Comments that Bill Simmons made on "The Dan Patrick Show" Thursday regarding NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "proved a tipping point" in ESPN President John Skipper's decision not to renew his contract, according to James Andrew Miller in a special to VANITY FAIR. Simmons, who had been very critical of Goodell following the Ray Rice scandal last year, said the commissioner lacks "testicular fortitude." Simmons was suspended last September for calling Goodell a liar amid the Rice scandal, and it was "supposed to include a two-week dock in pay." When he "looked at his paychecks afterward, Simmons could hardly help noticing that the checks were for the usual amount." However, on December 19, Simmons opened his pay envelope and "was not pleased" to find that two weeks’ worth of salary "wasn’t there." Following that, the chances of him staying at ESPN from that point onward "became less and less probable." There were "two or three months of silence during which Simmons became increasingly bothered by three key factors." He was "hearing more and more that Skipper’s people in management were badmouthing him." Management "hadn’t added to the head count at Grantland since" May '14. It also was "clear to many that Bristol was trying to bury the idea that Simmons had been some kind of magical auteur behind everything classy at ESPN." In contract negotiations, "no dollar amounts were specified, and no actual back-and-forth negotiations went on." Both sides "retreated, then ESPN never re-engaged." Simmons in the end "simply flew too close to the sun" and "miscalculated how much value ESPN put on him and on his unique abilities and talents." Nonetheless, Simmons "has already had multiple offers and will no doubt wind up having more autonomy and, possibly, a bigger paycheck wherever he lands in his post-Bristol existence" (VANITYFAIR.com, 5/9). MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said, "The very thing that made Bill Simmons great is the very thing that made him too tough for a corporation to handle” ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 5/11).
SIMMERING FEUD: SI.com's Richard Deitsch cited a longtime ESPN staffer as saying that Skipper’s decision "was not surprising given the economic reality of two lagging quarters for ESPN and the salary Simmons would be seeking given his market value (likely in excess of $5 million per year)." The staffer added, "Grantland is an artistic success, but it is not close to making money." Simmons "also alienated some producers and editors who disliked working with him." The staffer said of the reception of the news on Friday that Simmons' contract would not be renewed, "Let’s just say the mood is festive." As far as what is next for Simmons, Deitsch cited a longtime agent who has worked with various networks as saying that Simmons's "potential earnings" are at $7-10M per year. The agent: "Look for him owning his dot-com rights and all the content that comes with it including podcasts. And a TV play such as Turner, Fox, HBO or Showtime" (SI.com, 5/8). An ESPN spokesperson said that nothing as yet "had been resolved" on whether Simmons would appear on any network outlets again (SI.com, 5/10).
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT: Simmons attended last night's Rockets-Clippers Western Conference Semifinals Game 4, but he has not posted anything on his Twitter account since Friday morning (THE DAILY). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir noted after word came out that ESPN would not renew Simmons' contract, he "responded with something uncharacteristic: silence." Simmons "said nothing to his 3.7 million followers on Twitter," and did not "pick up the phone or answer requests for comment." Simmons’ decision not to respond "was surprising." He seemed to have been "blindsided by the timing of ESPN’s decision, which came more than four months before his contract is to expire, at the end of September." An anonymous ESPN exec said that Skipper "had told Simmons’s agent, James Dixon, that a decision had been made to end the relationship and that an announcement was coming." But the exec said that Skipper "did not call Simmons before going public." Skipper "seized the narrative, and, in the absence of any reaction from Simmons or his camp, ESPN controlled the story all day." For his part, Skipper, "who said he had made his decision about Simmons three weeks ago, would not discuss whether Simmons’s latest comments about Goodell ... had accelerated Friday’s announcement" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/9). SPORTS ON EARTH'S Will Leitch wrote allowing ESPN "the upper hand and making them look the aggressor, rather than Simmons simply announcing that he is leaving -- does make it look like Simmons wasn't quite ready to 100 percent say goodbye to ESPN just yet." Vox Media's SB Nation "has been floated as a possibility, though his sensibility seems an odd fit." Yahoo "seems a non-starter; they can give him all the money in the world and it won't change the direction of that ocean liner." Fox Sports "will make a run, but that sensibility doesn't seem a fit either." Simmons "could go out on his own with some brand new venture, with tons of VC money and absolute freedom." Or, "if he wants stability, he can go to Bleacher Report" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 5/8).
TIME FOR ME TO FLY? MSNBC's Willie Geist said Simmons has “built his brand for 20 years, so now he gets to cash in on all of that equity he’s built." Geist: "I promise you there are people in Silicon Valley who will line up to bankroll whatever Bill Simmons wants to do next.” Scarborough said, “Here’s the irony: He's going to have a smaller audience probably wherever he goes .. but he's going to make more money, he's going to have more intense followers and he's going to create his own fiefdom, his own world." He added, "That’s the new media landscape.” MSNBC's Mark Halperin noted Simmons will be “big” wherever he lands, but “he is untethering himself from a platform with the live events and with the things that he’s built there that will potentially reduce his reach” (“Morning Joe,” MSNBC, 5/11). THE MMQB's Peter King writes whoever employs Simmons next "(maybe he’ll employ himself) gets a seminal talent in modern media, someone so good and so versatile that it’s intimidating to the rest of us trying to be good at different jobs in the media" (MMQB.SI.com, 5/11).
(FELLOW) MEDIA REAX: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth wrote no matter how "creative a media genius he thought he had become, Simmons apparently wasn’t printing enough Disney Dollars to offset whatever internal corporate grief he had created" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 5/9). In Boston, Chad Finn wrote the news of Simmons’ pending departure "came as a bombshell not just because of his prominence ... but because the relationship with ESPN, while occasionally contentious, was one of obvious mutual benefit" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/8). BLOOMBERG VIEW's Kavitha Davidson wrote at his best, Simmons "broke some of the most trying conventions of fans and players alike, approaching sports with sardonic skepticism and fervently questioning authority -- which probably cost him his job." But at his worst, Simmons "represented a misogynistic bro mentality too prominent among the loudest voices in sports, an attitude he increasingly played up to consciously grow his brand." That strategy, of course, "worked," and the success of Simmons "can be both explained by and blamed for the fact that sports is still a place where sexism sells" (BLOOMBERGVIEW.com, 5/8).
