
ESPN suspends publication of Grantland - danso
http://espnmediazone.com/us/espn-statement-regarding-grantland/
======
swanson
For those asking why HN should care about a "sportsball blog", here are some
pretty great Grantland articles that made a splash on HN:

The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds: [http://grantland.com/features/diplomacy-
the-board-game-of-th...](http://grantland.com/features/diplomacy-the-board-
game-of-the-alpha-nerds/)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7913183](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7913183)

The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business:
[http://grantland.com/features/anthony-gatto-juggling-
cirque-...](http://grantland.com/features/anthony-gatto-juggling-cirque-du-
soleil-jason-fagone/?2)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7671214](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7671214)

The Coach Who Never Punts:
[http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9970245/grantland-
channe...](http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9970245/grantland-channel-
coach-never-punts)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6728821](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6728821)

The Gracie jiu-jitsu story: [http://grantland.com/one-hundred-years-arm-bars-
gracie-jiu-j...](http://grantland.com/one-hundred-years-arm-bars-gracie-jiu-
jitsu-mma/?ex_cid=GrantlandTW)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6728821](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6728821)

\---

More here:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=grantland.com&sort=byPopularit...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=grantland.com&sort=byPopularity&prefix=false&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)

------
Implicated
I'll never understand what they were thinking getting rid of Simmons. Ego's
calling the shots is never a good thing.

Can't wait for him to start up something new, Grantland was really great.

~~~
kareemm
ESPN has a history of making sure the talent don't get too big for their
britches. Simmons, Keith Olbermann (twice), Dan Patrick, are three guys who
had great personal brands and didn't hesitate to criticize The Worldwide
Leader when they felt ESPN management acted without integrity.

BTW, I worked for ESPN.com for 2.5y.

~~~
draw_down
Lefsetz wrote a pretty good one when this happened:
[http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2015/07/22/b...](http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2015/07/22/bill-
simmons/)

------
kjdal2001
This is disappointing news, as I felt like Grantland was a good one stop shop
for things to read during lunch, but it was clear that it was already on its
way out. Some of my favorite contributors had already left. Wesley Morris,
Chris Ryan, and Juliet Litman to name a few. Ill be waiting to see where they
end up (yes I know Morris is going to the New York Times).

------
douche
That's a shame. They did some really good work. So good that I've broken down
and bought their dead-tree Grantland Quarterly in the past.

There was a story earlier this year about the guys in Boston that started the
Yankees Suck t-shirts, and another article about bare-knuckle prize fighting
in the 1800s that was some of the best writing I've seen.

Best website since Saving Private Ryan...

------
gjreda
This is a shame. IMO, Zach Lowe's the best basketball writer out there.

------
minimaxir
> _Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original
> thinking and fun._

Unfortunately, this bodes poorly for FiveThirtyEight, also owned by ESPN, and
also prides itself on long form content.

~~~
ssharp
Although it seems like ESPN is extremely desperate to eliminate its costs, I
doubt they bail on FiveThirtyEight heading into a US presidential election.
Past that, I'd be surprised to see it last. Nate Silver is still a pretty good
brand and he'll regain his spotlight over the next 12 months.

------
jackschultz
Wow that's decently big news considering how big it was, and how broad the
topics it covered were. Shows that it's the writers/personalities/analysts
that readers want to hear from, not necessarily content on from specific
publication.

~~~
mason55
I was a fan of Simmons's writing but there were still plenty of good writers
left (Zach Lowe & Bill Barnwell being two).

Hopefully Bill can just bring everyone over to his new thing and continue
producing the same kind of content.

------
jonknee
Perfect opportunity for Simmons to start a Grantland like site...

~~~
ssharp
I don't think he'll try and do a site as big as Grantland again. I would
expect him to so something on a smaller scale, however.

A lot of the non-sports people he brought in have also left or will be
leaving. I don't see why ESPN would now have any use for pop culture writers.
I've enjoyed Zach Lowe's NBA writing and hope he either keeps his voice with
ESPN or moves on somewhere else, though I'd guess they'll try and keep the
Grantland sports folks.

------
tvon
On one hand this makes complete sense. ESPN wants to appeal to the largest
possible audience, which means lowest common denominator coverage (basically
shallow analysis and gossip, IMO).

On the other hand, ESPN is large enough that if they gave a crap about
providing anything a bit "smarter" for snobs like me they could easily keep
Grantland afloat.

Very disappointing and not the least bit surprising.

------
nseay
Pretty dissapointing.

After growing up on sportscenter, this was one of the only ESPN created
products which was still watchable/readable.

------
thieving_magpie
No reason to go to espn anymore. No zach lowe with the NBA season just
starting? His tweets are funny at least.

~~~
rsync
Pardon the Interruption. Best show in television.

------
rsync
"Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland."

... however, I just went to grantland.com and it works just fine and has new
content as of today ...

------
number_six
I guess they really want Vice Sports to do well...

------
spoiledtechie
Why is this even being upvoted on HN?

~~~
douche
They did cover more than just "sports-ball."

In some sense, they were the PARC-Xerox or Bell Labs of ESPN. Except with
extended Boogie Nights metaphors...

------
mlucero
Interesting because I'm familiar with the site but why is this here?

~~~
danso
Besides Grantland stories popping up frequently on HN, ESPN is an interesting
and significant company...not just because of its pure size and near monopoly
over sports entertainment, but because of its willingness to invest money in
non-profitable media ventures, like Grantland...Grantland was a great example
of what happens when you hire the best writers and give them room to work.

~~~
mlucero
I'm not sure I see the hacker news connection myself. It's a news site about
sports. They weren't really doing anything particularly innovative besides the
popular editor and good writers.

~~~
paulcole
"They weren't really doing anything particularly innovative"

Well, better get back to posting about the next "unicorn" with no business
plan.

------
waterlesscloud
I blame cordcutters slashing ESPN's profits. Content ain't free.

~~~
awwstn
So...you're saying if we want great sports reporting from a web publication
like Grantland then we should pay Comcast for cable?

~~~
kjdal2001
Yeah, that doesn't make sense. I dont know how Grantland was doing
financially, but its unrelated to cable. In fact, things like Grantland could
be viewed as diversifying away from reliance on cable viewers.

~~~
slg
ESPN just did a round a big layoffs last week and dropping TV revenue was a
big reason for that. Grantland was never really expected to turn a big profit
and was always the concept car of ESPN's journalism enterprise. It was about
branding, prestige, and "doing good work" and was never about money. But when
it comes time to lay people off and cut costs, it is hard to justify keeping a
project that will continue losing money for the foreseeable future.

