Grantland gets shut down by ESPN

[adc]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well realistically how hard would it be for these guys to set up a site of their own now? They've already got an audience, so theoretically it seems like that hard work is done.

The problem would be where is the money going to come from?

These writers have an audience but is that audience going to pay for their stuff and/or is the ad revenue they can generate going to be close to enough to pay for their salaries?

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well realistically how hard would it be for these guys to set up a site of their own now? They've already got an audience, so theoretically it seems like that hard work is done.

They've already got an audience like how Firefly already had an audience. Small group of supporters but not big enough to exist on their own.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

ESPN is in big trouble right now financially. They are cutting costs and laying off people wherever they can. They lost 3-4 millions subscribers last year alone with cord cutting and cord trimming, and with carriage fees around 7$, that is in the neighborhood of 300 million per year in lost income. The carriage fee racket is starting to burst and will see a lot of bloodshed among cable sports networks in the next couple years.

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...or-sports.aspx

Good. The market for pro sports has gotten out of control and it needs a big correction like this. It should hopefully have a domino effect on subscription services and ticket prices.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by adc

The problem would be where is the money going to come from?

These writers have an audience but is that audience going to pay for their stuff and/or is the ad revenue they can generate going to be close to enough to pay for their salaries?

Well that is the point of business. If ESPN is shutting them down and they can't get enough ad revenue to pay costs than we know the real reason they've shut down the site. I have a skewed view because I follow a lot of these guys on twitter and am in their target demographic, but it seems like there is a lot of outcry in general over this, so it could be worth a shot.

On ESPN bleeding money, its their own foolishness really. They have the one product that people will watch live (sports) as compared to everything else on TV where people just don't care if they see if tonight or later this week. They should be able to monetize that advantage and turn a profit.

[adc]

I guess I have a hard time believing that ESPN hates Bill Simmons so much that they are shutting down a profitable division just to spite him.

It makes for a nice story, especially for a drama queen like Simmons, but it seems pretty unlikely given the corporate structure of ESPN and as mentioned above money problems that they have.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Slava

On ESPN bleeding money, its their own foolishness really. They have the one product that people will watch live (sports) as compared to everything else on TV where people just don't care if they see if tonight or later this week. They should be able to monetize that advantage and turn a profit.

The internet and social media are a big part of it, too. You don't have to turn on ESPN to get your sports news anymore. They're spending a lot of money on talent and on-air production when they could probably just do an AM and PM Sportscentre, and then just run ESPN Classics the rest of the day when they're not airing live sports.

Sort of OT, but I'm wondering if we're not getting to that point with most of the 24 hour news channels. I'm guessing a lot of older people still watch them, but I have hard time seeing those things remain profitable as the seniors die off.

[GirlySports]

This just frees up more resources for 24/7 reporting of everything the Patriots do. It's what Simmons would have wanted.

[kmart]

Sad to see this website go down as it provided some very insightful analysis from insiders of all sports. A lot of articles were good reads, unfortunately the feud between ESPN and Bill Simmons brought down this website. I'm hoping Bill Simmons starts another type of Grantland website with HBO.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by adc

I guess I have a hard time believing that ESPN hates Bill Simmons so much that they are shutting down a profitable division just to spite him.

It makes for a nice story, especially for a drama queen like Simmons, but it seems pretty unlikely given the corporate structure of ESPN and as mentioned above money problems that they have.

media people have said with Simmons it was basically breaking even

without him I imagine it was hemorrhaging money

I liked the site but it was Simmons, Barnwell, Zach Lowe 99% of the time

Barnwell and Zach Lowe are going to be fine and write somewhere, so I dont see it as a real loss

[getbak]

So, it looks like McIndoe is now doing his thing for ESPN.com: http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/14...g-nhl-grab-bag

[SuperMatt18]

That was always the likely outcome.

The successful names were going to be brought back into the ESPN main fold, and they were just going to cut the ties with the Grantland name and get rid of any extra support that group needed.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

That was always the likely outcome.

The successful names were going to be brought back into the ESPN main fold, and they were just going to cut the ties with the Grantland name and get rid of any extra support that group needed.

Except all the top tier talent left espn all together. Wesley Morris, Romberg, Greenland, Sean Ryan, Juliette. All gone, most still working with bill.

Downgoesbrown is great. Doesn't fit the pop culture nba/nfl Simmons will probably do.

[VladtheImpaler]

I recall a week (?) ago I was channel surfing and McCown had some media analyst on who said that Grantland was bleeding millions every year. They then speculated about Fox Sports resurrecting it. Take that for what it's worth. I had never heard of this before and am just passing on randomly acquired information.