ESPN is shutting down Grantland
Grantland, launched by former ESPN writer Bill Simmons, will stop publishing, ESPN announced Friday.
ESPN is shutting down Grantland, the company’s sports and entertainment website launched by popular writer and diehard Boston sports fan Bill Simmons.
The sports media mammoth announced the decision in a Friday afternoon press release.
“Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland,’’ the ESPN release said. “After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.’’
Simmons was Grantland’s editor-in-chief when he parted ways with ESPN in May amid tension with management. Several editors and writers have since left the site. An ESPN spokesperson said those recent departures were among the reasons the company opted to call it quits with Grantland.
On Twitter, Simmons was critical of ESPN following Friday’s press release.
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According to CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, suspending Grantland will impact about 40 employees. ESPN Vice President of Corporate Communications Mike Soltys said in a tweet: “All Grantland writers will have their contracts honored. The intent is to use the sportswriters on other ESPN platforms.’’
Simmons, who was also an ESPN television personality, signed a deal over the summer to join HBO. A talk show is expected to start next year.
Grantland began publishing in 2011 with a focus on high-quality content about sports and pop culture—including longform storytelling, expert analysis, and multimedia projects like a tournament to determine the top song of the millennium (so far). ESPN has since explored other standalone websites separate from the main brand. Data journalism site FiveThirtyEight is led by political polling guru Nate Silver. And The Undefeated, described by ESPN as focused on ’’race and culture through the lens of sports,’’ has yet to launch due to internal turbulence, but recently brought on a new editor.
The ESPN spokesperson said the decision to end Grantland will not affect those two projects.
Chad Finn contributed to this report.
Notable departures from ESPN:
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