Does Bill Simmons Have Yet Another Trick Up His Sleeve?
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The famous sports commentator is expected to launch his own site.
by Sarah Ellison,
This spring, Bill Simmons, the affable and curmudgeonly sports writer turned sports impresario, found himself embroiled in exactly the sort of squabble he built his reputation covering. During a taping of his B.S. Report podcast, Simmons referred to N.F.L. commissioner Roger Goodell as a “liar.” Shortly thereafter, Simmons’s employer, ESPN, which has a $15 billion broadcasting deal with Goodell’s concern, the N.F.L., announced that it was cutting ties with the journalist when his contract expired. As James Andrew Miller has reported for Vanity Fair, the incident appeared to be the final straw in an already fraying relationship.
During the subsequent months, Simmons met with seemingly every major media organization before agreeing to a multi-platform, multi-year arrangement with HBO.
But while reporting on Simmons for Vanity Fair’s New Establishment, the annual ranking of business and media elite, out on September 8, I recognized an unnoticed nugget of Simmons’s deal with HBO: it doesn’t cover the very thing that created the cult of Bill Simmons in the first place—his column. And, as the kickoff to the N.F.L.’s regular season approaches, how will his millions of fans make it through the aftershock of Deflategate without his signature voice?
They might not have to wait too long. Simmons is launching a show with HBO, becoming heavily involved with HBO Sports, and also working with HBO Now, its recent digital product aimed at cord-cutting millennials. (He also recently announced the launch of a new podcast.) And Simmons may not be shopping his online commentary for very long. Many expect Simmons to soon launch his own content site modeled after Grantland, his hub at ESPN.
