The promotion tour for the launch of Bill Simmons' new HBO show took him to the "Today" show on Friday morning, where he said in addition to sports, it will include a “little pop culture, some tech, a little ‘where stuff’s going’ type of things.” Simmons said he loves "having conversations with people, so the show’s geared around that." Actor Ben Affleck, a Boston native like Simmons, and Turner's Charles Barkley will be the first guests on "Any Given Wednesday," and Simmons said, "I’m all for, like, who can I click with." His acrimonious departure from ESPN was brought up, with NBC's Savannah Guthrie noting it could be called a “personality conflict” between he and the net. Simmons replied, “I look at it the other way. I made it 14 years. It's a place that people that are outspoken or creative or frustrated creative people, they're not really meant to be there for two decades. So I look back and I think, like seven years, eight years might have been probably the max for it. ... We did some great stuff -- created ‘30 for 30,’ created Grantland, the stuff we did on ESPN.com. I look back and I'm amazed by all the stuff we’re able to do.” Guthrie read a statement from ESPN President John Skipper in which he said the company "severed our relationship with Bill because of his repeated lack of respect for this company and more importantly the people who work here.” Simmons said, “What's interesting about that is at Grantland, I had 50 people that worked with me there, and 27 of them now are with me at The Ringer. Math doesn’t lie” (“Today,” NBC, 6/17).
TIME FOR HIS SOLO: POYNTER's Ed Sherman wrote Simmons leaving ESPN and starting his new project The Ringer is the equivalent of "leaving the busiest shopping center in the world for a standalone place in town." But it "helps that Simmons’ name remains the one constant between" Grantland and The Ringer. He has "built a strong franchise, and with nearly 5 million Twitter followers," he has a "terrific platform to promote his new site." He has "reason to be somewhat cocky, given the performance of his BS podcasts in its post ESPN-life." Yet it "remains to be seen if all that mass translates into big, or even sustainable, numbers for The Ringer" (POYNTER.org, 6/16).
