26CornerBlitz Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Further evidence of the degradation of the Evil Empire that is ESPN. . @Jim_Madalinsky Wow. Not good. ESPN shuts down Grantland. http://espnmediazone.com/us/espn-statement-regarding-grantland/ @SInow ESPN announces it has suspended publication of Grantland http://on.si.com/1jXiIXD @MJ_Baumann Well that's the first time I've ever found out I was laid off via Twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 i kinda liked the work that grantland did, that's too bad, i wish they'd shut down espn and keep grantland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 When they canned Bill Simmons you almost knew this was going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26CornerBlitz Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 When they canned Bill Simmons you almost knew this was going to happen. Hard to disagree with you here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 So ESPN has no money for Grantland but has money for Ray Lewis, Cris Carter and Mike Ditka. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Dafuq is Grantland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Dafuq is Grantland? Really? So ESPN has no money for Grantland but has money for Ray Lewis, Cris Carter and Mike Ditka. 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Really? I swear on my family that I've never heard of it. I stopped listening, clicking and watching ESPN years ago. I only watch when there's an NFL football game or a Mets game that I can't watch anywhere else. Otherwise, no views, no clicks, no listens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpberr Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Grantland was way above the general demographic that ESPN thinks is it's bread and butter. The level of technical analysis and writing style appealed to the college educated sports enthusiast that had interest in topics other than sports. Grantland isn't for the sports fans who enjoy former NFL players shouting at each other for an hour before kickoff. That's not a slight, just fact. The only times I find myself on ESPN was for Grantland articles. You could catch an interesting analysis of jersey sales or why a team does X and then catch an opinion piece on politics or movies. I'm not a big fan of Bill Simmons overall but he assembled some bright writing talent there. ESPN is a disaster. They paid too much for the broadcasting rights and selling their souls to the television companies has provided them less customers to watch very, very expensive sports to produce and broadcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Grantland was way above the general demographic that ESPN thinks is it's bread and butter. The level of technical analysis and writing style appealed to the college educated sports enthusiast that had interest in topics other than sports. Grantland isn't for the sports fans who enjoy former NFL players shouting at each other for an hour before kickoff. That's not a slight, just fact. The only times I find myself on ESPN was for Grantland articles. You could catch an interesting analysis of jersey sales or why a team does X and then catch an opinion piece on politics or movies. I'm not a big fan of Bill Simmons overall but he assembled some bright writing talent there. ESPN is a disaster. They paid too much for the broadcasting rights and selling their souls to the television companies has provided them less customers to watch very, very expensive sports to produce and broadcast. Its the cord cutters that are killing them. Paid subs is down like 16% in the last two years, and will continue to drop as more and more people drop cable/satellite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maury Ballstein Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 ESPN is crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 (edited) Hard to disagree with you here. His (Simmons) show on HBO with out big brother interfering should be great. Edited October 30, 2015 by Mike in Horseheads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Don't get me wrong, i love/d Grantland. But i am so tired of hearing how horrifying it is people getting laid off from ESPN and now the Grantland shuttering. The world, she is a changing!!! Just a fact of life revenues at ESPN are declining, and it only going to get worse. What are the y supposed to do? Continue to not hit margins? In terms of Grantland, the ESPN hate is something today.That site was Simmons. So Simmons, if you were so damn worried about everyone there, you would not have dared ESPN to suspend you. You would have played nicer on the NBA show..but you had to be cooler than everyone else. And this coming from a loyal Sports Guy reader since 2002 . I also hate when people get laid off, but if the site is so damn great, and the writers so damn awesome , and they will pull clicks and thus revenue, have Simmons and HBO recreate it. Hes the one that lead to the downfall, he should be the one to come to the rescue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 When they canned Bill Simmons you almost knew this was going to happen. I didn't follow the details of that, but I'd guess this is as much an FU to Simmons as a financial decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLynchTrain Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 How would people feel if Terry somehow convinced Bill Barnwell to be a scout/analytics/assistant to the assistant GM guy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Frankish Reich Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 How would people feel if Terry somehow convinced Bill Barnwell to be a scout/analytics/assistant to the assistant GM guy? That's actually a great idea! I didn't follow the details of that, but I'd guess this is as much an FU to Simmons as a financial decision. And I have to think there's something to that. I mean, paring down Grantland -- getting rid of a lot of the pop culture stuff that I don't pay a whole lot of attention to -- would have been perfectly understandable, but that didn't mean having to take the site down. They could have existed with a skeleton permanent staff and pay-by-the-article features. The cost of running a Grantland like that would be a rounding error in espn's annual books. But they have to kill Simmons' legacy too. It's hard to tell who's more childish here: Simmons, the overgrown frat boy, or espn management, his jealous ex-lover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big C Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 This is a bummer. Grantland is (was) a much better read than most ESPN output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jr1 Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 with so many people using ad blocking extensions this isn't surprising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mead107 Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 I never knew about it Care less what they shut down. Over paid over staffed. Just like all the big networks. The millions they pay the top dogs is nuts. Feel bad for all the people on the low paying jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler#81 Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 That's actually a great idea! And I have to think there's something to that. I mean, paring down Grantland -- getting rid of a lot of the pop culture stuff that I don't pay a whole lot of attention to -- would have been perfectly understandable, but that didn't mean having to take the site down. They could have existed with a skeleton permanent staff and pay-by-the-article features. The cost of running a Grantland like that would be a rounding error in espn's annual books. But they have to kill Simmons' legacy too. It's hard to tell who's more childish here: Simmons, the overgrown frat boy, or espn management, his jealous ex-lover. Aah, the sex angle. No good drama should be without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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