Skip to footer

ESPN and outspoken commentator Bill Simmons parting ways

Bill Simmons, the outspoken ESPN writer who has helped lead the sports-media juggernaut into new content ventures, is leaving ESPN after the network said they are not renewing his contract.

|
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/File
Bill Simmons arrives at the world premiere of 'Million Dollar Arm' at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, May 6, 2014.
  • By Brian Steinberg Reuters
  • Staff

| Los Angeles

Bill Simmons, the outspoken ESPN writer who has helped lead the sports-media juggernaut into new content ventures, is leaving the Walt Disney operation.

Simmons is editor of "Grantland," an ESPN digital magazine of sorts that examines sports and pop culture. But he has also contributed to podcasts, ESPN the Magazine and other properties, winning notice with a mix of sports-fan passion and love of personal observation.

"I decided today that we are not going to renew Bill Simmons' contract. We have been in negotiations, and it was clear it was time to move on," said John Skipper, ESPN's president, in a statement. "ESPN's relationship with Bill has been mutually beneficial -- he has produced great content for us for many years, and ESPN has provided him many new opportunities to spread his wings. We wish Bill continued success as he plans his next chapter. ESPN remains committed to Grantland, and we have a strong team in place."

Simmons and ESPN have clashed over the years. The company kept him from posting on Twitter in 2009 and 2013, the first time for criticizing a Boston sports radio program, the second for criticizing ESPN. In 2014, ESPN suspended Simmons for three weeks after he criticized the way National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell handled a domestic-violence controversy centered around player Ray Rice.

The Monitor reported of the suspension:

The nature of Mr. Simmons' rant essentially forced ESPN to take action, experts say. Not only could there have been legal implications, but ESPN would also have looked like a house in disorder if it had allowed Simmons to make an explosive and unsubstantiated claim so brazenly, they say.

The suspension is a reminder that, even in an emerging and unsettled new media landscape, there are lines, and they occasionally have to be drawn.

"It has become more difficult for journalists to understand when it is OK to be a fan and when one has to be a journalist," says Eric Zillmer, a sports psychologist and the athletic director at Drexel University in Philadelphia, via e-mail. But "ESPN wanted to separate themselves clearly from the meaningless chatter that is associated with sports talk radio."

Simmons is expected to stay until his contract with ESPN expires in September.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to ESPN and outspoken commentator Bill Simmons parting ways
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0508/ESPN-and-outspoken-commentator-Bill-Simmons-parting-ways
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe