer jobs to anyone he doesn't want to.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

1. Hiring one's friends is not good business.
2. There were sentiments expressed on this thread that implied this Web site would expand employment opportunities for sportswriters. I didn't think so, and said so.
3. Sure, Simmons can hire whoever he wants. But that doesn't mean he should. It would be more interesting to me, actually, if he used the site to promote voices that are relatively little known, but which Bill felt were worthy of more notice.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

1. Hiring one's friends is not good business.
2. There were sentiments expressed on this thread that implied this Web site would expand employment opportunities for sportswriters. I didn't think so, and said so.
3. Sure, Simmons can hire whoever he wants. But that doesn't mean he should. It would be more interesting to me, actually, if he used the site to promote voices that are relatively little known, but which Bill felt were worthy of more notice.

Agree with all this.

Would also add that Simmons will likely act like a Katie Baker (and future similar hires) will get much more exposure now through the ESPN brand, so he can act like he somewhat "discovered" them.