The final straw for Bill Simmons at ESPN was when he criticized Roger Goodell — once again — during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” recently. While Simmons may have been daring his employer to part ways with him, he found out about the separation the same way all of us did.
Aside from some not-so-subtle tweets that included videos from the New England Patriots’ 2015 Super Bowl run, Simmons has been silent on Twitter since ESPN president John Skipper announced that his contract would not be renewed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Skipper admitted Tuesday that the announcement was made via a New York Times article before Simmons was informed of the decision.
Skipper added that Simmons is a “brilliant” writer and editor and delivered “tremendous value” to ESPN. He wouldn’t say exactly why talks broke down, but he disclosed that the impasse was about “more than money.”
And he admitted that reports that Simmons found out that his career at ESPN was ending when the New York Times tweeted its story about the network deciding not to renew his contract are correct.
Skipper added that “all is cordial” between Simmons and the network, but that is very difficult to believe. A previous report indicated that Skipper and Simmons had not had a productive conversation since last fall, and a source told THR that Skipper gave no indication that anything was amiss in a conversation with Simmons’ agent the day before Skipper’s interview with the New York Times was published.
Simmons is likely working on a severance agreement with ESPN, as his $5 million contract with the World Wide Leader extends through the fall. It became quite obvious that he wasn’t content with ESPN when he made these comments during the NFL season. Simmons has basically been daring ESPN to fire him. Still, Skipper could have told The Sports Guy that he accepted the challenge before running to the New York Times.
H/T Jimmy Traina
