ESPN announced Friday that the publication of Grantland is being suspended effective immediately.
“Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland,” the network said in a statement. “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.
“Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun. We are grateful to those who made it so. Bill Simmons was passionately committed to the site and proved to be an outstanding editor with a real eye for talent. Thanks to all the other writers, editors and staff who worked very hard to create content with an identifiable sensibility and consistent intelligence and quality. We also extend our thanks to Chris Connelly who stepped in to help us maintain the site these past five months as he returns to his prior role.”
Grantland had employed several well-respected writers, and many of them will likely have no problem finding work elsewhere. ESPN is reportedly planning to honor the contracts of all the Grantland writers and give them opportunities to produce work on other platforms.
All @Grantland33 writers will have their contracts honored; intent is to use sports writers on other @espn platforms.
— James Andrew Miller (@JimMiller) October 30, 2015
The decision to end @Grantland33 was a very recent one according to sources at @espn
— James Andrew Miller (@JimMiller) October 30, 2015
Michael Baumann, a baseball writer for Grantland, said he found out via Twitter that the site is being shut down.
Well that's the first time I've ever found out I was laid off via Twitter
— Michael Baumann (@MJ_Baumann) October 30, 2015
I was never anything but a freelancer there, so I'm not high up on the list of people to tell, but some advance warning would've been nice.
— Michael Baumann (@MJ_Baumann) October 30, 2015
If ESPN truly is planning to keep all of Grantland’s writers on staff (and I have my doubts about that), it’s easy to come to the conclusion that nixing Grantland is the network’s way of further distancing itself from Bill Simmons. Four Grantland staffers already left the publication to work for Simmons.
Simmons created Grantland and is largely responsible for the audience the site built in a relatively short amount of time. If you heard what Simmons recently said about ESPN’s handling of Grantland, you probably aren’t surprised by the end result.
