OT: ESPN to Shutter Grantland

[HooperScooper]

http://www.boston.com/sports/2015/1...MWxIcxtnoaUM/story.html?p1=feature_stack_1_hp

Figured this was coming after Simmons left.

 

[Fishy]

Nate Silver should probably start looking for a safe landing right about now.

If Grantland made at least an iota of sense for ESPN, FiveThirtyEight is completely extraneous.

 

[bear]

Seemed inevitable but ESPN has definitely been making a lot of questionable decisions lately. No way to know how profitable Grantland was but I found myself reading their stuff quite a bit. They really did have some excellent writers.

 

[Leebo]

If Grantland made at least an iota of sense for ESPN, FiveThirtyEight is completely extraneous.

He would never have trouble finding a job in an election year.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

No way to know how profitable Grantland was but I found myself reading their stuff quite a bit.

My understanding is that Grantland was operating at a considerable loss.

 

[Walker11]

I can imagine Simmons and a bunch of his crew contributing some work underneath the Vice banner, which is another HBO product. I feel bad for the guys who lost their jobs, but the only writers I actively sought were Lowe and Morris who will have no problem getting work (Morris has already moved to the NYT).

 

[Fishy]

I can imagine Simmons and a bunch of his crew contributing some work underneath the Vice banner, which is another HBO product. I feel bad for the guys who lost their jobs, but the only writers I actively sought were Lowe and Morris who will have no problem getting work (Morris has already moved to the NYT).

Vice Media produces a show for HBO, but is not part of HBO.

They offered Simmons, but he chose to go to HBO.

The best moment in the history of Vice Media was when David Carr broke his foot off in Shane Smith's ass.

 

[BUHusky]

Nate Silver should probably start looking for a safe landing right about now.

If Grantland made at least an iota of sense for ESPN, FiveThirtyEight is completely extraneous.

538 is probably safe until next year's election, but once that is done I'd have to imagine ESPN will no longer have any use for them. Even more so considering it was Simmons who convinced ESPN to sign 538.

 

[intlzncster]

I can imagine Simmons and a bunch of his crew contributing some work underneath the Vice banner, which is another HBO product. I feel bad for the guys who lost their jobs, but the only writers I actively sought were Lowe and Morris who will have no problem getting work (Morris has already moved to the NYT).

+1 Zach Lowe
I read Bill Barnwell too.

 

[nyhusky89]

ESPN doesn't really care at all about intelligent sports fans. Just like their non-game programming which is full of ridiculous hot takes from one end of the spectrum or the other, the website is devoid of essentially any high level writing. The stats they have are the most basic, limited stats available and are outclassed across the board by other sites. The only useful part of ESPN.com is that you can easily find a local beat writer for each team in each sport. Otherwise its gonna cost you i believe $10/mo for insider which again, is not really worth it.

ESPN's only goal is to make money for Disney and paying good writers is too expensive. Its easier to just pit two idiots in direct opposition to each other-generates more discussion. Really a shame because they used to have some good writers, but outside fantasy football (1 ESPN league) and Adam Rubin I have no reason to go to the site. i follow a number of high level national writers/beat guys/statisticians/analytics on twitter, but at this point, the best representation of ESPN is Skip-Stephen A and that says it all.

 

[intlzncster]

ESPN doesn't really care at all about intelligent sports fans. Just like their non-game programming which is full of ridiculous hot takes from one end of the spectrum or the other, the website is devoid of essentially any high level writing. The stats they have are the most basic, limited stats available and are outclassed across the board by other sites. The only useful part of ESPN.com is that you can easily find a local beat writer for each team in each sport. Otherwise its gonna cost you i believe $10/mo for insider which again, is not really worth it.

ESPN's only goal is to make money for Disney and paying good writers is too expensive. Its easier to just pit two idiots in direct opposition to each other-generates more discussion. Really a shame because they used to have some good writers, but outside fantasy football (1 ESPN league) and Adam Rubin I have no reason to go to the site. i follow a number of high level national writers/beat guys/statisticians/analytics on twitter, but at this point, the best representation of ESPN is Skip-Stephen A and that says it all.

ESPN, like Hollywood, caters to the lowest common denomator. Not snark, just the way things are. That's the largest group, and they collectively spend the most money

 

[stick]

I never loved Bill Simmons the sports columnist, but Simmons the editor-in-chief was pretty amazing. Grantland was a terrific site for sports & entertainment. I really hope Simmons is able to recreate it in some format.

 

[ihatepants]

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

In retrospect, the editorial exodus looks to have been more or less the end. One Grantlander says that no one knew the four editors were leaving to join Simmons until the day they left. That’s because, another source says, Simmons has been warring with ESPN both by acting as a source for writer Jim Miller, and by more nefarious means.

While Grantland writers are on contract, editors are at-will. The four editors’ exits were coordinated, and Simmons, according to this source, told the editors who jumped ship with him that a condition of their employment was that they couldn’t warn anyone at ESPN they were leaving, in order to hit the site as hard as possible.

“He put his beef with [ESPN president John] Skipper above the jobs of dozens of people,” one Grantland staffer said.

This sounds like it could be a leak by an ESPN source to have them save face since everyone is mostly pissed at ESPN for letting this happen. These four editors were not under contract, so they could have been fired without any reason and without having to be paid severance. These guys would also be unemployed today anyway because Grantland is dead and they were not under contract.

 

[mauconnfan]

Just a matter of time before we see "Paid Advertisements" 0n ESPN owned stations in the wee morning hours.

 

[nomar]

My understanding is that Grantland was operating at a considerable loss.

I think a lot of that went to Simmons' salary. I would've liked them to have hired a real replacement EIC and given it a shot. All it had to do was break even.

It was a site I visited every day, even after BS left. This sucks. Lowe, Barnwell, Keri et al will keep writing for ESPN, but it was nice to have it all in one place. Their stuff is so much better than the usual stuff on ESPN.com.

Oh well.

 

[auror]

Grantland wasn't getting the traffic necessary to sustain itself. But I think that's a failure to market, SEO and all that. The content was good.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I will miss their in-depth basketball writing, but hopefully Zach Lowe and Kirk Goldsberry are still employed and can write the same type of detailed analysis. They'll probably cut down on length & humor, but that's fine.
The culture stuff could be amusing albeit time wasting.

Grantland had to have all known they were doomed the moment Simmons was fired and I question how he ever got to that point with so many people's livelihood on the line. Seems to be a little self-fulfilling prophecy there that Simmons felt the site wasn't getting supported enough and would fail and then he more or less blew himself up knowing his site would soon go down in flames too. Definitely seems like he is trying to resurrect it over at HBO. Despite all that happened his colleagues (even those not dependent on Simmons for new jobs like WMorris) are universally saying good things.

If I'm Nate Silver I either lock in a multi-year contract or jump now. ESPN will absolutely keep that site going thru the election, but it'll be done by January 17.

 

[intlzncster]

Despite all that happened his colleagues (even those not dependent on Simmons for new jobs like WMorris) are universally saying good things.

I'd be surprised if they didn't. Grantland gave them an outlet to freelance as they saw fit, not produced the same old regurgitated BS, and basically use and showcase their writing skill. It will be a resume booster for all involved.

If I'm Nate Silver I either lock in a multi-year contract or jump now. ESPN will absolutely keep that site going thru the election, but it'll be done by January 17.

Problem with Silver's site is that, in being so numbers/metric focused, they produce a lot of average articles in an effort to manufacture content. They almost try to hard. It waters down the good stuff.

 

[auror]

Problem with Silver's site is that, in being so numbers/metric focused, they produce a lot of average articles in an effort to manufacture content. They almost try to hard. It waters down the good stuff.

I love numbers, analytics, etc. The ELO stuff they do is good, CARMELO is exciting, but everything else is just so ... boring and shallow. They dumb everything down to make it readable for the majority and don't go in-depth about anything. It's like the opposite of Grantland.

 

[HooperScooper]

A good read for those fans of Grantland.

http://www.boston.com/sports/2015/1...J8NRlCeVBJ4eLeKN/story.html?p1=feature_pri_hp

 

[Husky25]

If memory serves, fivethirtyeight was a stand alone website before ESPN, it can survive a split. Grantland was funded by ESPN, albeit not very well and with little exposure. On the other hand, it appeared the key contributors saw the writing on the wall. A number have already left ESPN for other high profile gigs. Others will no doubt land on their feet. Selfishly, I hope to be able to read Katie Baker's NHL columns somewhere. Grantland's non-sports coverage was just as entertaining as their dedicated, topical coverage. I don't know where that can evolve and be nurtured anywhere else. Yahoo? Deadspin (jumped the shark when Leitch left)? Bleacher Report?